dont use blue actinic bulbs with CPs. just as they are useless in planted tanks, they'll be useless in growing CPs as well. you should aim for anything from 4000-10,000 K range. there are people who do like to mix up different combinations and ratios of bulbs, but that ends up being expensive. the most popular and readily available bulbs are the 5000K and the 6700K bulbs.
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Building my new Nepenthes habitat
- Thread starter dboeren
- Start date
I managed to find a good deal on a 48" 4x54watt fixture that is all 6500K bulbs, so that should be arriving here sometime next week. Even better, I had a 10% off eBay coupon that was expiring in a few days so I saved a little extra too 
When it comes in I'll post updated pics and the new temperature readings.
When it comes in I'll post updated pics and the new temperature readings.
Just a small update. I've cleaned off the top of the machine (I may remove the clock as well). Later I might plan to get a new set of letters for the signboard so I can list what species are currently growing. Ever since we moved a year ago I haven't been able to find my box of letters...
Here's the exterior view cleaned off:
And here's the interior view:
As you can see I've put in a liner to keep things clean and nice looking, also if any water spills it will keep the bottoms of the pots from sitting directly on it. There are four small plastic tubs running across the rear of the machine which are my water pans to keep humidity up, they're easy to refill and fit through the top openings with no tilting.
Overall, my temperature and humidity are controlled by adjusting how much crack I leave in the top opening, and I can add/remove water pans. So, if it's too hot I can open the top more and if this drops the humidity too much a bit more water should bring it back up. Tomorrow I'm expecting my 48" 4 bulb T5 fixture to arrive and I'll do my final measurements of the growing conditions at different vent levels (marking them on a strip of masking tape next to the doors. I'll post a pic tomorrow with the T5 light in place.
Then, it will finally be time to order some plants to populate it! I'm planning to get around 4 plants to start, with a mix between very easy species like ventricosa and some slightly more intermediate ones. I'm also sticking to relatively inexpensive plants in the beginning in case I kill them off. If the plants do well then I'll think about stepping up to some fancier stuff later on. Eventually, if plants start outgrowing my cooler I'll transition the hardier ones into houseplants or figure out something else to do. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it
Some of the plants I'm considering, any comments or advice about them is welcome:
N. burbidgeae 'Pig Hill' (beautiful plant and quite cheap)
N. rafflesiana 'Brunei Red Giant' (not sure if this will grow well in my conditions though...)
N. ventricosa or ventricosa x ephippiata, (standard beginner plant with maybe a little extra zing)
N. mirabilis var echinostoma (purple with weird little tentacles on the peristome - also cheap)
N. jacquelineae (sort of pricy but very different and nepenthesaroundthehouse claims they're easy)
Potentially some sort of hybrid with lowii or veitchii?
I think I'm open to getting one more expensive plant, so long as the others are inexpensive. I'm considering a hybrid with N. rafflesiana to get a more robust plant that will do better in my habitat rather than the pure species.
Here's the exterior view cleaned off:
And here's the interior view:
As you can see I've put in a liner to keep things clean and nice looking, also if any water spills it will keep the bottoms of the pots from sitting directly on it. There are four small plastic tubs running across the rear of the machine which are my water pans to keep humidity up, they're easy to refill and fit through the top openings with no tilting.
Overall, my temperature and humidity are controlled by adjusting how much crack I leave in the top opening, and I can add/remove water pans. So, if it's too hot I can open the top more and if this drops the humidity too much a bit more water should bring it back up. Tomorrow I'm expecting my 48" 4 bulb T5 fixture to arrive and I'll do my final measurements of the growing conditions at different vent levels (marking them on a strip of masking tape next to the doors. I'll post a pic tomorrow with the T5 light in place.
