As promised, I have started a new thread on my grow-room. I hope it inspires those who have a desire to grow Hoyas, but don't have enough natural light to do so. All the lights are High Output T-5 fluorescent - expensive but worth it in the long run.
Doug
More photos.
These plants get a little natural light from a window. I have two tubes over head to supplement.
Here is the ventilation door that I built and described in another thread. I can set it to exhaust the air if it get too hot from all the lights. The temperature starts off at 61 degrees in the morning and gets to about 78 degrees in the afternoon, but once I start using more lights and as the outdoor temperature warms, it will be necessary.
Doug
This message was edited Mar 30, 2008 7:58 AM
This message was edited Mar 30, 2008 8:32 AM
A few of the plants grown under only artificial light.
Doug
Hoyas can bud, and do quite nicely having never seen natural sunlight. This was a cutting that I received from the DL fall order.
Another One.
Here are a couple of photos that I took of the propagator I just built. It will serve as home to the DL cuttings coming soon. It is made of pvc pipe and special fittings; it sits in a jumbo boot tray, on top of a thermostatically controlled heat mat.
Doug
This message was edited Mar 30, 2008 8:31 AM
Thermostat that controls the heat mat temp.
Doug
Lots of cords in a grow-room like mine. I had to have an electrician install two new circuits to this room. He put in two sections of Plug-mold, which gives me 12 new receptacles.
Doug
Plant lights are evolving all the time. Here is a 48 inch 54 watt fixture that is so light you can hang it on the wall with fishing line to side light a plant. They can also be ganged together to make any kind of configuration that you can dream up.
Doug
Close up of the light I just talked about. With these you can put light anywhere you want it quite easily.
Doug
Box the light came in.
A grow-room has to have a little equipment. This is a digital kitchen scale that I use to help determine when I need to water a tricky Hoya. Weigh the plant when totally dry, and then weigh it when it is wet. Then when you just can't tell if it needs to be watered, use the scale; it won't lie. This works for quite awhile, until the plant mass grows too much and throws off your weight, but by that time hopefully the plant won't be so sensitive.
Doug
My rolling cart that I use as a potting bench.
Neatness is a virtue. One that I don't always live by.
Room for future expansion. I figure that I can roughly double the number of plants in the room with some judicial planning to hold maybe 100 medium size plants at most. I think that is pretty good for an 8X10 room. So there you are. That is the whole thing, and I hope someone gets a little inspired to create there own little plant paradise, even if you don't have any windows.
Doug
I love it!!
Your plants look really healthy and happy under lights. I have 2 spare bedrooms and have always dreamed of turning one of them into a "plant room". I already heat them, just need to add lights, much more affordable than trying to keep a green house this far north.
Thanks Threegardeners! That is what I say - greenhouses are pretty much an impossiblity for eight months out of the year this far north.
Doug
That was a great run through of your plant room, and great pictures to boot! Thanks for posting this thread. I'm in awe!!
Gabi
Thanks Gabi,
You will have to post pictures of how you managed to squeeze in your beautiful new acquisitions.
Doug
wow...nice, I just got a grow light to do some experimentation. I'm in south florida and the problem is finding shady places for hoyas. I like to grow hoyas in a somewhat natural setting and have them all over the garden, under palms and mango trees. But its hard to control watering and light sometimes. I'm just going to compare plants grown with 24hr lights to the one's growing outside. Thanks for all the great ideas your photos have giving me.
Ric
Thanks Ric. I wish I had the ability to bring a little of your Florida sunlight and warmth up here to Vermont.
Doug
How many hours a day do you leave the lights on Doug?
Wow! What an awesome setup you have. So neat and tidy and very healthy looking plants. Color me envious!
Dee
Doug, you are an absolute inspiration!! Guess what? I spent part of the morning at Home Depot checking out florescent lighting. Ha. My non-plant loving husband just forked over some bucks to redo the florescent lights in my kitchen, (they were way outdated and ugly), because of how impressive your set up is! Thank you sooooo much. I owe you.
Now, I know what T 5-9 lights are, as well as the different outputs, energy saving tips, and lumens are. Ha. I think that I am even impressed.
I love your room. I still don't get one, but am really awed by the ingeniousness of your ventilation system, your humidity set up, and your awesome electrical and lighting systems!
Thanks you for sharing with us. I will get some pics of my plants soon, I have been busy hanging and organizing, but for now, I have to help with installation.
Sara
This message was edited Mar 30, 2008 2:09 PM
Great setup, Doug!!! I think you will inspire many to do similar growing area!!!!
Carol
Thanks for the complements everyone. Lee Anne, the lights are left on 14 hours a day. They come on at 6:00 am and shut off around 8:00pm. Sara, keep working on your husband, and sooner or later he may see the "light," pun intended.
