Anyanya: Take an aquarium from a pet store, they also sell pebbles for fish, it is better to take natural ones that are not painted. Pour a layer of 3-4 cm onto the bottom of the aquarium of these pebbles, then pour there just a little water (for humidity) and put pots with precious orchids on the pebbles.
This is how orchids grow in a greenhouse near marie.
A greenhouse for children of a venus shoe at KozaNostra.
Kaktus: I had the idea for Grow Box a year ago. The first box was cardboard with one 35 watt ESL.A grenade successfully grew in it, which bloomed at 6 months. Now I have made a longer-term design. Boxing is very convenient for growing seedlings. But it should be borne in mind that the lamps must be installed wisely: blue spectrum (foliage growth), red spectrum (flowering). You can add another small lumber because it is dominated by the blue spectrum. Lighting is set depending on the size of the box. For large plants, you can even put an old cabinet (but the lighting there is not a small DNAT 600 watts. Inside, the walls of the box for light reflection are glued with the matte side of the foil (but necessarily matte - the shiny side will absorb light on the contrary and it does not fit). My box is made of 0.8cm plywood.
It just so happens that many of the domestic plants that we so desire to have are not adapted to the living conditions. Growing them interferes with too dry air, temperature fluctuations, possible draft, etc. However, the required conditions can be obtained by creating an indoor greenhouse or terrarium. The greenhouse will also be necessary for rooting cuttings and growing plants from seeds .
The goal of creating a greenhouse is to maintain a uniform temperature sufficient to grow heat-loving plants, protect plants from draft, hot dry air from batteries or a fireplace, and maintain high humidity. And the main requirements are simplicity of design and decorativeness. Not every flower grower, more often avid collectors, is ready to build any structure, if only the design would make it possible to accommodate a large number of copies as conveniently as possible.
Well, beauty is a matter of taste, so back to the practical side of the issue.
The light mode should be the most favorable for plants, that is, plants should be given as much light as possible. The side walls and roof are made of glass. The greenhouse is placed in a well-lit place. The lack of natural light must be compensated for by artificial illumination - fluorescent or sodium lamps. More about lamps in the topic "Lighting engineering of the winter garden"
Humidity in the greenhouse is achieved by spraying plants, as well as installing containers with water in it. This option is also possible - a layer of expanded clay is poured onto the bottom of the greenhouse, containers with water are dug into it, for example, two containers along the walls of the greenhouse. The substrate layer is then poured so that the edge of the water containers is at the level of the substrate surface. To prevent the water in the container from blooming and spoiling, activated carbon tablets are added to it. For some plants (for example, cacti), the air in greenhouses can be dry, in this case the role of the greenhouse is to maintain a certain temperature regime and light.
Temperature regime. Greenhouses can be warm (for tropical plants and reproduction) and cool (for subtropical plants), or heated and unheated. Unheated greenhouses are designed for cool wintering of some species of plants, which must undergo a mandatory dormant period. In this case, warm air from batteries is harmful and flowers are placed in a greenhouse to avoid this effect. The role of such a greenhouse can be played by an aquarium placed on its side so that the upper open side faces the window frames, and the bottom towards the room. Additional lighting may be required for plants blooming at this time or gaining buds. As, for example, for azaleas or some species of cacti (as you know, their flowering period does not always coincide with the dormant period).
Heated greenhouses can be equipped with electric heating with a thermal relay to automatically turn on and off the current at a certain temperature. Such greenhouses are used most often for seed reproduction, for better germination of seeds. The most primitive option is to place a plate covered with a bag or glass on a heating battery, or on an electric heating pad.
The mini greenhouse is the most common version of greenhouses for tropical plants without heating, allowing you to maintain fairly high temperatures. The role of the greenhouse is played by aquariums of different sizes, sizes and proportions. Someone calls it a terrarium, but in reality it is just a glass box according to the model of the aquarium, but for keeping plants. Mini greenhouses are usually placed in a room, i.e. where the air itself is quite warm, and the backlight gives some additional heat - depending on the lamps used. Incandescent lamps heat the ambient air very much, daylight lamps practically do not heat it, with the exception of
If the mini-greenhouse is large, then it is advisable to place it on a table or stand on wheels, this makes it easier to care for it.
The peculiarity of the greenhouse for orchids is that it must be equipped with a fan. The fact is that orchids are epiphytes, they physiologically need good air circulation. Ideally, a 50-liter greenhouse should have one fan like a 10-watt computer. In a small greenhouse, you can make an integrated fan, in a large one - a portable fan or two small ones from different sides. Place ventilation in the greenhouse so that the air flow does not fall directly on the leaves.
DIY greenhouse
What materials to make a mini-greenhouse or indoor greenhouse depends on the size of the structure. For large greenhouses, any shelves, shoe shelves (sold in a hardware store) or a closet with glass doors are suitable. A lot of blanks can be picked up in IKEE. Wood blanks are convenient because they are not painted, they can be covered with yacht varnish. Metal structures in this regard are not very convenient - they quickly rust from moisture. But you can use a galvanized profile.
The walls of the greenhouse can be made of glass, 2-3 mm thick, greenhouse film or transparent plexiglass.
Small greenhouses can be made from an aquarium, a transparent cake box (for seedlings), a large plastic container made of transparent material. A room greenhouse option without any shelves is to fence off the windowsill along the entire window opening from the room with transparent greenhouse film. Between the glass and the edge of the windowsill, greenhouse conditions are created for growing many indoor plants in the winter season. The film protects the plants from the directed hot air of the batteries.
Houseplant care in a greenhouse
Care consists in shading from the bright sun, mandatory ventilation, wiping glasses from moisture, maintaining the required temperature and spraying plants. It must be remembered that there is no air movement in greenhouses, often this advantage also turns into troubles - the warm, humid air of a greenhouse is a fertile breeding ground for various fungi and bacteria - plant pathogens. Therefore, the greenhouse must be regularly ventilated, provided with sufficient lighting. The soil should be airy, breathe well, loosen and both easily absorb moisture and easily give back. In the closed "room" of the greenhouse, moister air is kept, because in addition to spraying, plant leaves constantly evaporate moisture. This means that watering flowers should be rarer than plants in rooms (although some types of plants, like orchids in greenhouses, are not watered at all).
Plant propagation greenhouses are usually placed on a windowsill or on a table in front of the window. It is covered from above with a glass frame having a slope facing the window. Layer of shards is applied on lower planks with convex side upwards. A thin layer of moss is placed on them, covered with clean (repeatedly washed) river sand (or peat), in which seeds are germinated and cuttings are rooted. Even lower, a retractable tray about 5 cm high with two holes is strengthened on the slats: one for filling with hot water, the other for lowering it. To heat the greenhouses, hot water is poured (2-3 times during the day). More often, the water filling the pallet at 3/4 of its height is heated by electric lamps. From heating and evaporation of water, the air in the greenhouse warms up and humidifies. By increasing or decreasing the heating force, approaching or moving the lamps away from the bottom tray, the temperature in the greenhouse can be adjusted (the thermometer is inside the greenhouse). A glass cover is used for ventilation. Water is added to the tray as it evaporates.
An interesting option for growing citrus in Grove Box is not a glass greenhouse, but an opaque box. The author of the idea is KAKTUS, and you can read about this experience on the forum: Citrus content in Grove Box