What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

What makes my Hamata's lids close?

(I'm just full of questions this weekend!-sorry folks!
wink.gif
 )

I have noticed that the pitcher lids on my N. hamata seedling started closing at night when I make it cold (I run a vent from the A/C to bring the temps down in the highland tank). What could be causing this? Should I not be making this plant experience the cooler nights? I can put it in a regular lowland terrarium.

I assumed it needed a temp drop at night like the lowii and fusca are supposed to so I rigged up the following contraption (a dryer vent to go from the window A/C unit to the top of the terrarium).

<image src="http://the-natural-aquarium.com/coldairvent.jpg">

Other specs of the highland enclosure are:
110 Watt compact flourescent reef lighting (Red Sea Phazer IV)
Humidity 80%-100% (depedning upon the ultrasonic fogger being on or off)
Lots of air circulation above and below the plants.
 
Probably the cold dry air coming from the ac unit.
Hamata are not lowland plants but they do like fairly high humidity to pitcher well. The plant will do fine with less humidity but the pitchers are sensitive to humidity drops and they will not pitcher well unless the humidity remains fairly high. What temperature does the tank drop too at night without the ac unit?

Perhaps you can pipe the ultrasonic humidifier into the ac line before it hits the tank?

Tony
 
The enclosure temps without the AC drop from 80-85* during the day to only about 75* at night.

I do have the humidifiers output sitting right next to the A./C output  but only occasionally run them in tandem because the humidifier ends up making the leaves wet. is this OK? I don't want to get fungus, rot or leaf burn from the leaves being wet every day when the light comes on. Or, is that what I should have? (wet leaves every morning?)
Yes, I could put the humidifiers hose into the vent if being wet is OK
 
I guess ideally what you would like is to have the ultrasonic humidifier bring the humidity in the cold AC air back to around 70%. Wet plants from a humidifier running is probably asking for trouble with disease. If the plants are soaking wet from the ultrasonic running then I guess it is set too high. Perhaps find a way to lessen the amount of moisture it puts into the tank in conjunction with the AC feed?
Tony
 
It seems N. hamata is very fussy when environmental conditions do change. I would expect your plant from mail order loosing all its pitchers so don't be disappointed when this happens. As long as the growth point continues to grow the plant will be OK. Pitchers propably won't form on the first new leaf but the following ones should do. I know it doesn't help you but my N. hamata also did loose all its pitchers in two weeks time after I got it by mail and now I'm already waiting for two months to see new ones form...

Joachim
 
Joachim, can you describe to me your setup that your Hamata is growing in? You are in Sweden right?

Thanks!
 
No, I'm living in Munich/Germany (about 50 miles away from Martin). The N. hamata grows together with all of my other Nepenthes in a terrarium which you can see at my petflytrap page. At the bootom are about 4 to 5 cm of water and the pots are standing on a grid above the water. A nice feature is that I can flush the pots every time I water them. I don't use any humidifier as they are not needed for growing nepenthes. They might look cool but the plants do get too soft and are prone for disease. Humidity level is about 80% but fluctuates over the day.

The N. hamata sits in a shadier position and is still adjusting to its new conditions at the moment so I can't tell too much.

Joachim
 
That's how my terrariums are set up (with lighting grid set on PVC pipes to allow space below so water can drain out of the pots) and cause humidity. However I was under the impression that Fusca, Lowii and Hamtas needed cooler nights so I rigged up the airduct and humidifier thing to bring the temps down to around 65*F/18*C at night. If I have the humidity high enough would I not need these lower night temps?
 
65 is fine for fusca and will probably be ok for the others although I would like to see 60 preferably. You had mentioned that it only got down to 75 at night in a previous post which would deffinately be too warm.
Tony
 
  • #10
Yeah, it doesn't change much unless I run the AC at night. It probably will when summers over but til then the house is warm even with all the ACs running.