Doug
Doug, you have no idea just how much "light we are now seeing"!! Ha! My old florescent fixtures were AWEFUL. I had no idea just how dark my house was, until I changed those lights out. Bryan kept wandering around muttering "is this for real?" Ha.
I got two really nice huge lights with four bulbs each, and the GLOW.......Holy cow. It reminds me of the pulsing after effect of an atomic explosion - it is so bright in my kitchen. Ha.
I love it. I was trying to decide if it was possibly unhealthy for me, it seems so bright, but now that I am getting used to it, I think I will be fine. I know that the hoyas hanging in my kitchen will be much better than "fine", I think that they will absolutely thrive.
No panda film wall paper for me though. I have to bring DH around a wee bit at a time. Usually my ideas are met with silence and a raised eyebrow, but bits and pieces do get through. He is such a far cry from the saint that your wife is. Heee. Heee.
Keep the great ideas coming!!
Sara
This message was edited Apr 1, 2008 6:12 AM
Amazing, Doug! Wow! I am sooo envious of your Hoya Room! Wish I had an extra room available to do something like that. But, if I did ... I would be spending waaay too much money on more plants, LOL. I have a lot of different kinds of plants, only about a dozen hoyas, mostly the common ones. I do have three lighted plant stands with African Violets and other Gesneriads ... maybe I should stick a couple of hoyas under those lights! I have some cuttings coming from the DL order ... might just have to make room for those under the lights for awhile.
I really Love the foliage on your hoya in this pic: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=4729319 Which one is that?? It is really beautiful with that variegation - hope you will post a photo when that flower opens!
Great job on your room. I know a lot of work went into that set-up. Great Growing!
Lin
Lin,
Your David Liddle cuttings will do great under those "African Violet Lights" of yours. Just cover them with a plastic bag to help hold in the humidity, and they should root no problem. As a matter of fact, that is what I always used up until just recently, and I always had almost 100% success.
That Hoya with the bud that is getting ready to open is H. reticulata bought from meltn. I just had to look it up to get the spelling and I thought it was really funny that it looked exactly like another Hoya I have called H. hellwigiana. Well, they have the exact same IML # - 1101, which does mean they are the same plant. That is the first time that has happened to me. Somewhere along the reticulata must have had a name change, and I thought I bought a different plant, but ended up with the same thing. Anyway, it is a nice Hoya, and I like it a lot. I'm trying not to look the plant up in the plant files, because I want to be surprised when I see what the bloom will look like. Thanks for asking about it, or it would have taken me a lot longer to figure it out.
Doug
Thanks for the tips ... I think I will put my cuttings under the grow lights. I bet they will root much quicker than if I just left them out on the deck as I usually do.
Can't wait to see photo's of that H. reticulata/hellwigiana IML #1101 in bloom! (Ok, which is the correct name now? I want to know for future reference!)
Lin,
It is H. hellwigiana. It is currently in DL's catalog as such. I will post a picture when, or I should say if it blooms. I don't want to jinx it though, because that has happened to me before and the buds blasted.
Doug
hmm ... Looks like a post I made has vanished! Must have forgotten to hit send?
I found H. hellwigiana in PF: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/164435/ but there are absolutely no photo's. I hope you will consider uploading a couple of photo's of the foliage and blooms when they open.
I've never done that before Lin, but if I can figure it out I will do it. It also says that the foliage is velvety or fuzzy in texture, but mine is very smooth to the touch.
Doug
I wonder if that was an error by whoever entered the culture information for that particular hoya?
Some of the cultural information seems to be just a cut and paste or general generic kind of cultural requirements for most, but certainly not all Hoyas, and may, or may not apply. I have not found it all that helpful except for a few pictures.
Doug, I am not very computer literate at all but did learn how to upload photo's to PF. It was a bit confusing at first but after you've done it a couple of times it's a snap. Here's the steps in order of how to upload a photo.
Find the Plant Files page you want to add your photo to
Scroll down to the bottom left and you will see "Your Actions"
Click on Upload Image of this Plant
Now you will see -( Send this file: Choose file: no file selected). Click on CHOOSE FILE.
A window will appear with a list of photo's you've saved to your computer, click on the photo you want to upload and then click on choose
Click on Preview and it will bring up your full size photo .. if you are happy with it Click Send.
Your photo won't show up in PF right away. Sometimes it takes admin a few hours or a few days because at times there's a heavy load of photo's they are trying to deal with. I have never had to wait more than a couple of hours to see mine in PF. On your home page it will show you how many photo's you have pending.
Hope I haven't totally confused you with my directions, I'm not the best person at explaining things, but you have some gorgeous plants and I think it would be an asset to have your pic's in PF for the world to see!
Lin
Thanks for that tutorial Lin! I promise I will give it a try, and let you know when I do, so that you can take a look at it.
Doug
Doug - amazing!! Truely inspirational for all of us in less than ideal climates!!
Karen
This message was edited Apr 1, 2008 7:41 PM
