# Orchid Recommendations for Riparium



## skoram (Apr 20, 2015)

I've been lurking here for several months doing research for a paludarium I plan to create for vampire crabs. Although dart frogs are the focus of this board, it also seems to be one of the best resources out there for information about setting up all kinds of terrestrial/aquatic habitats. 

At this moment, however, I would like to add some orchids to an existing riparium I have set up. To clarify, the orchids will (generally) not be in prolonged contact with water. Rather, I would like to attach some small orchids to a few pieces of driftwood that protrude up from the bottom of the tank and the riparium boxes, as you can see in the image below:










The tank will be lit with 3 36-Watt PAR38 LEDs (I am still missing one bulb on the left) mostly 6500 "natural white" with a few 460 nm blue diodes. The lights appear much more blue in the photo above than they actually are. The humidity in my tank room is at about a constant 60% though I am thinking about augmenting this with a humidifier fog/mist system turned on for a few minutes each day. 

One thing to note: I live in Seoul, South Korea so I may be limited in terms of what I can find here. For example, I was thinking about purchasing some Phragmipedium to plant directly in a riparium box but cannot find any for sale here. With that said, I am currently thinking about the following orchids to attach to some of the larger pieces of driftwood:

Epinendrum nanodes porpax
Schoenorchis fragrans
Vanda coerulescens
Bulbophyllum drymoglossum 

I'd be very grateful for any feedback on these selections as well as any other suggestions the members of this board can offer. Thanks!

P.S. I should specify that the larger pieces of driftwood are protruding about 12 to 15 cm above the water (5 to 6 inches).


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## epiphytes etc. (Nov 22, 2010)

I probably wouldn't go with that Vanda, but everything else sounds good. I assume the protruding wood stays pretty damp? Most any Pleurothallid would likely work, as would Kefersteinia, many Bulbophyllum, Sigmatostalix, some of the smaller Maxillaria, maybe even Promenaea. You might even be able to do a small Sobralia or Bletia purpurea in the riparium planter.


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## skoram (Apr 20, 2015)

epiphytes etc. said:


> I probably wouldn't go with that Vanda, but everything else sounds good. I assume the protruding wood stays pretty damp? Most any Pleurothallid would likely work, as would Kefersteinia, many Bulbophyllum, Sigmatostalix, some of the smaller Maxillaria, maybe even Promenaea. You might even be able to do a small Sobralia or Bletia purpurea in the riparium planter.


Thanks for the feedback! 

The parts of the wood above the water actually stay pretty dry, as you can see in the photo. The only surface water movement is from a sponge filter. I am also pumping water that is sprayed directly into the riparium boxes through a standard Eheim spray bar, so there is very little misting. This is one of the reasons I am strongly leaning towards setting up some type of humidifier fogging system.


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## skoram (Apr 20, 2015)

After doing research on some of the species you mentioned, I am guessing that you recommended orchids that like lots of moisture and frequent watering. As I mentioned earlier, above water the wood stays pretty dry so I am mostly looking for small epiphytes that like some humidity and won't grow too large for a 5 to 6 inch section of wood.


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## Chrisc147 (Jun 11, 2015)

I would suggest any sort of Pleurothallis or Lepanthes. They do very well in wetter environments and have gorgeous foliage. Some Pleurothallids and Lepanthes are always in bloom.


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## Hobbes1911 (Mar 22, 2013)

Not to be a downer, but you probably want to consider more land area for vampire crabs. They are actually terrestrial rather than aquatic, so they will only really venture in the water when molting. Individual animals seem to have a preference for land or water, but generally I'd say they hang out on land more than water.


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## epiphytes etc. (Nov 22, 2010)

I would have thought the wood would stay moist simply through capillary action. (that's a lot of wood/would, lol) If it really is that dry, I would stick to Bulbos.


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## treylane (May 16, 2012)

You could easily wrap a thin hygrolon wick up these branches to keep them moist for more moisture-loving species, or even tie on clumps of sphagnum and water them.

It would be interesting to see some climbing/rambling species climbing up the branches: Porroglossum lorenae, and various other small pleurothallid species would fit the bill, such as Stelis hirtzii, Pleurothallis minutalis, Platystele ximenae

Or you could go the other way with trailing species (Trichosalpinx chamaelepanthes) hanging down from the top parts of the branches towards the water.


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## skoram (Apr 20, 2015)

Thanks for all of the feedback and suggestions everyone. I do plan to attach the orchids to the wood with sphagnum moss which, if extended low enough so that it is in contact with water, should provide constant moisture through capillary action. 

I haven't yet been able to look into all the species mentioned here but I was able to find some Bulbos for sale at one location (in addition to B. drymoglossum). Any thoughts on B. wendlandianum, careyanum and putidum for this setup?



Hobbes1911 said:


> Not to be a downer, but you probably want to consider more land area for vampire crabs.


The vampire crabs are for a paludarium I plan to build in the future. I mentioned the crabs because that's what originally led me to this site. Sorry for the confusion.


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## Pubfiction (Feb 3, 2013)

I have no problem keeping a lot of different orchids in a similar setup it has a screen top so its very open but it mists once per day. Will you be doing any misting? I actually made mine on purpose just for the orchids which tend to like good air flow and the water in the bottom keeps some local humidity. The misting is also great because it offsets evaporation in the water. I have vandas with no substrate doing well. You just have to pick your substrate to match the orchid you want to grow. 

Typically in a vivarium the main problem people have is too much humidity and moisture for a lot of orchids. So I think your choices are probably pretty broad so long as you pick the right way to attach to wood and mount it. For a very wet orchid I would wrap the roots in sphagnum then dangle a string or some sphagnum into the water to wick up water by capillary action.


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## skoram (Apr 20, 2015)

Pubfiction said:


> I have no problem keeping a lot of different orchids in a similar setup it has a screen top so its very open but it mists once per day. Will you be doing any misting? I actually made mine on purpose just for the orchids which tend to like good air flow and the water in the bottom keeps some local humidity. The misting is also great because it offsets evaporation in the water. I have vandas with no substrate doing well. You just have to pick your substrate to match the orchid you want to grow.
> 
> Typically in a vivarium the main problem people have is too much humidity and moisture for a lot of orchids. So I think your choices are probably pretty broad so long as you pick the right way to attach to wood and mount it. For a very wet orchid I would wrap the roots in sphagnum then dangle a string or some sphagnum into the water to wick up water by capillary action.


I am misting once per day with distilled water in the evening after I return home from work. If I add some orchids that require multiple mistings per day, I can always mist in the morning before I go to work as well. 

I want to thank everyone again for their feedback and recommendations in this thread. Unfortunately, I could not find too many good options in Korea. They may not be available here but in most cases I just could not find the Korean name under which they may be sold. Searching scientific names in Korean sites usually yielded no results. 

I was able to find a few Bulbophyllums but I am concerned about their size. Some of them seem to grow quite large. Yet others (like drymoglossum) require a very cool and dry "winter" rest period which would be too much of a hassle. Bulbo wendlandianum seems a little promising, however and several people reported that its scent was not too bad.


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