Then, it will finally be time to order some plants to populate it! I'm planning to get around 4 plants to start, with a mix between very easy species like ventricosa and some slightly more intermediate ones. I'm also sticking to relatively inexpensive plants in the beginning in case I kill them off. If the plants do well then I'll think about stepping up to some fancier stuff later on. Eventually, if plants start outgrowing my cooler I'll transition the hardier ones into houseplants or figure out something else to do. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it
Some of the plants I'm considering, any comments or advice about them is welcome:
N. burbidgeae 'Pig Hill' (beautiful plant and quite cheap)
N. rafflesiana 'Brunei Red Giant' (not sure if this will grow well in my conditions though...)
N. ventricosa or ventricosa x ephippiata, (standard beginner plant with maybe a little extra zing)
N. mirabilis var echinostoma (purple with weird little tentacles on the peristome - also cheap)
N. jacquelineae (sort of pricy but very different and nepenthesaroundthehouse claims they're easy)
Potentially some sort of hybrid with lowii or veitchii?
I think I'm open to getting one more expensive plant, so long as the others are inexpensive. I'm considering a hybrid with N. rafflesiana to get a more robust plant that will do better in my habitat rather than the pure species.
N. burbidgeae and N. raffle will not mix.
you're going to need to figure out whether to chose Highland Plants or Darkside i mean Lowland Plants. Once you know which ones are best fitted for your setup (im assuming highland) you can select from that group thereafter.
HLs/Intermediates (from your list): burbidgeae, ventricosa and hybrids, jacquelineae, lowii and hybrids, veitchii
LLs: rafflesiana and mirabilis var echinostoma.
you're going to need to figure out whether to chose Highland Plants or Darkside i mean Lowland Plants. Once you know which ones are best fitted for your setup (im assuming highland) you can select from that group thereafter.
HLs/Intermediates (from your list): burbidgeae, ventricosa and hybrids, jacquelineae, lowii and hybrids, veitchii
LLs: rafflesiana and mirabilis var echinostoma.
It will be pretty much a highlands to intermediate climate. So, I probably have to cut the raffles unless it's crossbred with a highlander. No problem, plenty more species to choose from.
I did not realize mirabilis would be too picky, I read that mirabilis is the most widely distributed nepenthes so I was thinking that it would be able to cope with a wide variety of conditions. Of course, that was talking about mirabilis in general and not specifically echinostoma. Anyway, I can potentially replace that with another dark species like a ramispina sp. or hybrid.
I did not realize mirabilis would be too picky, I read that mirabilis is the most widely distributed nepenthes so I was thinking that it would be able to cope with a wide variety of conditions. Of course, that was talking about mirabilis in general and not specifically echinostoma. Anyway, I can potentially replace that with another dark species like a ramispina sp. or hybrid.
Oh wow--this is going to be so epic when you are finished. I can't wait to see it populated in the future!
I have one plant called N. smilesii which looks similar to N. miribilis and similar species of lowlanders, but it can grow happily in highland conditions. You might want to watch out for that species in the future if you like the way those lowlanders look.
I have one plant called N. smilesii which looks similar to N. miribilis and similar species of lowlanders, but it can grow happily in highland conditions. You might want to watch out for that species in the future if you like the way those lowlanders look.
I have no relation to either company. We got the Coke machine and some related stuff as gameroom decorations - the room immediately to the right of my "greenhouse" has four pinball machines, a skeeball, gumball machine, and a couple of stand-up arcade games (Ms. Pacman and Robotron).
In our old house we used to use the menu board to track pinball high scores but it hasn't been put up here and there's not as good a place for it in the actual game room so I'm thinking of repurposing it to list what species I'm currently growing. I found some places last night that sell the letters as I still haven't found the box with the rest of my old ones.
Amphirion is correct as usual, burbidgeae is in fact VERY highland as I found out after some more digging and would certainly not be able to cohabitate with even a mild lowlander. Changing from one big water pan to four small ones seems to be working better as I can now produce the same humidity level at a lower temp than before. Looking good for highlanders but burbidgeae probably wants cooler nights than I'm going to have.
My T5 fixture just arrived! So, I'm going to read the directions and hook that up shortly. Then it will be a little while to let it run and see how much effect it has on my temp & humidity. So, look for an update later tonight with pics of the new lights in place.
---------- Post added at 03:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:52 PM ----------
OK, the new light has been unpacked and installed. It certainly does put out a lot of light with 4x54 watt 48" T5 bulbs and I'm sure my plants will thank me for it.
Now I'm just going to let it run for a couple of hours and see how much it raises the temperature.
