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All you people are so lucky........

  • Thread starter Starman
  • Start date
  • #21
My parents never spent a penny on any of my plants. All of it is bough using my own money, and my terrainium is just a big clear plastic storage box with wooden panels on the sides to hold up the lights and cheap plastic that is used to wrap various things in like beds or something. So the overall cost is very cheap, and since there is no plastic/glass between the lights and terrainium, the plants get better lighting off of less lights.
 
  • #22
I think most of us here who don't have greenhouses are envious of those who do.
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But the vast majority of us here DON'T have a greenhouse so you are not alone! We have to find ways of growing our plants as best we can. You try this and try that and find what works for you in your area. That's part of the fun of it. And yes, there will be heartbreaking plant losses from time to time. But not having a greenhouse doesn't mean you can't grow CPs.
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Greenhouses also require a lot of time, work and expense. So not all your time goes into playing with the pretty plants. Just like with owning a horse, its not all trail rides and gallops--its grooming, mucking stalls, hauling hay and feel, hoof picking, tack cleaning...etc. "Luxuries" bring work and responsibility too.

So yeah...we all want a greenhouse.
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And maybe some day you will have one. Set your sights on working hard and saving money for your own home and greenhouse on down the road. Its not impossible.
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  • #23
I cant even get a terrarium though.
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And most peole here do have a terrarium. Its awful.
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I want to grow lots of lovely plants like Utrcularia quelchi, Nepenthes villosa, Nepenthes gracilis, Nepenthes bicalcarata and other plants, but I cant, I dont have a greenhouse or terrarium.
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Dino
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  • #24
U. quelchii is extremely hard to come by, let alone extremely rare. I've only seen it on very few growlists.
 
  • #25
They aren't that much... it just equals out to a plant order, the most at $100.00 with the tank ($10.00), 2 or three 28 inch light fixtures ($20-30.00), and some other odds and ends to make it work (probably about 20-30?)
Now, that isn't too much is it?...  just a low end terrainium that works nicely.  I'm sure your Heli order you placed a couple weeks back wasn't the cheapest order, so just save up and soon enough you'll have enough to buy a terrainium!
A few of those plants you mentioned on the post above I am sure goes WAY above the $100.00 mark!
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  • #26
Heres a cheap little setup, get your self a 10g aquarium($8 at walmart) a cheap dual incandecent bulb hood(about$20 at walmart) and 2 spiral screw in Power compact flourecent light bulbs 15-19W (Home depot $3-$8 ea) and your set!

-Juan-Carlos
 
  • #27
The Helis were £10 each. U.quelchii, I can get that, someone at CPUK has it, but I need a terrarium for it. Um peter, that is a lot of money to my mum.......
Dino
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  • #28
I grow a Nepenthes gracilis on my windowsill.
 
  • #29
the money was in US dollars too, so it's not actually that much. Again, just save up a few plant orders, which with shipping I'm guessing is about $30.00 in US currency. And with saving 2 orders, there you have it! $60.00 enough to buy yourself a full terrainium. Trust me, I was in your shoes once and made with what ever I had and suceeded with lots of healthy growing Neps now. Including N. Bical, N. Lowii, N. Gracilis, N. Ampullaria just for starters.
 
  • #30
I grow a Nepenthes gracilis on my windowsill.

I know its not that much, peter. Its probably around £50-£75.
Dino
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But its a lowlander, how on earth can you do that?
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The temperatures drop at night, and lowlanders dont really like that.
 
  • #31
dude I grew a bical inside a plastic thiing with a flourescent light on it. makeshift terrariums and things work well often.
 
  • #32
I dunno, all I know is it's growing
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  • #33
Dino, Peter is right. I don't know if there is an issue with your mom, but if it is a $$$ issue then like he said save your plant money and be self sufficient of your hobby. Its only really your hobby if you support it.

