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Lowii in aircon?

Hello,

Would putting a lowii in an air-conditioned room at night be sufficient for the plant to prosper?
 
Do you have your AC set for about 55-58 fahr. ??
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Tony
 
A/C is what keeps my highlanders alive from June til Sept. If your A/C isn't bringing the temps down far enough, a small fan blowing over the plants will add to the "wind chill" effect and cool the plants further. But you must be sure to humidify the air that is reaching the plants from the A/C and/or fan. I use an ultrasonic humidifier to saturate the cold air with moisture as it is blown over the plants.
 
I see... thanks for the advice!
Would putting a container over the plant bring the humidity up sufficiently in the a/c room?
 
It would take some experimenting but if the container were very close to the output of the AC then perhaps. If your container is sealed (enough to make the humidity 95%+ at night) then it may keep out the cold air, if it's open it will probably be too dry, but sufficiently cold... I have never cooled my plants any way other than I've described.

You'll have to experiment and let us know how it goes!
 
All right... the alternative is that I leave it outside where the temp is about 24 degrees C. Can lowiis take this kind of conditions?
 
N. lowii should be cooled down to around 12-15 C. at night. It will not take 24 C. long term. Cooling an entire room to the proper temperature for a small terrarium is not practical and unlikely to get cool enough. You really need a special built grow chamber to grow highland plants in a lowland climate.

Swords uses and AC unit to blow air directly into his grow chamber (rehumidified after it leaves the AC unit but before it reaches the chamber).

Neps uses a modified chest style freezer as a grow chamber with thermostats and timers to control day and night temperatures.

Tony
 
"wind chill" effects only occure if something is warmer than the surounding air. (e.g. humans, hot pot of coffee) There' s to my knowledge no (significant) wind chill effect with plants.

Martin
 
What will effect plants is evaporating water. I placed my misting heads overhead of my hanging ultrahighland plnats that are directly infront of the swamp cooler. When the mist builds up on thier leaves, the fresh cool air from outside drawn thru the pads cools the plants further. It like an personal cooling system again. Eventually the droplets evaporate and the plants are cooled down. I find N. lowii and hamata love this so far. N. glabrata appears to be responding better also since I placed a fine fogging head in front of the back vent.
 
  • #10
How about using one of those little personal coolers like The Sharper Image has? eBeyonder, I know that you're in Singapore, but I think they do international orders...

Here are some links:

Personal cooler/heater

Mini evaporative cooler

Also, I was thinking that we could try to figure out how the mini evaporative cooler works, and then post a plan a little more geared towards smaller-medium highland terrariums and grow chambers. GOOD LUCK!!
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  • #11
Thanks for the links and all the replies!

Sigh, looks like I don't have the correct set-up for highland neps. I thought that the air-con would be enuff to keep them cool but apparently not. I'll persist with my current system of placing the lowii in my air-con room every night (covered and with a cup of water in the cover) and see how it goes.

When my collection grows, I'll consider getting one of those coolers or a wine cooler as a highland chamber.
 
  • #12
I don't mean to nake you feel bad, but lowii is a pretty darn hard nep to grow, so I don't know how it will do, but there are some stories of it adapting... GOOD LUCK!!
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  • #13
I'll just hope for the best then
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  • #14
N. lowii can be grown as an intermediate in short term (a few months at the most). But in long terms needs ultrahighland conditions for a nice healthy vigorous plant. After moving mine from a terrarium cooled by ice to my greenhouse cooled by mist and swamp cooling it is doing fabulous. And our nightime lows now approaching 44 degrees Fahrenheit tonight will make it and N. villosa grow like grass!
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Also just for a little laugh supposedly N. lowii can be adapted to lowland conditions....but this has not be proven, if so then maybe in a few years you'll be able to grow it along side an N. bicalcarata!
 
  • #15
Hi all:

The controversial topic of lowii always catches my attention.

this is what Michael Catalani from Nep university says:

"Temperature - Keeping the temperatures in the mid 80's with a night time drop into the low 60's seems to work very well, although nighttime drops into the 50's is more what it is accustomed to. I have grown it as an intermediate for about a year. It prefers a highland setup. Keeping the daytime temps out of the 90's is necessary, and if grown in a greenhouse, should be placed next to the swamp cooler".

So it does not need to be 50's, just in the 60's and it should be fine. growing it as an intermediate for a year is a pretty long time!!.

Agustin
 
  • #16
I would not advise growing N. lowii in intermediate conditions for any length of time. Keep in mind that there is a lot of difference between keeping a plant alive and having it thrive.
 
  • #17
I've put the lowii in my room with the aircon and fan both turned on at full blast. I hope the plant thrives, cos I'm freezing away in this kind of sleeping condition!
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  • #18
To have it thrive it will need the high humidity and bright lighting along with those cold nights...
If you think you're cold now wait til you're sleeping in a wind tunnel in mid January!
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  • #19
Dear all:

I clearly understand what some of you are saying regarding surviving vs. thriving!!. However, how can one tell with lowii??, when its growth rate is so slow, it make take 4-6 months before anybody knows if it is surviving or thriving!!.

Agustin
 
  • #20
I have noticed when moved from indoors to my greenhouse the rate of growth on N. lowii increased dramatically. It grows about as fast as N. truncata...or a little slower perhaps. The key to it is coo and humid conditions. To tell if this guy is thriving in your collection is by simply seeing what it likes best! Provide the climate, the light, and the soil and it should grow. I guess you could say it's happy if it's making nice pitchers. Right now mine has a large new leaf and new pitcher forming. I'll get a photo sometime later.
 
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