In our old house we used to use the menu board to track pinball high scores but it hasn't been put up here and there's not as good a place for it in the actual game room so I'm thinking of repurposing it to list what species I'm currently growing. I found some places last night that sell the letters as I still haven't found the box with the rest of my old ones.
Amphirion is correct as usual, burbidgeae is in fact VERY highland as I found out after some more digging and would certainly not be able to cohabitate with even a mild lowlander. Changing from one big water pan to four small ones seems to be working better as I can now produce the same humidity level at a lower temp than before. Looking good for highlanders but burbidgeae probably wants cooler nights than I'm going to have.
My T5 fixture just arrived! So, I'm going to read the directions and hook that up shortly. Then it will be a little while to let it run and see how much effect it has on my temp & humidity. So, look for an update later tonight with pics of the new lights in place.
---------- Post added at 03:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:52 PM ----------
OK, the new light has been unpacked and installed. It certainly does put out a lot of light with 4x54 watt 48" T5 bulbs and I'm sure my plants will thank me for it.
Now I'm just going to let it run for a couple of hours and see how much it raises the temperature.
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Looks like everything is squared away now. I elevated the lights a little and this put the temp back in the range I want it plus it looks nicer anyway.
Temp is about 86 degrees, humidity around 40%. I moved my ventrata I got from a local Pike nursery in there today, maybe it can recover and start thriving again. And yes, I do need to get a larger spray bottle for misting
Still working on figuring out my order, so many of the plants I really want are sort of expensive so it's hard to balance quality vs. quantity starting out
Temp is about 86 degrees, humidity around 40%. I moved my ventrata I got from a local Pike nursery in there today, maybe it can recover and start thriving again. And yes, I do need to get a larger spray bottle for misting
Still working on figuring out my order, so many of the plants I really want are sort of expensive so it's hard to balance quality vs. quantity starting out
Exo
Tastes like chicken!
I should be able to bring the temp down a little bit by opening up the vent a bit wider, and humidity will go up once it's populated and I'm watering and misting. 40% is just sitting there empty. I can also add more water pans if I need to.
What do you think the temp should be at then? The pages I've been reading seem to say low to mid 80's is reasonable for a highland to intermediate habitat. I can get to low 80's without much trouble but dropping into the 70's will require some changes.
What do you think the temp should be at then? The pages I've been reading seem to say low to mid 80's is reasonable for a highland to intermediate habitat. I can get to low 80's without much trouble but dropping into the 70's will require some changes.
Exo
Tastes like chicken!
For HL plants....I'd go no higher than 83F....and thats only if you can get night temps around 65 or lower.
intermidiates can go up to 86F easilly, as long as night temps are about 70F
dionae
sarracenia lover
Yes, nighttime temps have been measured at about 65 so that part should be OK.
I had hoped that the T5's would put off less heat than they do (they're advertised as putting off less heat than other type bulbs but it's still considerable). I can elevate them a little more of course which is an easy enough change to make. A little added height should do the trick to bring it down to the low 80's, I just need to find the right sized props to slip under the fixture.
Thanks for the advice.
I had hoped that the T5's would put off less heat than they do (they're advertised as putting off less heat than other type bulbs but it's still considerable). I can elevate them a little more of course which is an easy enough change to make. A little added height should do the trick to bring it down to the low 80's, I just need to find the right sized props to slip under the fixture.
Thanks for the advice.
Interesting DIY project here. You should consider using the price board lettering to list what plants are in it.
Personally (and don't take this as a condemnation of your efforts) but I don't think I would like using that as a terrarium/growing space due to having to look down on the plants and the lighting covering your viewing area. As much as I applaud the suggestions about architect-ing a pulley system for lights it just doesn't seem worth it to me, although it would be really cool.
The other thing you will want to consider is ventilation as air circulation might be a problem with a completely enclosed system. Maybe drill some holes in the side with some CPU fans that turn on and off every so often to circulate some fresh air?
Again, I applaud the creativity and efforts. Keep us posted.
xvart.
Personally (and don't take this as a condemnation of your efforts) but I don't think I would like using that as a terrarium/growing space due to having to look down on the plants and the lighting covering your viewing area. As much as I applaud the suggestions about architect-ing a pulley system for lights it just doesn't seem worth it to me, although it would be really cool.
