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Lighted Laboratory Fridge

jimscott

Tropical Fish Enthusiast
My laboratory has refrigerators to receive and store samples. When we come in to work we turn on the fluorescent lights and turn them off at the end of the day. The temperature is kept at 4 degrees C. The instructions for dormancy requiring CP's is to gradually reduce temp & photoperiod, insuring dormant plants, to be placed into a fridge for ~3months. Further, most people put them in a baggie / ziplock. Normal home refigerators are dark until opened. Our lab fridge is lighted for ~9 hours per day. In nature, the plants are not kept in the dark nor are they sealed in a baggie. Is it necessary to keep them sealed? Can a dormant plant be placed in my laboratory as is, without being sealed, and monitoring its moisture successfully?
 
At 4 degrees C (38 degrees F I believe) yours cps are into deep dormancy and do not need any light. As for me I used the plastic bag meathod once and my vft died - thou most of my attempts at dormancy only one vft has survived after 2 years going on 3 years. I do how ever slowly put mine in the refrig and that process takes about 2 weeks then they are in for 3 months.

Travis
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Travis @ Jan. 17 2004,19:50)]At 4 degrees C (38 degrees F I believe) yours cps are into deep dormancy and do not need any light. As for me I used the plastic bag meathod once and my vft died - thou most of my attempts at dormancy only one vft has survived after 2 years going on 3 years. I do how ever slowly put mine in the refrig and that process takes about 2 weeks then they are in for 3 months.

Travis
... Um Travis, do you remember to put the plastic bag in a paper bag to buffer it againced temp swings when you open the door?

... Sounds like the lab is a perfict place for a dorment plant
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I'm trying to duplicate, as much as my artificial environment can do, some semblance of the natural conditions in the North Carolina. VFT's & Sarracenia are experiencing, as we speak, ~9 hours of daylight, temperature fluctuations between a little below freezing to highs in the 40's & 50's. They are not covered by plastic. Is it necessary to enclose a dormant plant in the fridge at 4 degrees C, with 9 hours of fluorescent light, slightly moist?
 
Things can dry out pretty quickly in a fridge, so you would need to monitor occasionally for substrate moisture.
 
Fortunately, I could monitor them Monday through Friday. I was wondering if it is a must to seal them, considering they're not air tight on the window sill, whether it is summer, or fall, when the their temps and photoperiod are gradually declining. So I figure maybe they can, once gradually brought to dormancy through fall, they can safely be kept dormant, without drying out, in the lighted fridge for a couple months before gradually being warmed back up on the sill again, before being placed outside for spring. Well, it's a thought.
 
I use the plastic bag method and haven't had any problems. When they get a lot of condensation in them I either dump it out or leave the bag open for a day or two till the excess dew is gone. I don't use fungicide and have not had any problems. It also helps to check them weekly so that you can catch any fungus problems before they are a "problem". Don't just stick them in the fridge and forget them for three months.
 
No, I'd never do that! I always monitor the plants.
 
Sorry Jim, didn't intend to sound like I was singling you or anyone out. I have been known to forget to check them for several weeks at a time. That's why I put them in a ziplock. I am less likely to remember to check them and find a flower pot full of desicated CP remains
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BCK
 
  • #10
Always wanted to say this: "That's tokay, gecko." This is probably the right forum for it. Yeah, I'm such a mother hen with my CP's and I absolutely have to use the lab fridge a few times a day, five days a week. Unlike some of my family members, who are part squirrel.... Penicillin, anyone?
 
  • #11
I actually had a fungi thing the first year my eldes vft was in the fridge. I didn't find it till spring, but it didn't even do anything to the plant, just ate off the old dead leaves. I clip them off before I put them in now and I've never seen fungi since.
 
  • #12
Was it Mr. D'amato that said some folks cut the leaves as a preventative measure while others don't, so as to give the plant a head start in the spring? I got the impression he was strongly in favor of one or the other. Would it be more likely to encounter fungus if the plant were enclosed in a baggie as opposed to just placed in the fridge as is, open tray?
 
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