What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

How do you keep Ultra Highlanders cool?

My highland Neps and Helis thrive in my current conditions but I want to get serious about growing a N. Macrophylla. I think I can cover the humidity, daytime temp, and light requirements with my current setup. I need a way to provide a drop in temperatures at night.

Cheaper is better and, at the moment, I am only looking to provide this drop for a one or two plants, so the setup can be relatively small. Right now I was thinking of just putting a frozen gallon of water in a tank with the plant each night but I would certainly like a more consistent and automated solution.
 
Where do you live? Window sills in the winter in temperate places get pretty chilly at night, even some getting frost on the glass on the inside depending on how bad your insulation is, which might be an idea for half the year... (that's what I did in Vermont in the US...)
 
That's what I do as well during cooler months. During the hot months I use a cooler filled with ice and water. This is a temporary solution at best for me given the number of highlands I have and thier eventual size.

Warning... Ice is cold. :) It took me a day or two with a digital thermometer that stores min and max temps to find the right ratio of water and ice to use.
 
Like was already said: If you live in a temperate region, being outside, or by a cold window can lower temps down plenty.
 
Refridgerator came in handy during the summer nights....JUST REMEMBER TO TAKE THE PLANT OUT THE NEXT DAY!

note: only works for true ultrahighlander plants. highlander plants, i use ice packs.
 
Last edited:
My in-ground basement does most of the work for me, it never gets above 68 down there, even in the hottest summers. My light comes on and warms things up, and when it goes off at night everything cools off.
 
I keep my plants in the garage in a grow hut. I have a six inch inline fan drawing air through the whole hut. Night time drops down in the low to mid 50's. Can get higher in the summer but the plants take it well. They have been thriving there since I moved them out of the house.
 
Living in a dorm room, it can be tricky. It stays pretty cool as its getting into fall, but I keep a fan blowing from an open window on the terrarium. The humidity drops, but generally stays above fifty. If that doesn't do it, and I am around, I use a spray bottle and give it a treatment of a fine mist.

Temps cool down at night by their own selves, I do, though, have a mister pumping in fog for two hours after the lights go off- spiking humidity for the night, and probably taking temperatures down with it.
 
now that it is starting to get colder, I just use the outside air by keeping the window open and using some duct tubing to vent in air to my tank. Brings temps down to 53F or so at night. All plants are loving it....but I think its too late for all my 200$ plants as they seem as if the summer was just too much to recover.
 
  • #10
now that it is starting to get colder, I just use the outside air by keeping the window open and using some duct tubing to vent in air to my tank. Brings temps down to 53F or so at night. All plants are loving it....but I think its too late for all my 200$ plants as they seem as if the summer was just too much to recover.


Yeah, this summer was brutal. My plants are loving these cooler temps!
 
  • #11
i grow them in my basement.......even when its 110 outside in summer my basement stays in the low 70's at its warmest.....

my macro(and all the rest of my neps) in summer sees 75-80* days and mid 60* nights.....spring, fall and winter its low to mid 70's in the day and 55-60 at night.....
 
  • #12
Cheaper is better and, at the moment, I am only looking to provide this drop for a one or two plants, so the setup can be relatively small. Right now I was thinking of just putting a frozen gallon of water in a tank with the plant each night but I would certainly like a more consistent and automated solution.
There's someone who posts here on Terra (DVG?) from Canada who grows some incredible ultrahighlanders and uses this method iirc.

Many folks (like Rattler) have good in-ground basements that provide a good cool temp.

There are a few 'unique' solutions around also (mostly on cpuk) where people added to or modified small refrigerators. Some place the plants & lights in the frig, some keep the lights outside the frig (cut hole in top & cover w/ glass) and some place coils of tubing in the frig and circulate fluids to a heat exchanger & fan in their tank. There's also at least one person who modified a chest freezer and grows their ultra's in it (in CPN?).

One of the approaches I need to research further to understand is Wistuba's 'cooling wall'. Does anyone know how that works?
 
Last edited:
  • #14
Yep, what she said ^^^

I've seen them in commercial greenhouses here and despite being 90+ outside, it was at most 70 or so inside the greenhouse. It's usually a wall or a large section of wall that has a filter over and through which water trickles down. A fan on the other side pushes outside air through the wall, which cools is cooled down and humidified.

I imagine if one lived in a humid area it wouldn't be very effective, though.
 
  • #15
Yep, what she said ^^^

I've seen them in commercial greenhouses here and despite being 90+ outside, it was at most 70 or so inside the greenhouse. It's usually a wall or a large section of wall that has a filter over and through which water trickles down. A fan on the other side pushes outside air through the wall, which cools is cooled down and humidified.

I imagine if one lived in a humid area it wouldn't be very effective, though.

Back when we were in India, we used to have air coolers. They are basically the same product. it was a hay-based mats method of cooling. A box with water and a pump at the bottom. The pump pumps water through the 3 mats on the 3 sides of the box, while the fourth side had a huuuge fan that pumped out air from the box to the outside. ANd holy crap!! it was a spectacular cooler. I remember sometimes being soo cold during a 40C summer that we had to turn it off. Of course, it is also dependent on the humidity. Not an issue in India as summers are mostly dry and hot.
 
  • #16
swamp coolers work great in places with low humidity.....know of one orchid seller in the Minneapolis area that uses one and has decent success and its fairly humid there.....the drier the air the bigger temp difference can be created.....
 
  • #17
swamp coolers work great in places with low humidity.....know of one orchid seller in the Minneapolis area that uses one and has decent success and its fairly humid there.....the drier the air the bigger temp difference can be created.....
That's also my understanding & I thought it was borderline useless in areas with high humidity. However, Michael Catalani uses one to cool his greenhouse and I believe that he's in TN - which I thought had hot humid summers ....
 
  • #18
Mineapolis is fairly humid and the guy there has one that works.......like a said it works less well in humid areas but so long as its less than 95-100% it will work......just works better when its 15% humidity.....
 
Back
Top