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Well, this is going to be my greenhouse (or more specifically, Nephouse) build thread. Starting from the very beginning When Ian Salter got me into Carnivorous plants 12 months ago, i was living in a first floor flat with no access to a garden, only my windowsills. A few weeks ago, i officially moved from South Wales to Wigan to be with my partner of 3 years full time. Roughly 20 years ago, she had a 24 foot x 10 foot static caravan installed in the garden to live in while the house was being demolished and rebuilt. This caravan was never removed after the house was finished, and remained a large dumping ground for general tat and rubbish. The garden had also got very overgrown from years of neglect. This is the scene soon after i started work. The caravan was mostly obscured by brambles, so clearing and laying old carpet as a weed suppressant was the first job in order to easily gain access all around the caravan. Still quite a bit to do, as the capacitor on our garden shredder burnt out and i'm currently waiting on delivery of a new one. Many trips to the local recycling centre have already been made with loads of rubbish and junk from inside the caravan, and what little remains to be cleared is piled outside. The four trees to the left of the picture are apple and pear trees, which are in need of some serious pruning and tidying up. But we've successfully made some rather good cider with them during my visits up to Wigan over the past few years. (hic! ) Originally, the plan was to convert this huge 24x10 into a greenhouse by removing the upper half of the side cladding all round and replacing with twinwall polycarbonate. The same was going to be done to the flat felted roof, but with a slight apex conversion for water collection via added guttering. However, after removing all interior walls, insulation, and room partitions, it was discovered that the caravan was rotten in places. (Note the dismantled garden shredder awaiting the delivery of new capacitor !) So far we've got 15 large rubble sacks full of good timber for our woodburning stove from the interior and i estimate at least another 15 sacks to come. The aluminium cladding once removed, will be re-used to clad our old 12x8 garden shed, which will hopefully cure all the leaks between the parting dried out shiplap so we get a few more years use out of it. The polystyrene insulation boards from the static caravan will also be used to insulate the inside of the garden shed. All the good 4x2 beams from under the floorboards will be re-used to build benches/staging in the new greenhouse. I've also reclaimed metres upon metres of flat twin and earth cable which is in perfect condition considering it's age, and this will come for all the heating/cooling/lighting/pumping/watering wiring systems. We aim to recycle as much as possible from the caravan dismantling. The caravan already has connected water and electricity supplies, which will save a lot of work and they'll only require extending into the new greenhouse position. Even though we intend using rainwater from butts for the plant watering, fresh water for general washing and cleaning of equipment will be an added bonus (we'll be re-using the original sink/drainer top from the caravan). So that's the state of play so far. Still loads to do before the caravan is totally removed, including cutting up of the steel chassis, and then ground clearing and levelling so i can then get the greenhouse ordered. We've decided upon a Rion 12x8 Hobby. I'm very excited about this project and can't wait to see things taking shape over the coming months. Stay tuned !