The other thing you will want to consider is ventilation as air circulation might be a problem with a completely enclosed system. Maybe drill some holes in the side with some CPU fans that turn on and off every so often to circulate some fresh air?
Again, I applaud the creativity and efforts. Keep us posted.
xvart.
That's exactly the idea with the menu board. I cleared off the right hand side of the board to make room for the species names and if I can't find my box of extra letters by the weekend I'll order another set.
The machine has a ventilation fan inside it already which is running, plus I keep the sliding glass doors on top vented about an inch or so. This should (I think) take care of the ventilation. If I notice any problems that seem to be related to airflow I can add an extra fan later but I don't expect any.
I do have to remove the light when I want to get inside, it's not that great an effort but it does prevent you from looking in simply by walking by. In a sense, you can see more looking down I think because a side view wouldn't be able to see the back sides of the plants. If things go well long-term I may expand and get a mini-greenhouse in the backyard but for now this is a reasonable place to start for me with a low overhead cost since I already had the Coke machine. My wife says I start too many hobbies so I didn't want to modify the house at all. For the same reason I won't be doing any hanging lights or pulley system.
After elevating the light fixture a little more the temp is running at 82-83 degrees and I added one more water pan. The water pan takes some time to start having an effect so I'll check the new humidity tomorrow but after a little misting of the one plant in there it was up around 53%.
The machine has a ventilation fan inside it already which is running, plus I keep the sliding glass doors on top vented about an inch or so. This should (I think) take care of the ventilation. If I notice any problems that seem to be related to airflow I can add an extra fan later but I don't expect any.
I do have to remove the light when I want to get inside, it's not that great an effort but it does prevent you from looking in simply by walking by. In a sense, you can see more looking down I think because a side view wouldn't be able to see the back sides of the plants. If things go well long-term I may expand and get a mini-greenhouse in the backyard but for now this is a reasonable place to start for me with a low overhead cost since I already had the Coke machine. My wife says I start too many hobbies so I didn't want to modify the house at all. For the same reason I won't be doing any hanging lights or pulley system.
After elevating the light fixture a little more the temp is running at 82-83 degrees and I added one more water pan. The water pan takes some time to start having an effect so I'll check the new humidity tomorrow but after a little misting of the one plant in there it was up around 53%.
OH! Good to know. My apologize if I missed that part somewhere in the thread. That should be sufficient I would think.
You make a good point about the vantage point that I had not thought of. When I had my grow rack I do recall being frustrated by the inability to see certain plants from the backside.
Oh, and great minds think alike with the label board, right?
xvart.
One thing with the menu board, I'm going to want to avoid super-complex crosses as the names may not fit. Simple crosses should be fine, some 3-parent crosses are OK with short names, but any more than that and I'm definitely needing two lines.
I expect when I really want to examine my plants that will include lifting the pot out and it might be easier with them down low compared to if I had a fishtank on a shelf or something. We'll see. I'm new to this and a lot of ideas that sound good in your head may or may not work so great in practice.
Anyway, I'm really looking forward to populating it as soon as I can find a good compromise of what I want to get and what I really ought to be spending on my first order.
I'm kind of leaning towards one red-pitcher plant, one dark-pitcher plant, and one spotted/speckled-pitcher plant. So maybe a ventricosa (or cross), a ramispina (or cross) and then some sort of spectabilis, maxima, etc... (or cross). Although, there are actually a lot more options for the speckled one too.
I expect when I really want to examine my plants that will include lifting the pot out and it might be easier with them down low compared to if I had a fishtank on a shelf or something. We'll see. I'm new to this and a lot of ideas that sound good in your head may or may not work so great in practice.
Anyway, I'm really looking forward to populating it as soon as I can find a good compromise of what I want to get and what I really ought to be spending on my first order.
I'm kind of leaning towards one red-pitcher plant, one dark-pitcher plant, and one spotted/speckled-pitcher plant. So maybe a ventricosa (or cross), a ramispina (or cross) and then some sort of spectabilis, maxima, etc... (or cross). Although, there are actually a lot more options for the speckled one too.
