Without further ado, I present: Terrarium Bonsai

[Disgruntled_ficus]

Ok Terrarium pre-pre-bonsai...

Anyway!, We're cooking with gas now!.. over 110 watts on this puppy! with an 18x18 footprint

...Threw in some "terrarium plants" as groundcover. Im hoping they help raise the humidity.

 

[Eric Group]

What are those round balls on the surface? Is their air circulation in there?

Looks like ficus Benjamina- one variegated, one regular?

Good luck!

 

[Kodama16]

The balls are luca. Clay pelleted balls. There of water absorption and help wick standing water. Normally used in terrariums or hydroponic. The fan is for air circulation. they should do good in there. Keep us posted

 

[Disgruntled_ficus]

Those are "ZOO MED™ HYDROBALLS™ Lightweight Expanded Reptile Terrarium Substrate"

The trees were both potted in soil when I got them. I tried cactus soil, haha, but it was holding too much water for too long. The substrate is a mix of those hydroballs, some flourite, a touch of pine bark fines, and a smidgen of cocunut fiber. Humidity stays above 60% and stays above 70% for hours after misting. Im hoping the ground cover plants raise humidity when they start growing.

The one on the right, variegated benjamina, is basically a bunch of twigs. I wrapped a bread tie around them for now. Later, ill bind them up and hopefully get them to fuse.

On the left is supposed to be a benjamina var 'midnight', though it doesn't look like many of the pictures ive seen. Leaves are much smaller though so im happy.

I plan to wire up the midnight when my wire arrives. Planning for it to become an upright style banyan. More tall and thin than you see in google images. Something you might expect to see in the middle of a jungle.

Im a noob so please offer any advice if I need it

edit: Thats a 120mm cpu fan hanging there in the front. Its inaudible Its rated at something like 40 cfm, iirc

 

[Disgruntled_ficus]

Still looking for a stand and figuring out a good way to mount the fan somewhere

 

[Redwood Ryan]

The fan is a good thought, but it's just moving stale air around. Fresh air is key.

 

[GrimLore]

Still looking for a stand and figuring out a good way to mount the fan somewhere

I have the same unit in the corner of our dining area only with the plain grey stone background. The fan will do you the most good on the screened top facing down into it. It will push fresh air in that way

Grimmy

 

[Disgruntled_ficus]

One of the benefits of the fan blowing onto the foliage is removing the boundary layer around the leaves. Without this you get low CO2 deadzones around the foliage. Ficks law is relevant there.

I had some concerns that you guys are talking about. Since ficus is a C3 plant I thought that the terrarium may benefit from forced air exchange. However, I asked some terrarium experts on a different forum and they pretty much all agreed that humidity is better than forced air exchange. This isn't a closed system. That black line across the front has holes in it and the top is screened. Air is supposed to come in through the front and exit out the top.

As the tree gets bigger though and some aerials have already developed I will probably add some forced air exchange on a timer.