Need advice on jewels in a terrarium
 

Happy Holidays Kids:

Okay, so I have maintained a big terrarium over 20 yrs--lotsa success with bromeliads, aroids, gesneriads, etc;--but not jewels!

Here are the temperature ranges:

Winter: Day 70F, Night 65
Spring/Fall: Day 77, Night 68
Summer: Day 88, Night 78

Humidity ranges from 50% on the left to 70% on the right, btw

SO, to use YOUR orchid terms, I guess the tank ranges seasonally from intermediate to warm to hot, no? (I am not getting an A/C; I have big lizards--in case you are wondering, I do not have dart frogs, but geckos, anoles, hylids and reed frogs--too warm in the summer for pdfs).

Now as you might imagine, the tank shows some "seasonality;" the bromeliads and gesneriads do better in the summer, the begonias and primitives do better in the winter.

BUT--when I try jewels, the Macodes die in the winter, the Goodyera die in the summer:( I suspect that the tank is a little too cool and wet in the winter for the former; too hot and steamy in the summer for the latter. (I cannot stop spraying in winter--the bromeliads and animals need water!)

1) I have one last idea--get one of the new "rock" planters and place it on top of the substrate (Black Jungle sells these, btw). This way, the plant can be humid but I can control its watering.

2) But which jewel? I have been told that a jungle jewel (Anoectochilus, Macodes;) will tolerate winter nights in the 60s better than a temperate orchid (Goodyera) will tolerate summer nights in the high 70s-low 80s.

How say you guys? Thanks for reading!

Ludisias, maybe?

Here is L. discolor - a photo from the Philly flower show a few years back. Don't let the ivy throw you off on its culture.

http://www.firstrays.com/Pictures_or...a_discolor.jpg