What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Terrarium for my neps (and other cps)

I was just misting my neps today when I noticed that some of the new pitchers were drying up. This is going to be my first winter having neps. The problem is that I live in an apartment, where space is limited, in northern Ohio...cold and dry winters. I was looking at the plastic shelves that my plants are sitting on and wondered why I couldn't turn that into an indoor greenhouse/terrarium. I was thinking of taking long clear sheets of plastic and draping it over the shelves to help maintain the humidity.

Has anyone done anything like this? Any advice? Any photos of your setup?

Thanks,
Dwight
 
That helps. Just be aware that the moisture will condense on the plastic and run down. Make some provision to protect the floor or whatever else is underneath the rig.
 
I was thinking about creating this type of setup too, but I never got around to it. I'd say it'd work. I might try it this year.
 
I live in Montana, where the winters are even colder and drier!  I have great success growing nepenthes in a simple chamber made of a 2x4 wooden frame with plastic on the inside.  I made the back, sides, and bottom as separate panels, and stretched plastic over each and stapled it on the back side.  When the panels are put together, the seams are nice and tight, and all the staples are located on the outside of the chamber so they don't get rusty.  The top is covered with glass and fluorescent lights sit on it.  The front is covered with a removable sheet of plexiglass.

Basically, it is similar to FStP's chamber, but a little smaller, and I used a wooden frame instead of solid plywood.  It's a fairly inexpensive way to build a chamber to fit a persons size requirements.

Brian
 
I don't see why it wouldn't work. I'm trying something similar with my outside plants for their dormancy, making a coldframe just to keep in a little bit of light and humidity...

Another inexpensive helper is a room humidifier. I also live in the midwest, in an apartment, so I know what you mean about dry winters. I got the humidifiers before I got CPs, just because I would get nosebleeds from the dry air. I have two, that I got second-hand for about $10 each.

This year I'm setting up one room humidifier in the midst of my indoor growing shelves, just to help out the plants. Trays of water near the plant may help as well.

I second the idea of protecting the floor underneath your shelves so condensation won't ruin your carpet. (If you have LFS growing in you rug, your house is too humid!!!
smile_n_32.gif
)
 
I also grow all my CPs indoors and have cold winters.

I recently moved most of my CPs out of terraria and onto grow racks which I think has more pros than cons. However, this makes humidity more of an issue during the winter when my heating is on. To solve this problem, I do two things:

1. Place the neps together in large plastic trays with LFS at the bottom that is kept constantly moist. This keeps the local humidity very high while preventing the neps from standing in water (which is bad).

2. I have a warm-air humidifier that is constantly on and keeps my apartment's humidity at 50-60%. It costed little, is easy to clean, and raises my electric bill by ~$20/month.

Good luck.
 
Today, I did something that was both good and a little sad for me...3 of my neps are spending the winter months in a friend's greenhouse. I tried a "cheap" version of a greenhouse by placing a clear plastic bag over my neps. After a few days, I noticed a slight stale odor, a little bit of a fungus growing on some of the leaves, and several of the pitchers turned black. I was doing more harm than good.
smile_h_32.gif
I clipped the infected leaves, removed the pitchers and called up my friend who is a horticulture teacher and runs a greenhouse. A while back, he offered to care for my neps, but I figured I could do it. I was able to swallow my ego and took them over to his greenhouse. I saw the nep that I gave to him a couple of months ago and it looks great! It made me feel a little better seeing that his nep was doing so well and I knew that mine would be better off spending their months someplace that was more conducive to their needs. I can't wait till this winter month is over.
smile_n_32.gif


Dwight
 
Brian
I just read that you put a piece of glass under your lights. That gives more ideas
that I should put such a cover on my terrarium to keep more
humidity in. Does any one do special procedures for misting etc?
Dr. Eric Flescher ( dreric1kansas@aol.com ,kcstarguy@aol.com),
Olathe, KS. USA
kccpguy
 
Back
Top