I have experimented a little with my new orchid vivarium and I have not really solved how I will heat it sufficiently… I want to keep it in my intermediate/cool growing roomwhere nighttime temp can dip down to 15 degrees in the winter. So the room temperature is definitely not helping. I am aiming for a medium temperature (at night) of 19-24 degrees inside the cabinet (while the room stays at 15-19 degrees) in the colder months.
I don’t think the heatmat I use for my flask babies in the mini greenhouses will be enough for this large (tall) cabinet. The mats produce radiant heat which does not heat the ambient air – and I need to do just that! The light fixture will provide some heat, but only during the day. So, I was thinking of using a ceramic heat lamp since they emit infrared heat which does heat the ambient air and should work (in theory at least). If I placed the ceramic fixture next to the light fixture on the outside of the terrarium (so it won’t get too close to the orchids that they might burn), and then placed one of the fans right below it inside to distribute the warm air, it might just work. Too bad those light bulbs are so expensive to experiment with if it does not work…
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