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Pineapple's Greenhouse

  • #141
You can get an ultrasonic humidifier to bring your humidity up. Thats what a lot of people use and its a relatively cheap solution.
 
  • #142
Hi Folks:

I've enjoyed reading this thread. Whimgrinder and others have made excellent suggestions on how to run a small hobby house but in the end you need to get in there and figure out what works and doesn't, probably after spending a bit of money and time and reinventing the wheel.

To truly run a small hobby house in working condition where the plants will grow properly figure you will sped the equivalent of buying a good used car, or perhaps even a new one. I'm not joking. You might seriously consider that your money is better spent on lights and a series of terrariums in a climate controlled house. Therein lies the rub. Small hobby houses are notorious for their difficulty in controlling climate because of their large surface area relative to the volume of air inside.

We have a 10 x 20 glass/aluminum greenhouse and it has taken us about 10 years to get it really cranking and working to perfection (we went through the bubble wrap phase to hold expensive propane heat). Key items: concrete slab floor with drains for ease of ceaning and hygiene, electrical upgrade @200 amps $1000, various heating systems from 2, 25,000 Btu propane heaters at $500 each with annual operating cost of $2000/year at 65-70F, upgraded heating system to outside wood furnace heating house and greenhouse - $14,000 which is paying for itself versus cost of propane, growing benches @several thousand dollars built by us of wood, plumbing done by us for both clean potable water and pond water, instant water heat @ $500, T5 and HPS lights $2000, evaporative cooler @$500, shade cloth @$200.

Well that's a good start at your initial expense getting the greenhouse to do what it should do. Not childs play.

Sincerely,

Phil Sherida, Ph.D.
Director
Meadowview Biological
Research Station
 
  • #143
Thanks. I don't want this to seem like I'm not taking your or anyone else's advice, but I really don't think it would cost that much to run a tiny, cheap greenhouse. I'm up for the 1500w $15 fan heater and an $80 swamp cooler. I've spent $600 so far on everything and I'm not going to let it go to waste. I don't have the $20,000 to make my 48 square foot greenhouse run perfectly. I'm doing what I can and if it doesn't work out then I'll turn it into a butterfly garden or something lol. It's not the ideal option to do it cheaply, but it's what I can do and I'll enjoy it just as much. :)
 
  • #144
I'm running mine very cheap. All I use is a 1200w space heater($25) during the winter plugged into a thermostat($30) to keep temps at 70f during the day and 50f at night. I have a 400w air conditioner($100) that I use during the summer along with shade cloth($20 at walmart) to keep it as cool as possible. Now, I have a few hot days where it impossible to keep temps below 95f but for the most part everything is manageable enough to keep things happy.

Btw, I use one of the cheapo greenhouses with the plastic covering($70). I've had to replace a lil of the plastic but besides that its very functional.
 
  • #145
I'm running mine very cheap. All I use is a 1200w space heater($25) during the winter plugged into a thermostat($30) to keep temps at 70f during the day and 50f at night. I have a 400w air conditioner($100) that I use during the summer along with shade cloth($20 at walmart) to keep it as cool as possible. Now, I have a few hot days where it impossible to keep temps below 95f but for the most part everything is manageable enough to keep things happy.

Btw, I use one of the cheapo greenhouses with the plastic covering($70). I've had to replace a lil of the plastic but besides that its very functional.

Tysm! Good to know the cheap plan is working out for others. :)
 
  • #146
Pink & green toilet... (Filled 3/4 of the way with fluids all on its own!)
ivwglt.jpg


All of my little rosettes
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It's so red and I didn't even have to photoshop it! All of my N. x 'Ventrata' pitcher filled themselves up with fluid and have suspiciously caught bugs that I didn't even add to their pitchers...
2rgz0he.jpg


The largest basal pitcher of my N. ventricosa x talangensis
dmfm0n.jpg


My N. ventricosa x talangensis is forming a total of 6 pitchers -- 2 uppers and 4 lowers... Well at least I hope two uppers, because there are two pitcher forming on the top two leaves on the vine.
 
  • #147
I was sitting on the couch watching TV and grieving over how I couldn't find a single insect to feed the new pitcher of my N. jacquelineae, when a crane fly flew by! They fly pretty slowly, so I was able to grab it single-handedly and run it to my terrarium. I shoved it into the pitcher of my jacq and watched it sink. I was able to wad it up to where no parts of it were sticking out of the pitcher. It was probably about 1.5", but it fit nicely in the pitcher. Not much meat on it except for the body. The legs are as thin as hairs and the wings dissolved pretty quickly.

e84ejd.jpg


Crane fly, in case you've never seen one...
giant_cranefly_bryce.jpg
 
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  • #148
Anyone know what could be the cause of these brown marks on the newly formed Pasian Highlands N. truncata pitcher?

