FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Bluefire wrote: ↑Mon Jun 26, 2023 3:35 pmBut I do think you could stand to review your own writing and think, hmmm, how would I respond to getting this from an internet stranger?

I'll leave it as an "agree to disagree" type moment.

Best of luck on your build.

Don’t skip on learning the requirements of the plants. Perhaps start with some forgiving plants, gain experience, and then perhaps move to highlands.
Speaking of feelings, think how the plants would feel being brought into suboptimal conditions, and eventually dying…

Supercazzola wrote: ↑Mon Jun 26, 2023 10:24 pm Don’t skip on learning the requirements of the plants. Perhaps start with some forgiving plants, gain experience, and then perhaps move to highlands.
Speaking of feelings, think how the plants would feel being brought into suboptimal conditions, and eventually dying…

I've been reading up about these plants and how people grow them on and off for the last maybe 3 or so years, alongside other carnivorous plant science and care articles. That's why I'm sure I need a new, better suited setup for them if I ever get them. The problem is that I've never really worked with some of the required items or done a large, functional make-it-yourself project. I'm unsure where to begin and with what to begin. I should have made that the initial topic of the post - What items and brands work best to make a chest freezer setup for ultra-highland plants? I was just too caught up with trying to work with an impossible limit, money, when I first wrote this.

I do already have some highland plants, I think they make up maybe half my collection (?). I have some Heliamphora that I've kept for a few years now, plus several Nepenthes. None of them are particularly picky, as far as I'm aware. No ultra-highland exclusives. The most recent ones have been under me for about a year, I haven't expanded for a while just to make sure I can care for what I have. So far, things seem to be going well with them. I was scared about their health, moving to a desert of all places, but after a little pouting they got back to growing rather normally. The one big loss was when I tried to install a fan and suddenly everything in the test terrarium got a sudden case of stem rot.

I never intended to be annoying when I began this thread, but it does seem like that's how it's gone. For that I apologize, I don't know exactly what I did wrong but I seem to have rubbed a number of people the wrong way.

I went to a local Home Depot today and found different sized chest freezers, pipes for the frame on the bottom, egg crate to put on the pipes, a clear sheet for the lid, and some plastic edging for the lid. Are these good to use? I'll have to go to a garden center and look at fans and grow lights, and find thermostats.

https://edencps.com/diy-air-conditioner/ I followed this guide with some slight modifications to build my setup. I used a 5000 BTU window AC. I have a 2'x4'x6' with 8 T5 LED grow light (3 levels). I've found that its capable getting the tent down to 5C with lights off and a modest 20C with lights on.
I keep my reservoir set to -2C but Im sure if I set it colder I could drop the lights off temp even further but I haven't found a need to.
The IceBox heat exchanger mentioned in the tutorial isn't sold anymore but I used a typical 120mm radiator with 120mm AC Infinity fans and a 3d printed fan duct.

Thank you for the suggestion. I will consider it.

This is a different direction than what I was originally intending. Seems harder to create, but quite interesting nonetheless. I've never seen this mentioned anywhere before.

Bluefire wrote: ↑Tue Jun 27, 2023 6:34 pm I've never seen this mentioned anywhere before.

Do a search for glycol.

post413461.html#p413461
post410488.html#p410488
post368406.html#p368406

Thank you for the links. Reading though the details a bit more, this does seem like a more effective long-term way to grow plants. It seems like it can handle spaces large enough to grow plants to flowering if you have multiple. The main thing is, I don't know if I'm technically savvy enough to pull it off without breaking something (or myself). And then there's the issue of finding some enclosure for the thing to cool...

While this might be a great idea to pursue in the future, I think I'd like to start with something smaller and less demanding of technical skills. Perhaps I'll just try to buy one premade or continue researching the chest freezer.

Bluefire wrote: ↑Tue Jun 27, 2023 9:31 pmThe main thing is, I don't know if I'm technically savvy enough to pull it off without breaking something (or myself).

It's the same thing as a homebrew glycol chiller. You can buy if you'd prefer, over build.

https://www.ssbrewtech.com/products/gly ... ller-1-5hp
https://www.morebeer.com/products/brewb ... iller.html

The price is probably outside of your budget though.

Bluefire wrote: ↑Tue Jun 27, 2023 9:31 pmAnd then there's the issue of finding some enclosure for the thing to cool...

Probably the most cost effective option: https://www.amazon.com/VIVOSUN-Hydropon ... hdGY&psc=1

Bluefire wrote: ↑Tue Jun 27, 2023 9:31 pm I think I'd like to start with something smaller and less demanding of technical skills. Perhaps I'll just try to buy one premade or continue researching the chest freezer.

Think back to your priorities. What do you want, what is your limiting factors.

If you build a chest freezer and decide later you want to grow a plant larger than two feet, you'll have to build twice (at twice the cost).

I might be able to get my father to help construct the cooler, since it does seem like the best option. Especially considering I want to eventually grow plants to breed them.

Chest freezers are designed to freeze. Believe me, if I had to do it all over again, I would have saved my money and went with a refrigerated deli cabinet or something that would never have frozen. Also the space is limited in the chest freezer. Any lid you make will not have good thermal properties. So you will get condensation in the morning. PVC Built a frame under to raise the eggcrate. Next time I have it apart, I’ll try to snap some photos. I’ve got to head out for work.

If you want to go down the "chest freezer" route, I'd prefer a build like this: https://www.reddit.com/r/SavageGarden/c ... _cabinets/

I've never liked the idea of having to "look down" into a freezer to admire the plants, or remove the lights. This type of build, while more complicated, solves that issue. And since hot air rises, it's less likely to completely freeze the plants.

But, if you don't want to go down that route, this is the OG https://terraforums.com/forums/threads/ ... er.133385/

Thank you very much. I think I might want to go with the tall cabinet? Seems like the idea is to expand the freezer so it has more area to cool and therefore grow more/ larger plants. My parents love going to IKEA anyway.

Bluefire, as someone who is a highland nepenthes enthusiast and around a similar position as you (I'm a high school student like you ) I got a grow tent and pipe in cool air from an AC unit at night. A common issue is that ac adds very dry air, so I have the ac pipe into a little humidifying chamber before going into the tent. on top of the preexisting humidifier solving the issue of dry air with high humidity power. I built the setup for a few hundred dollars and the only issues is the extra humidifiers needed and the noise of the ac. but it's no noisier than an aquarium chiller (one of my failed experiments.)