WIP: Fridge terrarium for cool growers

[theorchidapartment]

Originally Posted by Roberta

They are gorgeous. But there are so many beautiful Masdies to choose from... something to consider.

It is so hard when there are so many!!! I'm open to any and all recommendations.

[Roberta]

For brilliant color, Masd. coccinea and Masd. ignea are hard to beat - and both come in a variety of colors. Medium-sized plants. Masd. caudata is one of the smaller ones, very beautiful (flower as big as the plant)

[Draikan]

Your insulation looks great! It's hard to go wrong with adding insulation, it can only help.

It actually looks quite a bit brighter with the insulation too.

[Ray]

The use of white foam is excellent. Not only will it insulate the chamber, but it will scatter the light, making it overall brighter.

I don’t think you’ll need to cover the front.

[theorchidapartment]

That's what I was thinking too, re: white and light! I originally tried some scraps of the pink insulation board on the side, but the white is definitely an improvement.

And yes, I will keep the doors as they are, even though they're definitely the weakest point, insulation-wise.

[Ray]

Folks think mirror/silver is the way to go, but flat white scatters the light far more uniformly.

[harpspiel]

Check out Epidendrum medusae, so I can live vicariously through you...

[theorchidapartment]

Glad I bought as much as I could in-person; the remaining supplies for this project have been stuck in transit due to the holidays and weather. (I also ordered an orchid a couple weeks ago that has been in transit since Monday, waah! Remind me to never order anything in December again.)

While I waited, I built the inner structure with 1/2" welded hardware mesh:




With the leftover mesh, I replaced the bulky frame I'd cobbled together inside my warm-growing terrarium, freeing up some much needed space:




The first things to arrive (incidentally the last to ship) were these Garland windowsill trays. They're a British product and the measurements online were all over the place, but fortunately they fit two-deep with the lip overlapping, which will be better for catching runoff than having them flush:




I put a layer of LECA at the bottom of each and cut the egg crate diffuser to size:




Is there a secret to cutting this stuff? I ended up with a million tiny pieces of plastic all over my living room, ugh.

Supplemental lighting should arrive tomorrow. I ordered a bunch of orchids from Andy's current sale, which thankfully won't be shipped until after the holidays.

[Roberta]

Instead of trying to cut the egg crate, I have found it much easier (and much less messy) to use a long-nosed pliers and break the little cross pieces where I want to get the width right. Instead of massive amounts of plastic dust, you have easy-to-control pieces, most of which can be directed into a wastebasket as you break them off. And when you get into the rhythm, it doesn't take long.

[theorchidapartment]

Everything that was held up in the pre-holiday-storm-pocalypse has arrived!

The supplemental light I ordered is not super powerful and quite a bit cooler in color than I hoped, but combined with the warmer built-in light, I think it'll work out. The light was on super-sale and I bought an 18W AC adapter separately.

The sliding glass doors wouldn't close around the wires, so I did some strategic styrofoam wedging in the door pockets to hold the wires in place and produce a better seal.




The fans are second-hand AC Infinity muffin fans, which have worked great in my smaller terrarium. I also replaced the original door handles with small, clear suction cups.

I ran the fridge on the controller for a bit (target 63°F with a 10°F differential) and the fluctuations were pretty rapid. Since taking the picture above, I added styrofoam underneath the unit as well. Trying to figure out if there's a way to insulate the doors without obstructing the view and/or if there are other ways to help maintain the internal temperature, like having containers of water or conducting the cold throughout using the wire mesh or another material...? Open to suggestions!

I rearranged the rest of my orchid shelf yesterday. Here's the fridgarium in situ, before I did any styrofoam wedging or cord management: