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.