Heli cooling idea

[unstuckintime]

Hello,

I went to the NECPS' fall show in Providence, and while there, i took the plunge and bought a nice Heliamphora pulchella. My very first heli. Since then, I've been thinking of a way to solidly reduce the temps around it at night, since my room doesnt really experience a solid drop.
Its in a terrarium, potted, with several other topical carnivorous plants, under artificial lights... now, what if I took an ice cube of distilled water and each night placed it in the pot, next to the plant? Do you think this would produce a sufficient temperature drop? It would also take care of the watering situation, since I know they like to remain damp, but the tray-method is iffy.

Any thoughts would be very much appreciated here.

Thank you,
CJ

[taz6122]

I'm certainly no pro but I think that could put the plant in shock. It would definitely lower the root temp. maybe too low.

[asis]

That's the way I cool my heli's terrarium during summer, and it worked better than leaving the plant over constant 30ºC. Bad mood. But just a detail, though my terrarium is always filled bay some centimeters of water to provide himidity, the plants inside are separated from that water by an empty bowl below the pots, so the frost temperatures can't reach the roots.
I think this system is not too bad, but for the drag of being every day on your plant as if it were a baby.

[unstuckintime]

Sept 29, 2009 7:53:02 GMT asis said:

I think this system is not too bad, but for the drag of being every day on your plant as if it were a baby.

This little plant was eighty dollars, its definitely my baby,

But yeah, there is a well of water in my terrarium, but it (along with my nepenthes) are raised above it, to avoid root rot. I'm sort of thinking i would be safe as long as the ice cube never actually touches the plant, but rather just sits in the pot with it. Just close enough to make a little microclimate of coldness.

I might just have to take a plunge and just do it.

CJ

[asis]

All this sounds good but for just one thing, do you grow your heli together with nepenthes? In my opinion that's not the best idea, for the different temperature average those two genus require. Nepenthes need a temperature over 15-25ºC (night-day) and for the heli those temperatues are the critic top.

[prmills]

I grow my H. minor's and H. heteradoxa right beside my rajah, mikei, gymnaphora, H/L truncata, etc... with no problem. Highs on average are 25C, lows are 17C.

[unstuckintime]

In my terrarium, i also grow (happily) a N. talangensis and a N. Sanguinea, which are both highland species as I understand it, granted, not extremers like prmills' rajah, but... What i have done is purchased two reusable cold presses, and i alternate them, one draped over the side of the tank over the heli, the other in the freezer getting ready. I switch them as often as is necessary. yes, its a pain, yes, its time consuming, but I am a full time college student, so I am in and out of my room a lot and it is no inconvenience for me. i have high hopes for this plan working.

[Brassleaves]

I did this exact method and it did in fact put my plants in shock. Now I put a frozen water bottle wrapped in a flexible cooler pack I keep in the refrigerator. It's been a couple months but they are out of shock now. I keep about two inches of water at the bottom of the tank where recently I added an air pump from a fish tank, pump air and blow bubbles. This circulates air, adds humidity, and helps speed the cooling at night. (big thanks to the NECPS show guy who gave me the idea).

Adam

[unstuckintime]

Oct 5, 2009 20:38:19 GMT Brassleaves said:

I did this exact method and it did in fact put my plants in shock.

What did your heli look like or do when it went into shock? Did it just stop growing? The forming pitcher on mine has definitely gotten bigger since i bought it, and just today i noticed three other little pitchers forming. I could just be incredibly biased and hopeful since I am very excited to actually own one of these beautiful plants and I want it to survive (thriving may be too much to ask for from the Horticulture Gods ).

CJ

[Brassleaves]

When it went into shock the pitcher that came up was about 1/4 the size of the last and it was crooked. Once I stopped the pitchers progressively got bigger and bigger until they started getting bigger than when I got it.

[unstuckintime]

Just a wee update here. The Heli is just fine! It has sent up one additional mature pitcher (with another on the way) in addition to at least two other growth points sending up some immature pitchers. I take these as signs that i'm doing something right, . The method I went with was every night (after the twelve-hour photo period for winter) I water it with a splash of distilled water, and clip one of the cooling packs above it (maybe an inch or so of clearance, although it varies). Usually my night continues, though, and when I actually go to bed, I replace the cool-packs with a fresh one before I myself crawl into bed. I wish I could get all kinds of fancy coolers and misters and what not, but, its growing (faster than I expected it would, to be honest) which I count as a success.

[jerrycopeland]

Here is something to think about. If your aquarium/terrarium is deep enough to hold a deep enough reservoir of water then you could use a small fountain pump to pump out the water and push it through looped tubing that is housed inside a styrafoam ice chest that has ice packs surrounding the tubing and have the tubing exit to a valve system that drips the cooled water onto the plants or media of the Helis.
Because I am in Coastal Central California I keep the two pots of H. minor outside year round and use a very basic drip system of just r/o water that is kept shaded through the two pots. The water is collected and used in wetting down other plants.

[sarracenialover]

That would probably work, but have fun paying all that money and maintaing the system every week.