I'm working on an improvement to my AC vent design which will incorporate a collector to collect all the AC's output instead of just a 4" section. I'll have to see what home depots got for me in the morning!
smile.gif
 
  • #11
Could you put the terrarium in front of the AC or the AC in front of the terrarium? This way the cold air would transfer to the glasss and the cold glass would transfer it's coldness to the air molecules inside. Just a thought.
 
  • #12
I think I've got it!  
biggrin.gif


Today I found a 3 1/2" H x 10" W vent with a 4" hole on the back that I hooked up to my duct hose. The extra metal on the top and bottom an be clipped right into my ACs output vent slots (no more fooling with tape every night when the enclosures lights go off taping the duct hose to the AC-just clip it on when needed). I tested it just now and even with the lights on it dropped the temps almost 11*F (from 83 to 72) in about 5 minutes instead of a few hours!

I guess my question now would be is it possible this is cooling too fast? Are plants picky about how quickly they get cooled? I can turn down the AC of course but is there a speed at which they should be cooled (10*F per hour or so?).

I hope I can party now...!
biggrin.gif
 
  • #13
No, they shouldn't be picky about being cooled fast at all. Naturally they do get cooled down gradually but stilll it is the temp that counts!
smile.gif
Great job!
 
  • #14
Cool!
Now I gotta try and find a timer/thermostat that I can plug my AC into and have it start up and run only from 1 am til 9AM and keep a steady temp. All the ones I found today need to be hardwired to the wall and appliance their running. I just want one that uses a grounded plug and plugs into the wall outlet... maybe they haven't invented em yet...!
 
  • #16
Thanks for that link! I checked it out...

wow.gif
You aint kidding, they aren't cheap! If I could get a real house and setup a greenhouse out back I'll drop that much for climate controls but not for a tiny 4 ft x 2ft x2ft enclosure. I'll just time how long the AC has to be on to get low temps I want and how long it take for them to rise again and figure out the times with a 15 minute timer (it's way cheaper&#33
wink.gif


Thanks again for the help folks!
 
  • #17
Just be careful on pumping in all that dry AC air. What you need is a humidistat in the tube and the ultrasonic humidifier connected right after the AC unit.. then you can have 55 degree air at 80% relative humidity!
T
 
  • #18
So it would be best if the mist and AC air blended in the tube before the enclosure not once it gets into the enclosure? That should be easy enough, just cut a hole and tape the humidifier output in at a "T". I have experimented with it a bit already (just sticking the tube in where I hook the vent & hose to the AC output but what I dislike is the fact that when the humidifier and AC are blended in the tube I can't see the fog as the air exits the tube, so to me it's "not working" even though the tanks humidistat says 75* and 81%.
Is 80% or so high enough humidity for these nepenthes?
 
  • #19
80% is plenty high enough. Personally I would say yes it would be better to premix them. If it is running correctly you shouldn't see mist blowing from the tube as this would indicate near 100% humidity. It is just my opinion that you risk zapping the plants with cold dry air otherwise. The humidity level in the AC air is probably down near 20-30%.

The only problem is that you won't also see if the humidifier is not functioning properly with it connected upstream of the terrarium.
Tony
 
  • #20
Yep, right-o Tony!
I hooked it up with the AC vent & duct hose with humidifier's hose going into the duct hose about 4 feet before the enclosure and last night I achieved 57* and 86% humidity at about 4-5 AM (and it was HOT last night&#33
wink.gif
. It just makes me crazy that I can't see the mist when it's hooked up this way but as long as it works - I guess I don't care about seeing mist (I do like the look of a foggy terrarium though)! Today the terrarium is 84* and 82% humidity.
Did you say to not let it get much higher than 85*F or is that only important if the humidity is low that daytime temps over 85* will matter much? I do have the fan blowing on the front & sides of the enclosure most of the time and it usually stays around 75-80* but it's been hot & humid lately and will be til about late september here in Minnesota so everything is at a higher temp these 4 months in the summer.
 
Back
Top