Oye V, good to see ya... gmailed ya a few days ago, been out of town again.... seems like I live on the road lately
Ron, as far as peat.... Ive just had much better luck without it, my best looking and most bullet proof helis have all been those using cypress based mixes. Pure cyrpess is really good for mature plants but requires daily watering. Which is probably the secret in itself, daily gas exchange in the root zone.
Here lately I have been on the road a lot so I have been working on mixes that work well but can go a day or two between waterings and this has been option C. Still get decent looking plants but now I can go a day or two between waterings and the substrate is still damp even with the high airflow of my setup.
I just had more trouble with peat then it was worth to me... once you see the base of the pitchers go a mushy brown its over with... and it has been my personal experience that this condition was most common with mixes containing peat.
I have one growing in a lotus pot with pure LFS (ceramic pot with holes in the side) and it is doing very well...
Without the constant cross ventillation the temps would go critical in short order, the fans are not an option with my setup, they are a requirement.
I must have airflow and lots of it... which then requires constant humidity supplimentation. Hence everything being on the same time cycles.
A problem that I didnt forsee was the oxydation of the reflectors, so now I use a acrylic based automotive sealant or quick detailer to prevent that from reoccuring.
I constantly have new pitchers, at any one time there are new pitchers in various stages of developement. Careful with the liquid food... if the liquid level is high in the pitchers this will leak out and find its way to the rootzone... which will slowly become toxic to the plant and death will occur. Its a frustrating lesson to learn and one that I learned the hard way.
Liquid is ok and works great, but use with caution. It has a very little margin of error.
Feed every two weeks and keep it up, one or two ciclid sized pellets for large pitchers and one or two betta pellets for small pitchers. After a month or so you will see a flush of growth that will continure throughout the growing season. (assuming other factors are ok) Sometimes I give them a little treat of dried flies or some other reptile food.
My basement has 8' tall, 12" thick poured concrete walls... tons of thermal mass. If its -20 or 105 outside it will still be somewhere between 55-70 degrees.
hmmmm think that is it
Av
Interesting mixes. I notice that none of them include any peat. Do Heli's have some aversion to it?
Your basement seems to get a bit cooler than mine in winter (except for my back room (aka - root cellar - which gets into the 40's)).
You say no day/nite variance so the fan(s) offset the heat gain from the lights? I find I typically get a 10-15*F day/nite variance from the lights & I would've guessed that the rack of reflector T-5's would have gotten even more... (at least w/o fans)
All very good info - thanks! My one Heli that is doing 'OK' is in 100% LFS and is fed regularly. I originally would just fill the pitchers every 2-3 weeks w/ 1/4 strength miracid. In the last month, I've added some WFFs / carpenter ants. It is still very slow to add pitchers. How often do you see new pitchers emerging?
Very helpful - thanks again.
