Today was spring cleaning in the nano vivarium. I took the whole thing apart, cleaned out the watering system and polished the tube. To do that I had to lift out the whole EpiWeb wall/branch assembly which gave me a good opportunity to go over and inspect each plant since that is really hard to do when it is inside the tube. I was pleased to find that several plans had started to attach themselves to the EpiWeb and I could remove some of the unsightly support sticks and wire.
It was especially nice to see the two Masdevallias, guttulata and tuerckheimii doing so well after the fungus trouble a few months back. Both have grown several new leaves and are looking really good now.
I also decided to move a few plants out to the warm vivarium instead since they are a bit too big for the nano, aesthetically. Gastrochilus calceolaris and Masdevallia guttulata got to move (I had already moved the Ascocentropsis pusilla last weekend). I also rigged up a little shelf out of EpiWeb for a little venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) to help the Drosera capensis keep after the fruit flies who unfortunately also like the humid warm conditions in the nano… It was a big job, but it was well worth it.
Hi Karma,
I am interested in how you are getting on with the Epiweb IIS system as I am just about to buy the grow tube and 500x1000mm piece for a vivarium background,will be planting plourothallis,papua new guinea dendrobiums,nepenthes and various ferns,cheers
ade
Hi Ade. I actually sold my whole nano-viv this spring to a very nice girl here in town. She is still growing orchids and a few assorted ferns in it with success, but I think she replaced the ILS watering system to a traditional spray nozzle system. I thought the ILS worked quite nice in the small nano, it worked beautifully growing moss and keeping the orchids on the wall watered. However, it was not enough to water the plants mounted to the branch, this might be why the girl I sold mine to changed it out. But if you want it for just a background wall and one of those new grow tubes I think it would work really well. I think the grow tubes look very interesting, I would like a big one for my vanilla but I don’t really have to space for it. Good luck with your project.