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I also found a strange bug sucking on a nectar gland on my N. 'Peter D'amato' x maxima.

v4xu9l.jpg


I tried to squish it with a paper towel and feed it to one of my neps, but it got away and I couldn't find it. Hopefully it become pitcher food!
 
  • #149
Good news! I've finally decided to get a heater and a cooler for the greenhouse, and I'm considering a fogger. :)
 
  • #150
Thats good news. Good luck with it all and I hope you like everything.
 
  • #151
The suspense is building!! :boogie:

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Do you ever get that urge to bite into a nep because it looks juicy? I swear my jacq actually looks appetizing to me! :-O

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My Pasian Highland N. truncata is reddening up! :hail:

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And after like seven years, my N. densiflora x spectabilis actually finished the last stage of pitcher formation... :poke:

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I actually like my N. x 'Ventrata' alota! :-))

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Thats good news. Good luck with it all and I hope you like everything.

Thanks!! :)
 
  • #152
Wow, everything looks great! :) I love the N. densiflora x spectabilis!
 
  • #153
Wow, everything looks great! :) I love the N. densiflora x spectabilis!

Me too! Sadly, it's slower growing than a seven year itch! Not sure if it's a slow species or what. I posted a thread about it in the Nepenthes forum. Hopefully I can get some answers to help it grow a bit faster. It's not completely colored up yet, as it just opened. I'm expecting it to darken to a deep purple like the other pitchers on the plant. I kinda do like the color it's displaying now though. :blush:
 
  • #154
Is it possible that this...

ogexky.jpg


Could turn into this?...

images


I sure hope it does... That's what it's supposed to be. Do nepenthes ever get that white color?
 
  • #155
There looking good! See, I had a densiflora x spectabilis for a while and it grew really fast after it acclimated, Yours is probably still adjusting to your conditions. So just be patient and it will probably pick up the pace
 
  • #156
There looking good! See, I had a densiflora x spectabilis for a while and it grew really fast after it acclimated, Yours is probably still adjusting to your conditions. So just be patient and it will probably pick up the pace

Good to know! I really like the pitchers and the upper pitchers should look fantabulous since it has spectabilis in it. Hopefully it gets big fast. :hi5:

---------- Post added at 07:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:19 PM ----------

Do nepenthes ever get that white color?

It's probably not true white I guess. Being that N. ventricosa and N. talangensis do have lightly colored pitchers (aside from the speckles and peristomes and lids), I suppose it is possible. But the better question is, will the pitcher turn more "white" since it's already green, or am I going to end up with something purple?
 
  • #157
The medium my neps are in wasn't drying out. I hadn't watered some plants for weeks. Kinda strange. It wasn't wet, but it was nicely moist. I found a huge puddle of water under the grouping of pots, so I took them out (accidentally spilling the juices of my jacq!) and put a piece of eggcrate there, then put them on top of that. Hopefully that will provide drainage and I'll get to have more control over watering. :)
 
  • #158
UPDATE:

Everything seems to be doing great. Not too impressed with the N. ventricosa x talangensis, but not sure how it will turn out. Still rather green, not many splotches, not as bubbly and open-top as I would like. Still hasn't opened though.

I keep finding these slim, tall little mushrooms with acute tops popping up in my N. densiflora x spectabilis... Kinda strange. The moss growing in the medium is growing really tall and thick, pretty weird. I'll get some pictures of that soon.

I'm going to the nep store on Monday. I'm going to check out some spathulata hybrids that may end up with giant peristomes in adulthood. Also going to look at a weird boschiana hybrid that I can't find anywhere on Google Images or cpphotofinder.com! I'll post pics ASAP when I get new neps! :)

EDIT: These frogs outside are driving me nuts! I can hear hundreds! I drove by a tiny pond (maybe 3ft across and 10ft long) and I could hear loads of frogs with the windows closed over the roar of my old car's engine. I guess this means tadpoles soon. Hopefully I can get some frogs to stay in my greenhouse, that would be amazing lol.
 
  • #159
The sphagnum was dying in the greenhouse. It turned a tan color, but some parts are still green. I thought I would put them in the terrarium because the two strands I had in there were nice and green, plus they were growing. I put the sphagnum all around the neps...

nb58w0.jpg


Did you spot the new one in the pack of the pitcher? N. boschiana x mira...

23sj4sy.jpg


I don't really like the peristome, but it's a pretty purple color with some nice splotching. Plus, it was one of the bigger neps they had and it was priced as low as the... Oh snap, you can see the price of it in the first picture in this post... :blush:

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When I took everything out to add the sphagnum around them, I repositioned stuff to where I could see the pitchers better. Here's the N. jacquelineae... (probably my favorite nep)

a5ehd.jpg


EDIT: I couldn't find ANY pictures of N. boschiana x mira online anywhere! Must be a pretty uncommon cross, or one that not many people value at least. :jester:
 
  • #160
everything is perfect about that boschiana x mira. :D
 
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