Hi carni-growers! Today I am doing this post to share with you my last project: a highland landscaped terrarium. The goal of this was really simple: have a really nice landscaped terrarium to keep it in my living room & have a highland room to keep my Heliamphora collection. So I bought an old exoterra terrarium (60cmx60cmx45cm : height x width x depth), and I built a ‘structure’ around it. So the goal was to increase the insulation, and have a nice terrarium box. This is the setup: 1) Watering Really basic system, with high pressure pump, nozzle, water level security (to avoid running the pump without water). 2) Temperature Night: 12-15°C Day: 23-27°C I don’t heat the tank (I don’t need it with the LED just over it), but I need to cool it. For this I use an aquarium chiller (hailea HC 130A) which is under the tank, in a furniture (built for the tank). Cold water goes into the terrarium with a pump, and then into the 3 heat sinks (with fans) and comes back to the chiller. I also made a water cooling unit with PVC pipes, and mesh fabric. The fabric is always wet, and the air is coming through thanks to 2 fans. So water is evaporating, and thus airflow is getting a bit colder. 3) Ventilation 3 fans for air flow, plus 2 fans for the water cooling unit. They are running during the day. I will adjust frequency according to the plants reaction during the next months. 4) Light I am using Led lighting. There is 8x20W COB led. Leds are cooled with heat sinks and fans. 5) Landscaping Walls are covered with polyurethane moss, cork oak, and black mesh fabric. So the mosses, and orchids will grow on it. I wanted something really natural, without pots, labels, etc. So everything is hidden (but all the labels are in place ^^). In the bottom there is Dibond aluminium base over a seedling plate to make a small water reserve (to avoid plant soaking in the water). On top I put some horticultural felt to keep moist under the post, and to bring some water for my water cooling unit. 6) Regulation system The most important part of this tank (because without it nothing can run automatically): the regulation system. I built it with an Arduino Mega board, with many electrical connections, and computer programing (my brother helped me for this part). So everything can be ‘ON’, or ‘OFF’, or ‘AUTO’. I can change the setup/timing really easily. In the next weeks, I will add a Bluetooth module to control it directly from my smartphone. 7) Plants (The really most important part ;) ) This is the list of actual plants in my tank, but I am still looking for some heliamphora and some Utricularia ORCHIDS: Barbosella cucullata Bromeliacée sp. Bulbophyllum barbigerum Cleisostoma scolopendrifolium Earina autumnalis Epidendrum porpax Lockhartia sp. Masdevallia erinacea Masdevallia nidifica Masdevallia pyxis Masdevallia striatella Neolauchea pulchella Neoregelia liliputiana Pleurothallis /lepenthes sp. Pleurothallis hemirhoda Pleurothallis picta Pleurothallis rodrigoi Pleurothallis sertularioides Pleurothallis tripterantha Pleurothallis viduata Psychopsiella limminghei Restrepia echo Restrepia sp. (en pot) Restrepia sp. X 6 (dont Restrepia elegans) Restrepia trichoglossa Restrepia vasquezii Stellis sp. CARNIVOROUS PLANTS: Catopsis berteroniana Heliamphora heterodoxa x minor Heliamphora huberi (Akopan Tepui) Heliamphora arenicola (Tramen Tepui) Heliamphora chimantensis (Chimanta Tepui, Venezuela) Heliamphora minor Heliamphora ciliata Heliamphora pulchella (Amuri Tepui, Venezuela) Heliamphora hispida (Cerro Neblina, Venezuela) Heliamphora x 'tequila' Cephalotus follicularis Utricularia tricolor Drosera adelae ORTHER: Paepalanthus tortilis Xyris sp. (Neblina) And then the pictures of the building and the terrarium: Global view : My old electrical system My old highland terrarium (5 years old) The new tank Insulation of the tank Backgroung making Global view of making Left side view Covering with black mesh fabric View from top Water cooling unit Soldering station Regulation system making Regulation system (almost finished) I will add more pictures later to show you the plant growth =) If you have any question feel free to ask me ☺ Cheers Benjamin (Sorry for my English, I am French ^^)

Hi Folks, I'm getting a bit desperate! A while ago I acquired this fully glazed fridge with one side smashed. I thought, "Hey, ultra highland Nepenthes!!!" so with great enthusiasm I embarked on a mission to fix it and sell it with a reasonable profit. So many weeks later, after discovering that to have a new double glazed unit fitted would cost £200, I opted for the basic repair, single glazed, toughened glass, £75. So it is sitting in my small flat, and I keep tripping over it. If I had the time and space I would probably use it to grow Nepenthes villosa or some such other exotic from seed. It's got LED lighting already quite profusely inside it. I've had the top off it, and it would be possible to rig up the lights and refrigeration independently to timers, and I'm sure you could also add lights if necessary. It is really well built, being made for pub use. It has a low energy usage, being marketed as an "eco-cooler". It's got 3 removable shelves. When the refrigeration is on the 2 fans make a bit of a whooshing noise so you may have to be cautious about having it in a sleeping area. I've posted it up here a couple of times, and I've got it on eBay. But nobody wants it! Seriously folks, can none of you make use of this at all??? Bewildered Karsty.

