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vraev

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Everything posted by vraev

  1. You probably have among THE BEST GREENHOUSES I have ever seen pics/video of. WOW!!! I love it. I wish to have something like that one day.
  2. woah!! that is my favourite form. I got one of the BE clones but it turned out to be a normal form with speckling on the outside. Fantastic plant Francois!!
  3. Thats one hell of a greenhouse. Spectacular!! It will be a paradise in the coming seasons. WOW!!
  4. I can confidently say that is not polytricum. That genus is beautiful and a lot bigger. THis is a pest for me...sheet moss is what it is commonly called I think. this is polytricum
  5. Bill, I am sorry to hear you have spider mites on some of your plants. Reminds me that even veteran/experts in the horticulture of carnivorous plants like yourself aren't immune from plant pests. When I had some red spider mites on a few cephs, I used neem oil. I have a full neem oil concentrate and the directions were like 1 teaspoon every liter or something. The oil is not going to incorporate with the water: polar/non-polar mix. They recommend usinga bit of soap, but i just shake the bottle and dispense. Bag the plant up...and repeat spraying thoroughly for next 2-3 months, once/twice a week. That seemed to take care of it.
  6. I would suggest bagging it up and growing it in the same conditions as the jamban. Ifound it to be very sensitive to heat as well and it readily started exhibiting leaf spotting and small leaves when temperatures hit high 90s for me during the summer. Now that temps have gone down, it seems to be coming back well.
  7. Not everyday do we see a mature lamii. Congratulations Dicon. Very well done mate. :)
  8. Tillandsia are very very hardy plants. I have them tied on a piece of driftwood with fish line. As long as they get misted once a day or atleast once every 2 days or so, they shouldbe fine. Also...if the tillandsia you have has WHITE powder covering on its leaves...that form is generally a lot more capable of drying out for longer periods of time. My concern would be the amount of sunlight. Mine grow in my tank with other carnivorous plants and they jus can't stop dividing. I have had multiple pups on multiple species.
  9. Thanks guys! I will certainly reposition the fans and try alternate arrangements. thanks for some great suggestions Delwin. I do have trays in the bottom. But it always fills up when I water plants so I have to regularly empty it. so that it doesn't rot the cedar mulch at the bottom. I will definitely try this out as I really want to have some thick sphagnum growth in my tanks. I just have to figure out some time to do all this. :)
  10. Hi Delwin. THe tank is 3' tall and 2' wide. There are two more fans on top ...one pushing air in, the other pushing air out. You got 3 in your setup? doesn't it dry out the moss? WIth this amount of fans...my moss dries out in just a day after watering. Could u possible show some pics of your tanks to give me an idea? thanks, Varun
  11. HI guys, I think its finally time to show what I have been trying to achieve in the past year. I have been very hesitant to show it off as I wanted to wait till the plants thrive. Unfortunately, the summer hasn't been too helpful and my plants didn't do well at all. I don't think that will happen anytime soon, although I hope with all my heart that I am wrong. ALmost every plant inside has suffered as a result of the high temperatures. And on contrary to what you would think as an overly wet environment, on numerous occassions, the plants have nearly dried out inspite of the misting system. The fans work very efficiently and the media composition is very loose. On top of that, once sphagnum becomes dry, it doesn't absorb water easily. Hence due to many factors: busy life, neglect, low light (inspite of a 4x 4' T5 fixture), my plants have suffered and they look they are currntly in the worst state ever (almost everyone has stopped pitchering .. probably due to the past few months of 88F + day temps and 70F night temps). Over the top of the that, I have been having extensive BLACK SLIME MOULD on media problems and sphagnum doesn't seem to be liking these conditions. Note: this is an older pic. I now don't use the humidifier anymore. ANd some of those plants in the nep tank are no longer in my collection. This setup was a realization of a dream that I had since the beginning of my nepenthes obsession. I used to have a very large collection of a wide variety of plants and in the past year: The above used to be my setup before the move last september into these tanks which were a great gift from my parents and brother. I sold off a lot of my plants to downsize it to these two tanks. They represent about 2000$ (1000$ for tanks (parents gift), over 800$ in plants (brother's gift)) of assets. The sad irony is that the hobo-style greenhouse setup was waaay more plant-friendly. THe sphagnum thrived and loved it. However, ever since I moved the plants into these tanks, things just haven't been the same. Now, I am sure you think it looks beautiful. I love the way the tanks look. But this is a lesson that something that looks beautiful might not be as successful as you might hope. Sometimes the cheaper/simpler methods are more efficient and better at getting the results we want. At this point, I am trying hard to optimize conditions in the tanks and get some sphagnum going again. As many have mentioned, sphagnum is like a "canary in a coal mine". If the sphagnum is in good condition, the plants will like those conditions too. If you look inmy old greenhouse setup, sphagnum used to thrive and form balls on top of the media many many inches thick. I lost almost all that sphagnum when my plants dried out during my cuba trip (mentioned in my macrophylla thread). There are only two pots (aristolochioides, jacquelineae) where it has survived and I am slowly propagating more form it. I am also going to be checking my water supply soon. I used to have no algae problems when I used to buy distilled water form the stores. Ever since I moved them nto the tank,I have begun using RO water form my parents RO system. I guess I should look at the water quality there. ANyways...I figured I might as well write about my experience and perhaps warn some people if they