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Some Grow Rack Advice?

V

Vbkid

Getting There...
So in spite of MANY efforts, the neps I am still growing on my grow rack seem to be declining. I have moved most to windowsills where they appear to be doing better, but I want to fix this. Below is what I am currently working with:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/hugh-jass/6787231467/" title="Photo0187 by kwalton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7160/6787231467_6d7f51b01f.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Photo0187"></a>

A few notes:
The lights I have in the 2 t-12 ballasts are about a year old, I'm think I might need to replace the bulbs. I also have a new T-5 that I am going to add, which will bring it up to 6 bulbd above the plants, is this possibly too much?
I am putting a new fan in tomorrow. I also have the humidifier running 24/7.
Finally, I'm not too familiar with swamp cooling, what can I do to get some temperature drops during the night?
Thanks for any advice, trying to save a few loved neps that I'm not sure wil ldo too hot on the window sill. (N. spec x talangensis, N. merrliana x tobaica)
Kyle
 
I suppose you have the T-12 lights because your shelf is too short for 4 foot T-8's? I seem to remember a discussion about this in an earlier thread of yours. Really, 2 foot T-12's are pretty weak, it would be much better to ditch them and let some T-8's hang out the ends. New T-12 bulbs would just be a waste of money in my opinion.
Failing that go ahead and put in the T-5 fixture. I bet you will see a difference.
I don't have any experience with those particular neps though.
You in St Louis experience basically the same climate as I do in Southern Illinois. Swamp coolers don't really work very well in our humidity. They cool by blowing air over a damp wick of some sort and rely on dry arid conditions to make it work (cooling though evaporation... look it up).
 
Rocket, first, thanks for chiming in!
Yes, the grow rack itself is just about 2.5 ft, so 2 fts are the longest I can put in there. When I first got the lights, it's the best I could do. I will definitely continue to get T-5s in the future (This is good right?)
Yea I read up on it via wikipedia, but didn;t know what humidity levels were acceptable.
One thing to note is that the rack actually did quite well for 6 months+, but seems to have gone down hill.
 
Is everything declining, or just those 2 neps?
We have been having brutal heat, how have your daytime temps been?
 
What temperatures does the rack experience! If it's a light issue, many hardware stores sell extremely reflective bubblewrap that works really well to insulate my plants and focus the light. Evaporative cooling could work if it's dry in your house. Is it possible they have some kind of pest or disease? You said this happened all of a sudden.
 
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It's been most of the neps on the rack besides a few seedlings, going down hill maybe 3-4 months now.
I have definitely been fidgeting with humidity recently, and trying to get that up. Temsp don't get above 80 on the rack.
 
It's only max 80 and you are trying to figure out how to cool? Some things are not adding up.

The lights are weak but they shouldn't be causing the plants to decline... get big and floppy and elongated (in severe cases) yes but decline no. Close up photos of the plants etc and any other info on the environmental conditions would help. I suspect there are other issues going on, than just the somewhat low light levels.
 
My humidity hovers between 30% and about 45%, my plants don't seem to notice. You can check my growlist to see what I am growing on the rack.
 
I will echo Rocketcaver there.. WAY TOO MANY are obssessed with humidity and making it foggy around their plants. I have a variety of Nepenthes growing on my West windowsill at the house in the open air and they grow and pitcher all year long. I never mist them, I don't have any humidifiers and they are subjected to whatever the ambient humidity is that day. Which can vary quite a bit from muggy during the Summer to bone dry during the Winter.
 
  • #10
Tony, could there be such thing as too much humidity for the plants involved?
Just curious.
 
  • #11
Here's some slightly out dated photos. Just a month old or so.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/hugh-jass/7624892818/" title="DSCN0611 by kwalton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8149/7624892818_60ff2a471c.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="DSCN0611"></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/hugh-jass/7624903792/" title="DSCN0610 by kwalton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8001/7624903792_305c890f1c.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="DSCN0610"></a>
 
  • #12
That media looks a little dry to me. What's your watering routine? And what is the media mix?
 
  • #13
Theoretically speaking there is a possibility. Transpiration rate is related to humidity levels. The higher the humidity the less transpiration of moisture out of the leaves and the less uptake of water through the roots to compensate. Which I guess would also affect uptake of nutrients and minerals and translocation of said minerals and nutrients etc through the plant as moisture flow slows. How high would it have to be though for this to really be a problem though? That I couldn't say.
 
  • #14
I think my watering is good. I wait until the top of the moss gets pretty dry, then give them a soaking in a bowl to thoroughly wet everything and let em dry again (maybe once a week or so they get dry).
And the media is a LFS/perlite mix, i did report all my stuff recently bnecause it didnt have much perlite before and stayed overly soggy. Again, the window plants get the same watering and media and are doing well.
 
  • #15
Once a week? Um... I water mine a little every other day. I guess a lot depends on what media mix you are using.
Dig down into the media with your finger and see how moist or dry it is about half way down the pot. Is it moist? Dry?
 
  • #16
Tony, good points all. In our old house I kept my grow room humidity around 75%. The plants did fine, but I was starting to get mold on the walls. Here in the new house with the lower humidity these plants are doing just as well, and no mold issues. I guess in Vbk's case it probably isn't the issue.
 
  • #17
The plants are showing classic dehydration symptoms, the curling and drooping of the leaf along the midvein, and in particular the rolling of each leaf edge under.

Nepenthes should stay moist but not sopping wet. They should also never get dry. Dry Nepenthes roots even for a short time = dead Nepenthes roots. I am guessing the roots have been compromised by perhaps being too wet initially and then too dry. The problem is that once the roots are damaged there is no longer enough healthy root mass to absorb enough moisture to keep the current amount of leaves healthy. The leaves then continue to show moisture stress and the plant gets weaker and weaker and spirals further downhill.
 
  • #18
Last watering was 3 days ago and the top is 'moist' I would say, probably another 2 days until a watering.
Thanks again both of you for all your input...anything I can do to help save em if the roots are the problem?
 
  • #19
Since they are showing obvious signs of dehydration stress I would be tempted to treat them as if they were unrooted cuttings. Water them well and put a plastic bag over the top for a few weeks. At the very least water from the top until a little water runs out the bottom every couple of days untill they have a chance to form new roots. That's what I would do anyway, hopefully someone else will chime in.
 
  • #20
If you were to take a little of the sphagnum from the top and squeeze it firmly, would you be able to squeeze out some water? You should if you can't. So you may need to increase the watering a little. However you do need to be careful not to over due it because if the roots are not as healthy as they could be, overwatering will be the nail in the coffin so to speak.

If it were me I would unpot a plant that is clearly not healthy to see directly if there is a root problem. A healthy root system should be evident with a good amount of roots and a number of healthy root tips growing through the mix. (nepenthes root tips are white in case you were unaware). The roots should also be 'rooted' into the mix. If the mix just all falls away from the roots and the plant has been in the mix for a prolonged period of 4-6 months or longer then there is a problem.

IF you find the roots look good and the plant is well rooted into the mix then perhaps simply increasing the watering schedule will be all that's needed.
IF you find the roots are not good then you need to perhaps repot into fresh mix (Nepenthes respond well to fresh mix at the roots) and bag the plant like it was a cutting, until the root system recovers and is able to support the plant again. This could be on the order of 2-4 months or so.. or longer... During which time the potting mix should remain moist but not sopping wet. So somewhere around halfway between dry moss just out of the package from the store and dripping wet from the bucket after rehydrating.

Hope this helps. Keep us posted on what you find.
 
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