Hi Guys! So I want advice on how to make a good highland terrarium. I don't want to spend too much but I also don't want the terrarium to be very ugly looking or not uniform. I can't purchase a aquarium chiller as it costs a ton! My budget is $350..I can spend some more money if you guys insist but not much.. So any advice for cooling,lighting,humidifying,fogging and air circulation? Regards

Hello everyone :) I am the owner of a 2,5 m x 3 m x 2,5 m (height) greenhouse, covered with PVC panels. I would like to heat it at about 13°C or 15°C during the Winter in order to grow a larger variety of plants, especially highland Nepenthes and Heliamphora, but I fear it would be extremely expensive. I live in Northern Italy and temperatures in Winter can be as low as -5°C... electricity is definitely unaffordable here I think, so I was thinking about using a small pellet stove... do you have idea?

Hi everybody, Until now, I only cultivated lowland species. However I would try a highlander. In this purpose, I keep a young Nepenthes lowii from Wistuba received last week in a small fridge. The plant is in pure sphagnum, inside a small plastic container kept closed by cellophane. Because of that, I must open the container to change the air sometimes. All is placed under a light (Exo Terra Tropical Glo 5.0), not too much strong to avoid to burn the plant. 13,1°C at night... Seems to be good. During the day, I have approximately 28°C. What do you think about this ugly installation ?

Hi guys, I have a question for other terrarium keepers. First allow me to describe the situation: I have a highland terrarium which has an aquarium cooling unit to cool the inside temperature at night. The terrarium has a water basin at the bottom, which has a pump that channels the water through the cooling unit. After the water is cooled by the unit, it goes on through a tube and flows out at the top of a cork wall inside the terrarium. A fan blows air over this flowing water to cool the air inside the terrarium. The cooling unit and pump are on during the night (obviously) so the wall dries completely during the day. Now I've noticed that there is algae growth developing on this wall. So I was wondering how I could deal with these without harming the plants inside. Secondly I was wondering if there are any nice plants (both carnivorous and noncarnivorous) that could grow on this wall. These plants would have to be able to withstand a dry period during the day followed by flooding with cold flowing water (9°C/48°F) during the night. Any ideas? Cheers, Johan

Hi everyone, I start to be quite happy about the highland terrarium I've built. The terrarium itself is 1.5m large, 60cm deep and 1m high. I have put it on an old metal "skeleton" of a table, with boards fixed all around. I have installed weels, in order to be able to move it easily, and "feets" in order to ensure stability and also to release pressure on weels. I won't detail the LEDs set-up. If you want more information, just go here: http://www.cpukforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=48350&page=7 It stays in the sleeping room in winter (we sleep with the window open allowing a nice temperature drop) and will go on the balcony during the hotter seasons. I am currently installing a cooling pad (Celdek). I will provide more information about this later on. General view: Heliamphoras' side: Nepenthes central part: Orchids (mainly miniature ones) on the shelf that I have glued on the side. Nepenthes seedlings in the boxes to maintain high humidity. I removed the covers of the boxes since not 100% transparent and put some plastic wrap, that let the light pass completely. I have also built a "Nepenthes germination place". It is next to a west-oriented window, shaded to avoid direct sun, with a 10W red-blue LED spotlight (turned on the whole morning). Temperatures: intermediates, between 22 and 27.

<p>Hi guys, i am a bit of a novice when it comes to setting up terrariums but here is my plan. I recently knocked up a frame and plopped some glass in one part, the rest i will be boxing with 6mm plywood. I plan on sealing it all with oil based paint and silicone for all the edges. on the top pannel i will secure it with hinges and mount lighting on it (most likely a t5). Here is a pic of the frame so far. what do you guys think? i plan to grow my highland nepenthes in it when its done. Its approxmatly 105cm long and 65 cm tall, the glass pannel is small as i only wanted it for occasional glimpsing. Any suggestions or questions would be appreciated :)</p>