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Highland Nepenthes and orchid Indoor greenhouse

S_Oregon_CP

Bio is my life!
I have recently made a 4'L x 2'D x 3'H chamber out of lumber. I then covered it with clear painters canvas to keep heat and humidity inside. I put 2 4' t-12's and they keep the chamber at a constant 80 when on. I have recently been researching and have found Holmes products to be enough to keep a small greenhouse like mine sustainable for weeks on end. I have decided to buy the thermostat regulated twin window fan for exhaust that is 49.99 to keep cool air coming in from outside and for overall air flow. I want the cool air humidifier that has a humidistat for 49.99 also. This takes care of light, humidity and air flow inside. I think that having vents near the top with the possibility to vent air out with a small fan will take care of air flow. The humidifier will keep the humidity up reliably well above 70 percent for a period of days which is not bad for a 50.00 product. The humidistat and thermostat on the fan will help a lot. I keep my HL neps in orchid pots in trays and water every time it dries up and I notice the sphagnum on top drying up. With the humidity its not usually a problem. I plan on probably getting rubbermaid tubs in place of the trays as they do break down fairly fast when moved. Also the tubs will give me better depth to keep water underneath the plants while not sitting in it. The whole thing will cost me 20 dollars in lumber. 5 dollars in clear plastic tarp. 50 for thermostat fan and 50 dollars for cold air humidistat controled humidifier. and 20 dollars for the two lights and bulbs. very cheap and once set up will be reliable. I have tested this out with sucess and this is the finished product. Once its finished I will post tons of photos.
 
Sounds good! No sense living in a cool climate and not making use of it! My new plant shelf is hooked up to the window too let's see if my pics are online...

Here's a 4" PC fan feeding the ducting blowing (whispering) fresh air onto the 3 shelves. I'm gonna buy either a 8" box fan or one of those dual fans like you mention with the two small fans as this one isn't blowing hard enough when split over 3 shelves. But this old radio shack PC fan only move 20 CFM and this setup has lots of angles it has to move through so there's just a puff of air. This 4" fan worked great on my 4 ft x 2 ft x 4 ft highland nep chamber but it was supplying fresh air to just one area, not 3.

airvent.jpg
plantshelf.jpg


if you can keep your lights outside the environment of your highland setup that will lower the daytime temps a lot too. I can't in my stacked setup here but I wish I could as my old highland chamber was about 10*F cooler without the lamps inside. Perhaps the new fan will conquer this last hurdle. I tried a 6" diameter "inductor" duct boosting fan but it was LOUD and also didn't sound like it was running at a stable speed so I disconnected that. The PC fan is so nice and quite, just sort of weak.

In the old days the air duct from the window was intersected by a 2" diameter hose that was installed over the outlet of a $29.99 ultrasonic humidifier from the Walmart pharmacy. it fogged the incoming air until the humidistat shut it off while the air continued to blow in then the humidity would drop and the fog would start back up. It was great to see "neps in the mist". But it also kept things from getting too wet by having normal MN air humidity blowing in every 5-10 mins.
I wish I had pics to share from back then. My website crashed and there went like 4 years or growing and photos....
 
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