Cultivation | In Search

Bucephalandra Bowl

July 30, 2019 by ofsmallthings

This is a shallow 1 gallon bowl housing various unidentified Bucephalandra. The substrate is a thin layer of turface, with some lava rock and wood as a growing surface for the plants. It gets medium light and has nearly no ventilation. I believe some of these are ‘brownie’ type Buces. An Aridarium species pictured below, which has grown considerably in the past few months. It enjoys the same conditions as the other plants, with wet feet and room to grow […]

Categories: Blog, Cultivation, Plant Photo Library, Terrarium • Tags: aridarium, bowl, buce, Bucephalandra, homalomena, riparium, se asia, Terrarium, vivarium

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Marcgraviarium

July 17, 2019 by ofsmallthings

This tank is about a year old now, and houses over 50 species of plants. It stands 36Lx18Wx26T and has zoomed cork tiles on three sides. The substrate is a mix of turface and red infield conditioner in no specific ratios. The primary purpose of this tank is to give shingling species room to grow vertically. Marcgravias and many others do ok on sphagnum, but their growth is so much faster and more robust when climbing a wood surface. Species […]

Categories: Blog, Cultivation, Plant Photo Library, Terrarium • Tags: joepii, Marcgravia, marcgravia-arium, plant only, plant tank, Terrarium

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Biolat vivarium Vignettes July 2

July 3, 2019 by ofsmallthings

This tank has been set up about three years now, and is home to 12 R. biolat. It measures 24x18x26. The background is cork and the substrate is 100% red infield clay. It has been more difficult recently to find egg clutches due to all the plant growth but there are a few puddles where the biolat regularly put tadpoles. Some of the larger plants including Mikania gauco, a forked Cyclanth from Ecuador, and some Ecuadorian Pileas. There are a few […]

Categories: Blog, Cultivation, Terrarium • Tags: biolat, july 2, Ranitomeya, tank, Terrarium, vignette

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Large Aquarium Bowl for Pseudomugil

July 2, 2019 by ofsmallthings

This large fish bowl is about 18″ wide at the center, with an 11″ opening at the top. When filled with water, it proved to be 11 gallons! The Bolbitis is my favorite, so I used those as the dominant plant. The wood had to be boiled so it sank. This air pump is super tiny! Originally I tried a cobalt light, but it did not work with the curved lid as the neck was not adjustable and would have […]

Categories: Blog, Cultivation, Fish, Terrarium • Tags: aquarium, bowl, Fish, fishbowl, planted

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The Magic of UV Sterilizers

May 13, 2019 by ofsmallthings

After a few months of a serious green water problem, some more experienced aquarist friends suggested installing a UV sterilizer. I don’t know very much about aquariums generally, but from what others have said and from a little research I’ve done, there aren’t any big downsides to using the sterilizer. The appliance “utilizes a germicidal fluorescent lamp that produces light at a wavelength of approximately 254 nanometers (2537 Angstroms). … As the light penetrates the bacteria/algae, it mutates the DNA (genetic […]

Categories: Blog, Cultivation, Fish • Tags: algae, aquarium, bowl, Fish, fish bowl, green, greenwater, paratocinclus, sterilizer, uv, uv sterilizer, water change

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Orchid Show Haul

May 2, 2019 by ofsmallthings

The Oregon Orchid Society hosted their annual show in Portland this past weekend and the selection of plants, both for show and sale, were fantastic! Ecuaflora and Ecuagenera were representing Ecuador, and there was a vendor from Peru as well. Emerald City Orchids, Greg Neilson, Stephanie Willis, and many orchid society members were also present. As an added bonus of being a member, I got to go in a bit early to scope things out. Having only gone to Orchid […]

Categories: Blog, Cultivation • Tags: haul, new plants, orchid show, orchids, plant haul, portland, sale, show

Carniverous plant bowl

April 25, 2019 by ofsmallthings

This small bowl houses Drosera capensis and Dionaea muscipula. I’ve bought venus fly traps many times and never been able to keep them alive (they rot and turn brown after a few months) but this one seems to be doing well. This bowl sits 5-6″ beneath a Sunlight Supply single tube LED for 13 hours a day. I water them with distilled water every other day. Sphagnum can be a weed in many scenarios, choking out smaller Bryophytes, Marcgravias, and […]

Categories: Blog, Cultivation • Tags: bog, bowl, capensis, carniverous, dionaea, drosera, flytrap, muscipula, plants, sphagnum, sundew, Terrarium, venus flytrap

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Bucephalandra in a Corning Glassware Dome

April 8, 2019 by ofsmallthings

Boo-see’s provided by Aquarium Zen, much thanks to Steve! And 1.5 years later, plus some Aridarium and mosses,

Categories: Blog, Cultivation, Plant Photo Library, Terrarium • Tags: Bucephalandra, corning, dome, glassware

Tropical Collection

April 3, 2019 by ofsmallthings

These account for most of the species in my collection currently, excluding utter NOIDS. Here is a list of species I am searching for. Aciotis acuminifolia Acranthera sp. Borneo Aeschynanthus sp. Aloe variegata Aloinopsis schooneesii Alluaudia procera Alsobia dianthiflora Andinia micropetala Andinia nummularia Andinia schizopogon Andinia stalactites Angraecum aporoides Anthurium sp. Colombia Anthurium forgetti Anthurium gracile Anthurium pentaphyllum Anthurium corrugatum Anthurium sp. (from Richard VanIngen) Anthurium sp. Z Ardisia mamillata Ardisia sp. Pinky Argostemma sp. Silver Argostemma moultonii r Aridarium […]

Categories: Blog, collection, Cultivation, Plant Photo Library • Tags: collection, list, species, tropicals

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In Search

of Small Things

Category Archives: Cultivation

Bucephalandra Bowl

Marcgraviarium

Biolat vivarium Vignettes July 2

Large Aquarium Bowl for Pseudomugil

The Magic of UV Sterilizers

Orchid Show Haul

Carniverous plant bowl

Bucephalandra in a Corning Glassware Dome