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Hi there.

After a pause of almost 10 years in growing CP (new jobs, moving abroad, etc) I'm finally starting again slowly.

For now I'm filling a homemade greenhouse in a plastic box (fitted with leds lights) and also growing a Sarracenia outside. After one year it still alive so I think that I will be able to add more plants in a near future.
I may have to cage them to keep the squirrels away...

So far a few droseras and a Nepenthes seem to do ok. I'm planning to sow some ICPS seeds as soon as they arrive (should not be long now) to prepare them for the spring. I will probably try half of them in vitro too, especially the Nepenthes ventricosa. I'm also waiting for some pygmies this week, I think they should like it here.

Hopefully everything will grow, until then (green) finger crossed!
 
Welcome! I grew in the Bay Area for a number of years with excellent result. Out there you can grow basically everything short of lowland Nepenthes outside with minimal intervention. Winters are cold/dark enough that you don't need to do anything to induce dormancy in temperates... Doesn't get too much closer to perfect, just keep them squirrels away. haha How much outside space do you have?

Be sure to post pictures of your plants. I've since moved to the Midwest and miss those old growing conditions. Let me grow vicariously though you. ;)
 
Not a lot of space, a quite big balcony but that's about it. I still think I may lack of direct sun, I guess I will see this summer how it goes.

I will try to do a few updates with my squirrel cage (almost finished) and greenbox (I'm wiring a few sensors in it) to get some feedback and try to keep everything alive on the first try.

As for the plants here are some bad quality pictures of the elders (which are actually not in California, too big to be moved) and of the D. Multifida and N. fusca x maxima.
PCs - Album on Imgur
 
Nice looking plants!

What kind of sensors are you wiring up? There are a few of us here with some experience and/or expressed interest with various kinds of sensors.
 
Thanks!

I'm using arduino based sensors with the MySensor protocol and a Raspberry Pi with DomoticZ.

For now I have a temperature/humidity sensor working (htu21d, still on a breadboard)

Hletg8L.png

wINat11.png


I'm waiting for a light sensor (bh1750) to have a better sense of the LED real output.
I also have a CPU 4 wires PWM fan that is controlled by the arduino. It will be temperature and humidity controlled.

LEDs are plugged to a 433MHz controller, the arduino setup will also have a 433MHz transmitter to switch the lights ON, OFF, change the light level, the color, or anything else. Seems to work on the side, but I will have to combine everything together in the final setup. I need longer week ends...
 
An order for longer weekends all around!

Thanks for the links, I'll need to check them out. I have more experience with research-grade sensors at work, but I'm slowly working my way into hobby applications (and hobby-grade sensors/loggers). If you don't mind, I might ask to pick your brains on the topic at some point. I feel like there are a lot of assumptions, superstitions, and unanswered questions that could be addressed with a considered sensor setup and a little bit of time. I've been playing with an arduino for a bit, but I think a Rapberry Pi is a little outside my current knowledge level.

I have access to some O2 sensors while they're outside of their deployment cycle that I'd love to test some of the methods that people use for root oxygenation. Need some of those long weekends! ;)
 
Sure!

The raspberry pi is just a way to collect all the data on a user friendly interface. You usually just have to download an image, install it on a SD card and connect it to your home network. That's about it.
All the tutorials on the mysensor website are actually nicely explained, and very simple.

Forums are also very dynamic. You may be interested by Office plant monitoring | MySensors Forum or Air Quality Sensor | MySensors Forum where they test some sensors. I did not see any O2 ground sensors but if your sensors is working on an arduino then everything else should be easy.
 
Welcome to the Bay Area! If you're interested in getting involved with the local CP community, the Bay Area Carnivorous Plant Society is holding a meeting this Saturday at the UC Botanical Garden in Berkeley. Here is some info: http://www.bacps.org/
 
Oh sweet, not sure If I will be able to make it, but I will try!

Thanks for the info.
 
  • #10
Welcome to TF!
 
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