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Lil Stinkpot

Lucky Greenhorn
I wanted to raise the humidity, and perhaps build a sort-of swamp cooler arrangement for the greenhouse. Well, the project ran away from me, and I ended up with a really big, humidity-busting water fountain. I am happy with the results.

Here's what I did.


It took a trip to two different hardware stores to find everything. These are actually little walls or fences for flower gardens, made of bamboo.
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I bought three pieces of 1" bamboo and one piece of 2". Turns out I only needed one of each. The 1" got cut into two halves and are holding the A-frame together. I used plastic coated wire to hold it all together.
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Initial fitting. I liked it so much that way, I just tightened the wire, and called it right.
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My audience. There are feral cats in the area. This one is friendly, sort of.
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Next, I cut a length of 2" bamboo and cut out a notch along one side. I forgot to get a picture of it as I was working, but you'll see it in a minute. I then drilled a hole for the water tube, and knocked out the natural wall that was in the middle of the tube. It went on top, for the water to fall out of. Here I also installed the water tube.
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Testing how the water falls. I want the water to run down the front of the bamboo (it turned out better than that; it runs down the back, too), but without much splashing that would lead to spillage and waste.
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Close-up of the bamboo tube the water spills out of. I wasn't too happy with the way the water rolled around and under it, making a huge mess all over the carport. I would have a hard time keeping the water IN the bucket. I went through several ideas before I came up with the winner.
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The winning fixit: a piece of the polyurethane that covers the greenhouse. It keeps the water from curling under the bamboo tubes until it gets down onto the slats.
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Testing how the water falls now....
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One process I didn't photograph was cleaning a spot in the greenhouse, portaging the whole works into it's new home, and filling it with water.
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More to come....

---------- Post added at 06:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:03 PM ----------

Now I'm just playing. I didn't care whether the water runs down the sides outside the plastic lashings, just as long as it stays IN the bucket. Just for fun, I started sliding strands of live Sphagnum in between some of the slats.
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Then I started adding surprises.
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The Sphagnum bleached all the way to the tips, but it's still alive. I guess there was too much water. It'll grow out.

Every day I go out there, I fiddle with this, tweak that, and add something new. I will certainly keep things updated as more fun changes occur.
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Just today, I added some Utrics to the Sphagnum blobs, and a huge wad of U. dichotoma to the spout and the pot under it. The pot is there, by the way, to keep splashing down. I want humidity, not a mess!

The fountain does keep the temperature moderated; where it used to be reliably ten degrees warmer inside versus outside, it is usually between five and ten degrees cooler. The humidity went up from a pathetic 30 - 40% to a whopping 80-95%. Tropical! All the plants have started to show signs of appreciation of the changes. I have greener, fuller leaves, stiffer orchid leaves, and an overall better color to everything. I will continue to watch, and see what all the plants "think" of the while setup.

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Nice and OH oh OH! You should add pings in between the slats too! Cobras + pings grow naturally in the cracks of vertical rock faces that have water trickling down them a couple hours north of you...
 
I did think of putting Pings in there, but all I have are Mexican Pings and one P. grandiflora. When it makes more babies, I'll try it. I will wait for the moss to settle in, then I'll try a Darlingtonia baby, if the stolon currently wrapping itself around the pot makes one soon.
 
Nice I like this, looks very cool :)
 
Nice job! I love the soothing sound and feeling running water gives.
 
Very cool! That would be sweet if your could seriously get some Cp's growing in there.
 
I'd love to see it turned into a moss wall with CP's. That.. would be my dream come true! Running water, the pools.. Very nice.
 
I intend to introduce as many CPs as I can. I already have some bricks supporting a couple pots of stuff, and I'm preparing the water to support aquatic Utricularia. Speaking of, I'd really, really, really like to find some U. inflata. I used to have some, but it died.

The moss wall would be awesome, as long as I can get it to stay secured to the wall. That may be difficult, but not impossible. Sphagnum does not grow roots. ;) If I CAN get it to grow, I don't see why I can't put in dews, utrics, cobras and maybe even Cephs and Helis.
 
I might be able to dig up some inflata for you. That is unless my aquatic gibba hasn't drowned it all out.
 
  • #10
Nice! Thanks for sharing. I'm sure the plants in the greenhouse love the humidity.
 
  • #12
Daaaaang guurl, you thrifty! :hail:

That's so cool. I could never do anything like that lol... I wish I had skills like that. Nice greenhouse BTW. :)
 
  • #13
Thanks. I have been keeping my update pictures in my photo thread. The latest innovation, after adding the Darlingtonia, was slipping some D. capensis and binata under some of the Utrics. They're all dewy, so I think they like the new digs. I also slipped a couple Genlisea leaves under the green glop in places. One is starting to bud.
 
  • #14
...inspired and added to blueprints to future greenhouse :-D
 
  • #15
Hi Lil. I was wondering if I could trouble you for an update pic on the waterfall and flora?
 
  • #16
Love it! Are you using RO or rain water for the fountain, since you're growing CP's in it?
 
  • #17
I am lucky enough that my tap water reads around 60 ppm, and I just use that. It doesn't matter to most of the GH what the pond is filled with, and the wall-o-Utrics doesn't seem to mind, either.

When the sun comes out and I'm feelin OK, at the same time, I'll get some pictures. The Utric. mat is getting thicker, and the place where I cut out a plug for a trade a couple months ago is starting to disappear.
 
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