Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2000 08:20:05 -0600 From: "Joe Harden" <jharden@txdirect.net> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg160$foo@default> Subject: Lots of Things...
I missed the last 4 days, and it turned out they all had some interesting
information...instead of replying to each one individually, I thought I
would just stuff the turkey all at once....
Zachary Kaufman:
About the LUX meter, please let me know how it works out for you. I found
one for sale at $175, and was actually interested in getting it for
finishing a report I was writing for Grow Lights. (after that, I guess I
could 'rent' it out?) Manufacturers of lights give a measurement of Lumens,
and with a conversion formula for LUX to Lumens, I could easily give some
more accurate information on all types of Grow Lights.
Craig McDonald from Frisco, Texas
Howdy there, I'm south of you, In San Antonio. I got a greenhouse up and
running a few month ago myself, and can share a few tips with you. If you
covered your house in plastic, single or double ply, you may have my
problem -- It's getting over 90F in winter, and you NEED that fan on just so
some plants won't come out of dormancy. Solar fans may sound great, but you
may need it on a cloudy day anyway, when temperatures are still high but no
sun is out.
As little as you would use it, make sure you get a heater. Electric heaters
would suffice, but you got the problem of using them in a humid enviroment.
Gas heaters are more pricey, and you better ventilation, but can give you
the heat you need for those 1-2 days of bad freezing we already had. To
keep high humidity when using your heaters, put a 1-2" layer of mulch on the
ground, and water it down well in the morning and night. For really chilly
nights, just keep the doors and windows closed during the day and the heat
will build up if the sun is out, keeping it pretty warm through the night.
Since you are in Texas, you may want some shadecloth for the greenhouse.
Even though some plants like full sun, I found over the past two years Texas
sun is more intense, and the plants grew better under shadecloth (just as
colorful, but less stressed). It doesn't have to be the heavy duty type,
just enough to cast a light shade for the plants.
If you haven't done so yet, get an electric temperature and humidity meter
with Min/Max readings, so you know how you are doing on cold nights and hot
days -- it eliminates some guess work when things go wrong.
Philip Semanchuk and anyone else worried about the light winters:
I'm just as nervous as you about my plants. I did have some plants in my
fridge in the garage, but my wife won't let me put everything in there, so I
placed many plants outside in the shade (where its over 80F) or under my
greenhouse tables...still, some are showing signs of life. The only thing
keeping them under control is the low night-time temperatures. My VFT's
are starting to come out, and my Sarracenia is already putting out leaves.
Droseras are blooming...(sigh). On the good side, business is great at my
real job at Mortellaro's Nursery (www.mortellaro.com ) and we are already
selling our summer plants now in Janurary...bad news is we would sell out of
many things before the summer starts...but good news is we may be in another
drought and nobody wants to landscape.....
And last, that's a real bite in the ear about the Brazilian website being
ripped off. This is common on the web for all types of site, but now it hit
close to home for a few people. You can fight tooth and nail to get him off
Tripod, but there are many more places he could go to. I'm not saying give
up the fight, but just be prepared to fight a long battle. And there are
several ISP's I bet he could turn to if one turned him down. The best thing
you could do it keep posting in many CP-related places that he is a knock
off and a liar, and keep him off web-rings and other users' link pages.
Once he sees he can't really get anywhere with his page, it may just
disappear into the land of unvisited web-sites.
I think I talked enough, so I'll get out of here and back to work.
Joe Harden
www.carnivorous-kingdom.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Jan 02 2001 - 17:35:05 PST