williamg
Full Member
D. roseana
Posts: 129
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Post by williamg on Aug 18, 2009 20:00:04 GMT
... to cool a Darlingtonia. I was pulling out some of my old camping stuff, and I found and old thermal blanket. It stated it reflects 99% of IR radiation. That got me thinking. What happens if you use this thin foil to wrap a Darlingtonia's pot? If you wrap it around, it should reflect the suns IR and keep the soil cooler, which is a boon for Darlingtonias, yet still allow it to be in direct sun. The only problem I see with this set up is the blanket could potentially keep the heat in the pot too, baking the plant. Any speculations on what would happen is welcome, as I will try this out of my plant here soon. Williamg
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Post by marcel on Aug 18, 2009 20:06:42 GMT
Most of these blankets sold in The Netherlands are two sided. One side reflects sun and the other helps to heat up by absorbing heat. If you use the reflective side the inside heat from the top will stay in which is the reason why you have to wrap someone up pretty tightly in these blankets. Otherwise they "leak".
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Post by Not a Number on Aug 18, 2009 20:23:27 GMT
I've done that with some of my South American Drosera as well as using aluminum foil. I've never bothered to actually measure soil temperatures of wrapped versus unwrapped plants.
It's probably just as effective and easier to shade the pot with the pots of other plants around it , with a piece of wood or tile.
Give it a try and measure the soil temperatures with identical pots (except for insulation) side by side and post your results.
And of course, the insulation could also keep the pots from cooling down at night.
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williamg
Full Member
D. roseana
Posts: 129
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Post by williamg on Aug 18, 2009 20:27:45 GMT
The one I have is a cheap one that is just the reflect side on both sides (at least I'm pretty sure, how do you tell?). It looks like a large piece of tin foil and I believe it is mylar. The top would allow heat to be trapped, but it would really depend on how much. I guess the way to find out is to fill up two pots, and wrap one of them and put thermometers in them and measure the change. I plan to try and do this as soon as I get some thermometers. I will post my results when I do. Williamg
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Redflytrap
Full Member
"Planting oblivion,beating reason back." -Shakespeare [Ven 55.7]
Posts: 43
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Post by Redflytrap on Aug 18, 2009 20:48:19 GMT
This peaked my interest. I have been able to sustain happy darlingtonia for almost 4 years. As a matter of fact I often put a blanket over them for short periods of time during hot weather. This I have done off and on for almost 3 years. It is a simple navy blue one sided polyethylene heating blanket. It works quite well. I have discovered you usually can tell if the darlingtonia are happy by gently cupping your hand over one of hoods, and feeling if they are cool. I grow my darlingtonias in full sun, and when covered by the blanket, they don't overheat, due to the insulating factors of the blanketing.
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fredg
Full Member
Posts: 367
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Post by fredg on Sept 6, 2009 11:38:21 GMT
I grow my darlingtonias in full sun, and when covered by the blanket, they don't overheat, due to the insulating factors of the blanketing. I'm sorry but you're not growing in full sun if you have a blanket over the top of the plants , even if it's just in hot weather. I doubt the blanket helps by insulating against air temperature, it's probably because it's providing shade. You'd get the same effect if you were growing in partial shade, and save you the trouble of running around with a blanket.
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