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Grow shelf basic and upgraded

  • #61
Indeed Gil,

I haven't looked in on this for a bit, but its nice to see you are still improving it!
I think if I could get you into a woodworking or metal shop, you would do some amazing things!
Nice Job!
:bigthumpup:
 
  • #62
A little update:

I haven't done anything major to the rack in terms of upgrade. All three used shelves are currently enclosed in the same way I have done previously. And all of the plants have been rearranged. There are small mods that I have done here and there as part of tweaking the setup, which are not worth mentioning. I will add pics of how the grow shelf looks currently later.

-On the top shelf (the warmest) I keep all of the sundews together with a small 7G heated terrarium (pics later) for petiolaris sundews that Crissytal so generously sent me, and two VFT that are waiting to be released into the wild (backyard).
-The middle shelf is home to the Pings.
-And on the third (lowest) shelf I keep all my utrics, Shpagnum growing chamber, and a lone Cephalotus HG (thank you GrowinOld). At some some point in the future I'm planning to convert this entire shelf into High Land chamber.

Currently, I'm saving up to purchase the parts necessary to build a cooling system.

Recently with a lot of help from GrowinOld I put together a small 10G self watering terrarium that is home to most of Epiphytic utrics (Thank you Ron! (RL7836)):

I have used, 90gph aquarium pump, egg crate as false bottom for the pots, styrofoam cups with cut off bottoms and holes made in the sides (to let the water flow through) for false bottom support, and a layer of landscape fabric on top of the egg crate to prevent pieces of soil from getting into the water. The pipes are 1/4 CPVC.
The water in the clip and pics is green, and was changed since then (the pics and clip are old).

I am a lousy cameraman, so forgive me for the quality of this clip.
<embed width="600" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullscreen="true" allowNetworking="all" wmode="transparent" src="http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf" flashvars="file=http%3A%2F%2Fvid1115.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fk547%2Fgill_za%2FGrow%2520rack%2FMOV05481.mp4">

The terrarium with no water flowing:
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From the top:
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This is what I do to get the pots in and out ;)
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Terrarium, no water, my feet and socks.
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Some more pics for construction background :)
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In addition, right on top of the terrarium, there is a little fan that blows cold and moist air, that exits from the humidifier on the shelf above. And another fan that blows air in from outside the rack. This is not an optimal setup, and the top fan is exposed to extra humidity, but it is a temporary solution before I get the cooling system up and running. This way I can get the temperature in the terrarium to drop at night to 62F and it stays at 75-77F during the day.
 
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  • #63
Very nice, Gill. I'd love to set up some kind of self-watering system in the future. I really like the idea of daily rain, and it seemed to work well with GrowinOld's neps.
 
  • #64
This is wonderful. So beautiful and I love the look and sound of the water.
 
  • #65
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  • #66
Damn, dude. Every time I stop by here you've done something amazing to your setup. I'm downgrading my whole rig to a terrarium... I just don't have the space, and when/if I move apartments this summer, I will thank myself for consolidating my setup now.

But that thing... just wow.
 
  • #67
Awesome setup. I wonder if you could hook up mister nozzles to the holes in the piping; but i assume you'd need a pretty powerful pump.
 
  • #68
This is how my grow area looks like now:

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Top shelf: Sundews and on the right is a 7G heated tank with Petiolaris complex sundews
Middle shelf: Mexican butterworts mostly.
Lowest shelf: Terrestrial and Epiphytic utricularia
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Sundews (and VFTs) shelf:
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Pinguicula shelf:
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Utricularia shelf:
Newsly installed radiator from a water cooler rig (testing)
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Tiny Cephalotus :)
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Humidifier that is connected to the utrics shelf (pardon the cat)
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Newly setup rigged watercooler:
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Copper tubbing used to cool the returning water from the radiator:
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  • #69
Great looking setup gill_za! Hard to tell on my phone, is there plastic then the door that closes?
 
  • #70
Great looking setup gill_za! Hard to tell on my phone, is there plastic then the door that closes?

Do you mean the plastic in front of each shelf?

I attached a styrofoam strip (leftover from the side and back panels) to the shelf and to it a cable guide was glued.
The cable guides on top and bottom form a "rail" for a sheet of acrylic transparent plastic that slides in:

This post : http://www.terraforums.com/forums/s...and-upgraded&p=1061808&viewfull=1#post1061808 has close up pics :)
 
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  • #71
Hello,

I shall necrothread this old thread to provide an update. I no longer have this grow-shelf at my apartment and 99% of the plants are gone. Lack of time, major appartment renovation, pests and other excuses... Somewhere along the way I also lost some of the steam. Like with many new members of this community I was a bit crazy about ordering several new plants every month or more often. The collection grew fast and became difficult to manage. My enthusiasm reached a peak and crashed.

After the apartment renovation shelf was moved to my parents basement where it currently remains. Someone decided to use the shelf to also grow plants brought in from outside and it sort of spiraled downhill from that point on. In addition my low maintenance Sarracenia collection has succumbed to what I think was rhizome rot. I did not inoculate the plants with thrichoderma as often as I should have and since the plants were sitting in the same water tray it spread really quick.

I currently still grow 3 cephalotus plants (divided the parent plant) and recently ordered and planted some additional seeds. I am also setting a large pot similar to how it is described here.

Random places around the apartment where I grow plants:
Plants on the windowsill. One ceph is growing among the orchids.
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Under the stairs grow-area:
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To all the new members: don't go too crazy and greedy about getting the plants. The chances are you may burn out. Instead grow your collections slowly and steadily, keeping it manageable and all the while gaining the experience and knowledge.
 
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  • #72
I'm glad to hear you didn't burn out completely, gill_za. I'm on my third time around now, but things seem much more controlled these days. :)
 
  • #73
Nice grow space you got there. What's that tree thing on the top shelf in the first photo?
 
  • #74
From left to right top shelf: Sphagnum cultivation chamber (I had some sphagnum remaining from original Cephalotus container and decided to try and propagate it). On top of the container sits the tray with Cephalotus seeds. Next there is a tray with my wife's Japanese mustard seeds. And finally wife's plant .. err don't know what it is to be honest :). Bottom shelf has bunch of orchids we got while in Hawaii and one Cephalotus division which I ultimately hope to convert to a windowsill plant.
 
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  • #75
cool set up! eventually you will get to the point where you don't need a sphag grow set up because its taking over every where. I throw out a couple hand fulls from my grow chamber every couple months.
 
  • #76
Thanks, gotta work with what little space I have. Almost finished the container for temperate plants for outside. Ran out of CP mix while filling it up yesterday. Also, need to adjust the position of the drain tube to maintain specific water level and add more soil. A couple of plants are on the way to me so I will post pics as soon as they are all planted.

P.S. Turns out 5 mexican pings survived the neglect and are now in my care. Tags were lost unfortunately.

Update:

My outside growing area:

S. "Carolina yellow jacket"





The pot has drainage system which allows me to observe and regulate water level in the pot:



Pot with VFTs
Neighbor's kid kept poking the traps so I added the sign to try and dissuade him.




 
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