Joe

BTW, I am 24yrs old with a full time job with good pay and my chamber includes a rubbermaid tub. You gotta make the best of the extra money you got, cause sometimes its not in abundance.

Joe
 
  • #34
Starman, just some advice from my experience when I first started growing these guys- losen up a bit with the plant growing, nothing has to be exactly picture perfect, or exactly how like the book states.  As long as your plants are growing well, why should you care?  A Gracilis grown on a windsill is a easy task, since most heated/cooled homes maitain a intermediate growing rang which suites most of the easier speicies.  Heck, most plants out there that are considered what to be hard aren't all that tricky, as long as you hit most of the major points.  Like N. Lowii and Bicalatera which was once thought to be "expert" plants are now grown by lots of people in pretty adverse conditions.  Mine Bical is growing in close to intermediate conditions with humidity levels dropping down to 50's at times when I am too lazy to check up on them and is still pitchering fine.  The main thing is that your plant is accustomized to your house, which depending on conditions could take forever or just a few days depending on where your plant was recieved from before hand.  Like this grower who grows all his nepenthes outside in california, I recieved several pretty rare cuttings from him, and since they were grown outside they were already accustomed to harsh conditions making their transition very easy to mine.
Where as if I was to buy them from a greenhouse with perfect conditions, I probably wouldn't have as fast of growth for a LONG time.
So just relax, experiment, work with what you have, and ask questions. There is no such thing as a dumb question.
 
  • #35
Hi Dino,
I had to wait til I was past 30 before getting a greenhouse. Now that I have my own house, I can put greenhouses up as and when I can afford to. If you work hard at your studies, get a decent job, find a house with a suitable garden and then you will be there..
 
  • #36
i dont have a greenhouse
 
  • #38
oh and also i realize that i am lucky even though i have to take on a job to be able to keep it, its actually a sunroom
 
  • #39
Yeah, its pretty amusing when its hard to get them to let you spend 20 or so bucks on something....then next thing you know they have just tossed 100 dollars plus at a few more high tech fans. I use a ten gallon tank as a "growchamber" but it only has 1 pot with something in it(N. ventrata).

I think the ventrata may soon be big enough to go outside, but i'm not sure. My Dad doubts it will ever grow large...lol


I consider myself lucky to be able to keep A: keep pets in the first place B: Keep a large planted aquarium with lights in the living room C: Have pretty much total(besides financial-gotta depend on odd jobs for that) control of my little hobbies(no one is telling me what to do/put in a tank or what not to do)
 
  • #40
Starman, luck has very little to do with it.  My greenhouse is seasonal and very cheap.  I am saving my money, bidding my time, and working extra hours so that I can have a nice, permanent greenhouse when I retire.  I have several terrariums, two growchambers and a large grow shelf (+ the take down greenhouse).  The terrariums were purchased cheaply at garage sales, I built the chambers and the shelf.  The cost was very minimal, it had to be.

Not luck, hard work and patience.  Most of us that have chambers and greenhouses are adults and have worked many years to enjoy the small things we have.  The young adults that have these things may have gotten them from their parents, but many have chosen to work hard to earn their own.  They have turned away from normal youthful past times and decided to enjoy this hobby instead.  Many youths and adults can not put much money into this hobby and patiently build on what they have.  Those that have large greenhouses or greenhouse businesses have thrown themselves into this.  They work very hard and pay-in a lot (money and sweat).

Where we are lucky, including you, is the countries in which we were born and raised.  You are on a computer, talking to people across the world, so you are doing fine.  You are not in a third world country striving to survive.  Patience is truly a virtue.  Relax and try not to envy.  By the time you are my age I expect you to have more cool stuff then I can imagine.  Things will come to you.

I was born in an over-sized low income family (politically correct
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), you grow out of it.  Work, save money and watch for give aways.  Two of my largest terrariums came as a give away.  You will make it.  

The lowlands can wait awhile.  Start elsewhere and build.
 
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