My greenhouse setup

[Bio]

This is my temporary highland greenhouse setup. Early next year I'll be moving these plants to a permanent greenhouse that should have more permanent highland conditions, instead of just highland conditions in the cooler months.

As it stands, the temperatures are great, 55-60f at night, 60-85f in the day depending on how warm that day is. Humidity is always high, high 70s during the day and 90+ at night. The natural photoperiod is supplemented with a high powered LED light fixture, though I forget what model and power it is. This helps out in the morning and evening to keep the plants from hating my guts with the short days. Seems to be working out so far, though the light might be a bit much for some of them.

I've also got a fan blowing air around for them, and that helps to keep the temperatures a little cooler, along with a 40% aluminet shade cloth. No vents, so I have to be careful with day temperatures.


Here's the full image of my highland shelf. The only ones missing are my N. x briggsiana 'Peter D'Amato', which is down next to my ventrata and out of frame, and my pot of Drosera menziesii which is on the opposite wall to get more natural sunlight and a shorter photoperiod.
I have a couple of orchids, one of which is a nice Phalaenopsis which is about to bloom. The others are a Paphiopedilum sanderianum and a couple of Vanda.

Full list of Nepenthes and other plants:
N. x "Miranda"
N. x ventrata
N. x St. Gaya
N. x 'Peter D'Amato'
N. rajah x mira
N. burbidgeae x robcantleyi
N. x alisaputrana
N. ((lowii x veitchii) x boschiana) x (veitchii x maxima) x veitchii) x platychila
N. (ventricosa x tiveyi) x truncata
N. sanguinea
N. truncata EP
N. hamata AW4
N. lowii Trusmadi, CK seed grown.
Sarracenia leucophylla Baldwin County seedlings
Triantha occidentalis seedlings
Drosera menziesii
Utricularia subulata
Utricularia gibba

Plus various other plants like cacti, succulents, and some tropical crops like coffee bushes that belong to a family member.



Nepenthes lowii Trusmadi, CK seed grown. This is one of my favorite plants in my collection. It's a seed grown N. lowii after all. It also seems to grow quite quickly for an N. lowii from what I hear of them.


N. x alisaputrana, or N. rajah x burbidgeae to be more precise.
Not much to look at yet, but this will be incredible someday. Not the fastest grower, but it's probably still settling in.





N. ((lowii x veitchii) x boschiana) x ((veitchii x maxima) x veitchii) x platychila


N. (ventricosa x tiveyi) x truncata.
One of my favorites and my oldest Nepenthes. This one is over 10 years old. Hasn't been in optimal conditions most of that time and has only started thriving this year. It LOVES high humidity. Extremely easy plant to grow, difficult plant to grow well. Reluctant to pitcher. Fortunately the pitchers seem to last forever. This pitcher opened in late summer and shows no sign of dying yet. I'm glad, because the plant hasn't made any since. A huge basal and two foot vine, but no new pitchers. I'll repot it when I move it to the new greenhouse and we'll see if that changes anything. I'd love to flower it and see how big it can get with the truncata genes.


Typical N. sanguinea, nestled amongst the newer leaves on the N. (ventricosa x tiveyi) x truncata. A bit crispy from the LEDs.


N. burbidgeae x robcantleyi.
A nice cross, a good mix of its parents. Still young but already getting big.


N. hamata AW4.
Not much to look at yet, but it's about to put out a big leaf jump and it looks like it'll have a pitcher too. This is a vine cutting, so it should develop fairly quickly. It wasn't particularly happy in my terrarium under bright light, and perked up when I put it in the shade of the Phalaenopsis in the greenhouse. Seems to love humidity, cool temperatures, and lower light.


N. rajah x mira
This guy grew fairly well through summer and fall, but has come alive in the highland temperatures. It put on size, but wouldn't pitcher. It's growing two now, and it seems like they'll be very nice. You can see the Paphiopedilum sanderianum in the background, and N. truncata EP is photo bombing on the right. Can also see the Sarracenia seedlings there too.
Triantha occidentalis seedling. These are from Washington State. So cute.

 

[bluemax]

Very nice set-up. 'Certainly makes me wish I was in a position to have one of my own. Will you need air conditioning in the summer?

 

[Nepenthes101]

That is a very nice set up there and all of your plants look very healthy and well grown. You're doing a great job with all of your plants there.

 

[Bio]

Very nice set-up. 'Certainly makes me wish I was in a position to have one of my own. Will you need air conditioning in the summer?

Hopefully by then we'll have a permanent greenhouse built, which will have an evaporative cooler. I'm hoping that that will be enough, but I'm prepared to use an air conditioner if necessary. I've got some ideas up my sleeve before I'm going to resort to an air conditioner though.

