Tropicals & Tender Perennials: Begonia Rajah, 1 by hcmcdole

hcmcdole wrote:
Mary, that is serratipetala. I got one from J&J years ago and still have it in one of my aquariums. I rarely water this aquarium (every 3 to 6 months?) since it is sealed pretty good with the light fixture (48 inches long) while the aquarium is maybe 30 inches long. This is the same aquarium that I had the rexes in pictured above. I had four bulbs in the light fixture at one time and it was yellowing some begonias and scorching others as they approached the light. I took two of the bulbs out and now things are a lot better.

Leaving lids open kind of defeats the purpose of terrariums doesn't it? Letting the moisture out means a lot more work but sometimes it is necessary. It might help release heat too (good or bad?)

The doom to the rexes above was that they were crowding everything out so I decided to move them out. What a mistake. They went into a tailspin so quick that the recent recession looked mild. Anyway I lost them all. The keyword should be "acclimate" which I failed to even think about. Oh well, on to the next Marmaduke and Purple Snow. I still have the Deco Deviltry (barely). One note - I had Kit Kat and Tiger Kitten in there as well - they grew twice as big as they would in "plain" air but you have to be careful of over watering in a terrarium because it can quickly lead to rot.

Here was a picture of my serratipetala 4 years ago. Now I open the lid, pour in a very small amount of water and walk away. Maybe I will get around to cleaning it out this winter.