It's picture time! Before continuing to work on the environmental controls, I wanted to give some more detail on the issues I'm working through. I've started digging through the orchid terrarium to asses the condition of all the plants.
Pleurothallis grobyi:
I don't remember how big this one was when I got it, but it's huge now.
I'd consider this one to be pretty healthy. It has a bunch of dead spikes, so I guess it flowered sometime in the last year, but I missed it.
It's been sitting up at the top of the tank where there is more airflow. The lower sections of the tank don't get much flow because all the bromeliads are in the way (need to get them out). It's also right in front of a mister, so it gets a pretty good soaking at
misting times.
The roots are not as healthy as I think they should be. There aren't many roots outside the sphagnum on the mount, and the roots in the sphagnum look like they've been wetter than they'd like.
Here you can see there aren't really any roots growing out of the mount. I suspect this is because the humidity was too low.
And here the visible roots are mostly black/brown, with a few that are healthy and bright green.
---------- Post added at 05:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:36 PM ----------
Pleurothallis alenii:
This particular division was grown midway up the tank, so average/low airflow. It wasn't directly in the mist but gets a pretty decent watering by getting dripped on by the plants above.
Again the foliage is doing pretty well. P. alenii is a constant bloomer for me. In the past this one has sent out long roots when I was diligent about keeping humidity up. Recently it's had the same issue as the others with burnt/dried root tips. The following picture show the dried tips very clearly. You can see a few healthy roots creeping around the mount.
You can see the blackened tips on roots that emerge from the sphagnum. These particular roots made it pretty far out. They may have grown out while humidity was high and died off when the weather changed.
I'd consider the roots and mount to be pretty healthy (maybe a little wet) other than the dried tips. The established moss combined with the cork mount seems to do well.
---------- Post added at 05:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:50 PM ----------
Pleurothallis eumecocaulon:
This one has been at the top of the tank, where it gets decent airflow. It is a bit further from the misters and doesn't always get thoroughly flushed and soaked (I think it should, ideally). From the leaf color I think this one may have been getting a bit more light than it would like.
Starting a bloom.
It's a prolific rooter, the mount is almost covered. I think these roots are moderately healthy, pretty sure they aren't dead? But they aren't happy green either, and they definitely dry up as they grow away from the mount.
---------- Post added at 06:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:59 PM ----------
Stelis hirtzii:
This one is growing at the bottom of the tank. It gets soaked by drips from the plants above, and gets very little airflow.
It has been too wet. You can see many of the lower sections have died, and the mount is pretty grimy. No live moss over the sphagnum to help it breathe, and the wood mount is getting really soft.
In that last picture you can see some healthy aerial roots. Due to this plant's location in the tank, and the cover provided by its leaves, the humidity is probably higher around these roots than around most of the others.
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