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Post by vraev on Jan 2, 2007 14:28:58 GMT -5
actually I notice that humidity is only around 50 or so. I open the window once in a while to loose stuffiness and the humidity further drops to 40 or so.
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Post by pem on Jan 15, 2007 22:03:00 GMT -5
Just reading through the forums and noticed this one, I happened to face the same predicament that you underwent over the holidays. My solution in my first year was to have my roomate take care of them... lost a few but all in all it was good. This year, I had no one so I came up with an invention to slowly water my plants over the holidays. Most of my plants have their own little saucers that they sit in. Well I had just completed a course in plant physiology and applied the source/sink theory... well it inspired it anyways. Ok this is what I did, I went and got some silicon hose from the pet store 20' long about 1 cm thick. I then took a very clean 600 ml plastic pop bottle and poked two holes in the side near the bottom, into each of these holes I placed two lengths of hose. How this invention works is that I fill the bottles full of water and very tightly replace the lid. I then take the hoses (about 15cm each) and place the tips into the saucer ensuring that one is raised to the desired water level. Water then flows from the lower hose into the saucer and air bubbles into the bottle through the higher one to meet the decreasing air pressure. As soon as the water level reaches the upper hose entrance air can no longer get in and the water stops flowing. Oh and I sealed the hoses to the holes I made in the bottles with silicon sealant. One thing I found was that two liter bottles cannot actually hold the pressure caused by the draining water and collapse as water drains out. I watered my terrarium using a hard plastic 4 liter peach juice bottle for that one (cut my finger trying to get through the plastic ... ow). Anyways when I can back there was just a little water left in the bottles and all of my plants were doing great. Hope this helps for years to come, I know I will be using it again because it was so cheap to set up and the plants only used as much water as they needed... or evaporation pulled off, on a side note I'm still watering my terrarium this way .
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Post by vraev on Jan 16, 2007 7:37:51 GMT -5
hmm...thats interesting.....can u please post a pic of your setup? The main isssue is summer time. YOU HAVE TO take your plants back home. MY main point here is every 4 months there is a MOVE stressing the plants a litlle. Last time...it was fortunate that my VFT's didn't notice a move too much. Infact, they were fine then compared to this past weekend when I turned off the lights when I went home (I don't have a timer yet). I guess its been a while since I did this and yeah...they stunted a little....but should be back to speed soon...also maybe because I fed them too much. Damn! I still have 6 crickets The nep is again the big issue. I am going to try a new technique. I can't find anything like that ikea thing...and the only thing I posess is al foil....so this is what I did........lol! its all standing because of static friction You know what..its 7:30 AM, the humidity there is 60% and the temperature is lower than 60 F. being a highlander, this should be good for the ventrata...and since humid air is heavier...it should stick inside for a while before spreading out. The only issue might be that it might not be too long before I have to move the setup again ...this is why I need something like : geez! If someone here heads to ikea regularly, is it possible to check this out for me?? Please let me know if we can find this at the local ikea's in canada?? I would really appreciate it. I have no car or no special means to go there. cheers, var
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Post by lloyd on Jan 16, 2007 20:35:42 GMT -5
Vraev: You're going to have to move around a lot, so just enjoy your plants. Some will do well and some won't with the moves. Just don't spend too much on one plant until you finally get a settled place for them.
Pem: Can you post a diagram of your watering setup?
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Post by pem on Jan 17, 2007 10:35:18 GMT -5
Sure here are some drawings I did up, sorry not the best computer graphics artist. if you need any further explanation just ask!!!
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Post by mabudon on Jan 17, 2007 10:55:34 GMT -5
man that's a fine idea, Pem, thanks for posting them pics, they'er good enough, coupled with the explanation- you might want to make a new thread about this system, since it's really a great, simple idea
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Post by lloyd on Jan 17, 2007 12:11:00 GMT -5
Thank's Pem, that's a very neat solution.
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Post by vraev on Jan 27, 2007 17:40:17 GMT -5
hmm....its a really great solution pem. I have reading week coming up now.....and am in this dilemma again....I dont want to move the plants again....right when the nep is starting to adjust...it opened 2 leaves and of all there seem to be two tips that are kinda arched and pointing up....they seem also a little fatter than all the other tendril tips. I hope that I can get a pitcher out of them.
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