mini-shade house test
 

Well, my seedling tables are reaching overflowing levels

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so I decided it's time to expand the grasshopper-free growing areas. The old tables are from my hydroponic farm and I've been using them with 1/4" of water and a capillary mat to hold the seedling trays and small potted transplants so I don't have to worry about any drying out. I decided that I (and the Neps) like the system so much that I am incorporating it in the new growing-on area as well. It's really nice to be able to go away a few days and know they won't be shriveled up when I return. I could have used a plastic sheet on the ground and saved on the cement and work but I didn't have a piece wide enough to do it in one sheet...and I was in a hurry to get this done in a day!:blush: This will just be a small structure to test out the idea for a few weeks, if all goes well we will expand into numerous units.

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The bottom and sides of the new shade house are coated with a thin layer of plasticized cement to hold water and the entire floor slopes just slightly to a drain for cleaning. There's vertical steel reinforcing bar rods running 50 cm into the ground and 75 cm above, spaced every 2 block along the sides. The PVC pipes are set on top of the rods. Tomorrow I'll attach perlins (rods running the length of the space) joining all the PVC pipes to give more rigidity) and cover the whole thing in shade cloth, install the capillary matting and move the overcrowded small pots into their new home!

I'll post again when everybody gets settled in.

Re: mini-shade house test
 

nice seedlings you have there.. i wish i had the green thumbs to grow nepenthes form seed....

Re: mini-shade house test
 

That's fantastic Shawint,
Good job!

Re: mini-shade house test
 

Fantastic Job!!!

Re: mini-shade house test
 

Emmm good work.:1thumbup:You can open a nursery soon.Hehehe...

Re: mini-shade house test
 

Well, another day, another usable space!

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I haven't had time to move much in yet, but I'm already looking forward to having more space in the seedling tables!

Re: mini-shade house test
 

Good work Shaw.Wah so many neps :tt1:.... Are you planning to open a nursery soon.Hehehe...

Re: mini-shade house test
 

Shawn,

I seriously think that with the amount of plants and plantlets you have, you can actually start a nursery and earn some money from it.

Question: The blue frames that made up the frame for the roof of your shadehouse... What material is that? Is that metal or palstic?

Re: mini-shade house test
 

Hi David,

Well, we'll see! For now I'm happy trading with people, passing the more common species on to nurseries/garden shops and friends (like the lady in the post office that now calls me the minute my packages arrive on the island!) to get them 'infected' and using them in my landscape jobs.

The blue frames are actually just 1/2" PVC pipes! On larger structures I'd use 3/4" pipes and really big ones I use 1" metal pipe but it has to be specially 'bent'. But this is so small that the 1/2" is fine. The first 'trick' is to make sure that the steel rebar is secure at the base (mine are 50 cm into the ground and then encased in concrete) and that they are at least 50 cm (mine are 75 cm.) above the ground so that when you slide the PVC onto them it really can't come off or move. The second trick is to tie them all together by taking another pipe and drilling holes all the way through, then using small drilled 'pilot' holes screwing each arch to the perlin (like beams) so that the structure becomes like a single unit rather than a bunch of floppy arches.

Upon starting to fill it up with water to test it out I realized I built in too much slope in the floor! The pots at the low end are in 2" of water when the high end is just starting to get wet...oh well, I know what I'll be doing this Saturday! Just glad I didn't fill it with any more plants yet.:blush:

Re: mini-shade house test - FAILURE
 

Well, I guess this means the test was a failure!:confused: It's full! Too small!

Just joking! It must have taken all of two weeks of evenings to transplant enough of the little guys to almost fill it up! :crying: Auuugghhh! Guess we'll try to build another one tomorrow, since it IS a Saturday after all! :tongue:

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The black stuff in the background of this hookeriana is the capillary mat I spoke about...it allows the water to soak up into the pots throughout the entire floor area evenly.
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:2thumbup:

Re: mini-shade house test
 

Haha, nice job Shawn. :1thumbup:

Btw, you could probably put some shelfs in to maximize the amout of space you have to use if you want to. It looks like you have enough room in there, well I don't know...

Re: mini-shade house test
 

Good call! In the last week I found five big shelving racks at a local recycling place and bought them all! Unfortunately, they are all too big to fit into this mini shade house. Just this morning I discussed with my foreman building a new 'double-the-size' and 'tall-enough-to-stand-in' one that will hold a central shelving rack. I keep dreaming of clearing off my porch of all the plants so I can actually use it for relaxation...but that's probably only a dream, I'll just fill it up again!

Re: mini-shade house test
 

Hi Shawn,
If you do run out space once all those seedlings grow up, I think I can spare some place for them... :laugh:
Very impressive "mini-shade house" you got there... When you feel it's time for you to start selling neps, please let me know !! :laugh:

Re: mini-shade house test
 

hahaha yeah i know of a bunch of people like CPnut that will be willing, if you ask politely to help spare some space for your excess plants Shawn, namely all the members of this forum :)

May I know what material is that capilliary mat that you use? I understand we can use Cocofiber mats as well right?

Oh and don't fully take away all the plants in your porch in my opinion the plants will give you relaxation. My plant area is not so big but when I am sitting while inspecting my plants I think I go into a state of meditation :) hahahaha! Pruning is also theraputic.

TTFN
Arvin

Re: mini-shade house test
 

The capillary mat is some sort of plastic product, I believe. It is manufactured for use as an air conditioning filter material, among other things. It has to be cut with scissors - you can not tear it because it is too strong and it's very light weight. I was searching for it in big rolls (2 m. x 100m) to use in creating some "living walls". Finally I also found it in black color which works better for my usage than the normal white. Yes, I think that cocofiber matting would work the same but I think it would have to soak quite a while to become soft enough to be able to 'push' the pots down into it. You want there to be a very good 'bond' between the media in the pot and the capillary mat so the plants can draw up as much water as they need.

Arvin, I don't think I could ever get down to a plant-less porch, don't worry! I cleared it out last week to a point where I could see 75% of the floor, more than I had been able to see in over a year...that was 8 days ago - today I can see maybe 30%! It doesn't take long for me to refill the area.