The night temperatures will be the hard part. The plan is basically just to keep the highlanders from not dying in the hottest parts of the year. Our night temperatures are acceptable or can be heated for most of the year, but July to September we have 68-72f on most nights. Right now the only plants I have that would be in danger with those temperatures are the hamata and lowii. They're a bit more forgiving species anyway, but if I need to I can give them special accomodations.

 

[Bio]

Oh, and the D. menziesii are doing great. Only two of the tubers grew, but that's on me. I waited too long to plant them and a bit of mold grew on them. I treated with fungicide but I guess the other three didn't make it.

 

[Bio]

Greenhouse updates:

Frame constructed. This is several weeks old.

Polycarbonate panels are on. This was taken today.

This is a rough concept of what the interior will be like when it is completed. There are three planting beds for tropical trees and bushes, mainly citrus, avocados, coffee, and pineapples.

This is a rough concept of how the CP area at the back of the greenhouse will look. The two tables are for my highland/intermediate and temperate plants, the top surfaces in the corner is for Nepenthes, the other top surface is for Sarracenia and other temperates, the surface under the Nepenthes is going to be for Heliamphora and other ones that need it as cool as possible, and the surface under the Sarracenia will be for seedlings. You can also see the pond area that will be for my two turtles. This will be decorated with plants, including Nepenthes, and will have a waterfall filter. The large black cube is a tent that I'll be using as a lowland chamber. The large black pot is just there as a reminder to reserve space for the pot that my Amorphophallus titanum will eventually require.

Here we have some recent progress. In this picture the hole for the pond was being dug, but the pond is now in the hole and full of water for settling.


Still a ways to go, but we're making progress. Next up is running water and electricity out to it, and installing outlets for appliances such as the heater and coolers. For heating, we're planning to use a 2.8kW 240v electric heater, but can add another heater if it's not enough. For cooling we're using automatic vents, an evaporative cooler, and an air conditioner. Vents will open at 65°, and the AC will come on at 75° in the day. At night the AC will try to keep the temperature as close to it's minimum setting of 60° as possible. I haven't decided if I want the evaporative cooler on a thermostat or a humidistat yet. The temperature goals are:

Summer: day high no more than 80, night low of 60. Winter, Fall, Spring: days of no more than 80, nights of no lower than 55, no higher than 60.

Hopefully these temperatures will keep everyone happy. It's a really tough balancing act trying to find a temperature that Amorphophallus titanum will survive, but temperate CPs will be able to go dormant. The A. titanum will live in the lowland tent for now, but it'll eventually have to go out onto the main floor due to size.

 

[Bio]

Now for a few pics from the current greenhouse
Nepenthes lowii, Trusmadi, Seed Grown.
This little guy is a champ. It's been taking day temperatures of the high 80s regularly and hasn't even noticed. Obviously I don't want to expose it to those temperatures any more than I have to, but it seems ok for now. Not too slow but not fast either.


Nepenthes hamata AW4.
This guy really enjoyed winter. As you can see, it underwent a massive lead jump, but still doesn't have any pitchers. I don't think it's been enjoying the humidity drops from having to leave the greenhouse vent and door open. It grows fine, but that pitcher you can see as stalled development.


N. burbidgeae x robcantleyi. Not much to see yet, but it'll be stunning once it puts on some real size. Not easy to get the entire pitcher in focus unfortunately.


N. rajah x mira. Same story as above, but this one at least looks a bit more like what mature pitchers will. It's getting ready to open a much bigger one soon.


N. x alisaputrana. This is definitely not the fastest grower. About the same as my N. lowii. Steady growth though, and another pitcher is opening soon.



N. (ventricosa xx tiveyi) x truncata, lower and upper pitcher. This is that same lower pitcher from months ago, it's only just now starting to fade as the vine starts making uppers and the basal begins making new lowers. It's in dire need of a repot, hopefully I'll be able to do that when I move it to the new greenhouse.


N. x 'Miranda' pitchers are absolutely stunning when they first open. It's a shame they fade to the candy red, but they are still nice.


The Nepenthes rack as of a few weeks ago. Nice flowers from the random garden store orchid.



Bonus: seedlings of my first Sarracenia cross.

S. leucophylla var. alba x oreophila.

These will be interesting to see as they grow. I also have seedlings of S. leucophylla 'Baldwin County' x self and S. oreophila x self. I've got tons of flowers on my Sarracenia this year, so I'll be able to make some interesting things. I'm especially excited to breed with my S. flava var. ornata. First flower this year. Would love to cross it with S. flava var. maxima and S. leucophylla 'Baldwin County' and var. alba.

 

[Blackfeather666]

Thats a neat setup. Good job

 

[bluemax]

Wow! The new greenhouse is looking great. How have your D. menziesii done this winter?

 

[Bio]

Wow! The new greenhouse is looking great. How have your D. menziesii done this winter?

They did pretty well. One of them is just finishing up flowering. They're looking a bit rough at this point, I figure dormancy isn't far off with how warm it's been getting.