are thinking about making tank setups. (What not to do ). I will end with some pics of what used to be...and what is. THis is the last hamata pitcher I have seen in an year. I repotted the plant about an year ago and it hasn't ever been the same since. No pitchers since then. THis was nearly october of last year. THis pic is of the plant taken a few months ago. Now it is stripped of all pitchers and looks water-stressed. I have repotted it again and this time put it in a bag to see if that will help. I have also moved some plants higher in the left tank (communal plant tank) and trying to see if the higher light will help. THis is a very very recent picture of how my tanks now look Perfect example of "looks nice far away" but disaster "up-close". ;) Anyways... I know some people were asking me to show off how my plants look. Not as great as they once were. ;) Now...its open for opinions and feedback. ;) couple more pics during the best days: cheers, V PS: I have considered about going back to the "ghetto-GH" setup. But I am too far into the investment with this tank setup. I need to do my absolute best to make it work. I know a setup like this can work. I just haven't gotten everyhting to "CLICK" yet. I am open to suggestions and ideas if anyone has any. 1) Air circulation: That is a big issue. In my "ghetto" setup...the air was always fresh. NOTE: I only used te humidifier during summer and it was sufficient to keep temps lower than 80F during the day. Hence my plants never suffered last summer and loved the whole year of growth. 2008-2009 was the best growing season ever. EVERY single nep I got thrived. The air was constantly circulating from outside to inside and then out through a chimmney at the top. In the tanks that is the biggest issue. Its full of stale air. You cannot see it, but now, I have added fans at the top of the tank. One is pushing air in and another pulling air out. But being small PC fans, I know these aren't too powerful. But atleast there is some air refreshment. So, I am hoping things will change. Ideally, I need the air to be FED in at the bottom and to leave the tank at the top. But being a sealed GLASS tank that cost 1000$ to buy and obtain, I don't want to risk making holes. So yes!! AIR CIRCULATION IS ISSUE #1. 2) Heat: On the contrary to what you think, the meters read that the temps are pretty decent. Only during summer...they went overboard. But during autumn right now, temps are moderate...75F day and 60F at night. Perfect for most highlanders. SUmmer....since around march..temps have been 80-93F day ...but average of 85F and nearly 70F at night. I did use an airconditioner and occassionally drop temps at night to 50F. But I am sure this stressed the plants even more as ACs drop the temp suddenly. I get a feeling that these plants need a slow drop. No quick changes. Even if it is nighttime temps. ALso note that these temps are taken at the pot level. The wires u see are probes for a temperature/humidity monitor. I know the temps get higher at the top of the tank. I can clearly feel the air warmer than the air at the bottom. But with two light fixtures (the 4' x 4 T5 and 2x 4' T8), there is no more room on top of the tank to have outlets. 3) Misters: The whole reason for buying the mistking system was for the SPHAGNUM. I have learnt through experience that if the sphagnum thrives...the plants will thrive. THe misters come on once every 2h for 45 sec (daytime only) to wet the plants. Clearly the broms in the first tank like it. But sphagnum still isn't taking off. All I know at this point is.... The variables are not in balance. As our good friend Butch (Av8tor1) used to keep telling me.... everything has to be balanced: High light...high air circulation...high humidity....I know I have some variables in optimal level. I just need to optimize the rest. I just don't know which ones are which.
  12. I hope the project can make projects to protect species like N. klossii, N. macrophylla (the type specimens), N. edwardsiana, N. rajah, villosa from Mt. Tumbuyukon.
  13. Fantastic news. I am glad to see the interest and initiative to protect those wonderful nepenthes species. I wish the project tremendous success and will be looking forward to hear more about their work.
  14. Fantastic progress Vince!! Beautiful tank you have got.
  15. Definitely cute! I can't get over how well the baby is doing for you. Very very nice. :)
  16. Impeccable as always Bill. Beautiful plants.
  17. Look up Just moss from new zealand. THey have several distributors around the world....u might find one in asia. An update: I finally found out that local sheridan nursaries have resumed selling the chilean sphagnum moss that worked very well for me....So I bought a nice couple of bricks to last me a year or more. Chilean sphagnum moss from Better gro is awsome.
  18. Hi guys, I have exhausted my supply of sphagnum and am searching for a replacement source after the local better-gro moss (very good) has been discontinued in canada. I found the following on ebay, it looks like a good deal: http://cgi.ebay.ca/5-packs-Sphagnum-Moss-D...44#ht_534wt_751 Nortene kiwi sphagnum moss. It looks almost too good to be true. Anyone bought this product before? Is it indeed the right moss? thanks, varun
  19. spectacular as always Cedric. YOur plants never fail to impress. :)
  20. Unfortunately, I must say too that I did not have any success with the nepenthes seed from CZ. Although Kamil is great for communication and very willing to offer suggestions and answer all your questions. I would definitely order plants from him.
  21. vraev

    weird mould

    I think it has something to do with the summer heat/high humidity. It happened last year in summer and now again at the same time. BTW Andy....watch out...those things can shed millions of fungal spores. If you use a foreceps, once it is dry...it comes off as a film. Although...I have used a fungicide, and it seems to have helped "sorta". I would try something like that.
  22. vraev

    Few problems

    Thanks guys. I will repot it in a looser media and bag it up and hope for the best.
  23. vraev

    Few problems

    My BE mac did the exact same thing and its growth point now died. Does anyone have experience with this macro and what kind of media/condition it appreciates? thanks, V
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