 Terrarium before breaking it down to add the seedling heat mat underneath the humidity trays Decided to boost the heat in my greenhouse shelf terrarium by adding a seedling heat mat underneath the humidity trays. The cooler December weather has really slowed down my lowland Nepenthes! A few of my plants were also unhappy about the higher light intensity after adding the Carnivero Florawave light, so I wanted to remove the LED shoplight and make it the Florwave the sole light source, which would make the terrarium even colder.  Omg so many plants hahaha. Need to be SUPER careful and not break any baby pitchers!!  Fits perfectly in the space! I am using an iPower 20" x 20: seedling heat mat connected to an iPower thermostat set to 85F. I taped the thermostat probe to the center of the back wall.  Humidity trays overlaid with egg crate light diffuser I duct-taped two 10" x 20" seedling trays together so that no water would escape down the middle, then filled them with about an inch deep of black lava rock to increase the surface area for the warmed water to evaporate from. Hopefully this boosts the relative humidity in the terrarium! I then overlaid the trays with egg crate light diffuser to provide a level surface for my plants. I decided to do away with the multiple shelves and just have a single level to maximize space in the terrarium (a constant problem!)  Re-potted a few Nepenthes and rearranged the layout! Hope they enjoy the changes!  Perfect temps after adding the heat mat! Temperature and humidity measured by my SensorPush look spot on! Loving the increase in daytime temperature. I plugged the heat mat into my timer so that it only turns on during the daytime, that way we still get modest night time drops. The humidity is interesting - seems to be more stable, although I am curious why night time humidity does not stay close to 100% like it did prior to adding the heat mat.
It's been about two weeks since adding the heat mat and removing the LED shoplight. The plants are LOVING it! My lowlanders have definitely appreciated the boost in warmth and are rewarding me with noticeably faster growth. The heat mat seems to turn on for about 4-5 hours before shutting off.
6 Comments
3/18/2022 02:43:02 pm
Your Triffid came from our mother plant before we passed a cutting along to our friend Laurel, which is who you got it from in turn. A small group of us in Oregon & WA had been Sam's loyal customers for years. We try to collect as many of Sam's personal creations as possible to keep the spirit of Leilani going. Triffid was offered by Leilani Nursey but unfortunately we can't be 100% sure it's one of Sam's creations without confirmation from Sam. It's the same with a a couple other nepenthes purchased via Sam's over the years, like our Black Knight & Red Leopard. Although I can honestly say I've never seen Triffid or Black Knight available anywhere else & our 14yr Red Leopard is extremely squat compared to others regularly circulated by commercial nurseries & hobbiest. I'm very glad to see our Triffid cutting found a good home where it's appreciated for the amazing pitchers it produces. If you're interested in collecting Leilani creations we list rooted clones on our FB Pet Neps Nursery page a few times per year & N. Fancy Fish will post this week & Fairyland this fall. Best of luck & happy growing! 11/2/2022 03:50:21 pm
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Drew
11/12/2022 07:01:22 am
I actually took advice from your post. I actually grow nepenthes in a tote. That heating matt really helped with managing temps at night. (I only grow highland or intermediates). I wanna try this seedling matt with a lowland grow tote. 4/15/2025 02:39:09 am
Great insights, thanks for sharing! I’ve written something similar here – would love your thoughts. Leave a Reply. |
AuthorJust a High School Biology teacher that loves growing plants! Archives
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