FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

By "actual", i mean like an entire room from your house thats dedicated to growing plants? I'm planning my set up for when i get/build my own house, and instead of getting a large greenhouse to put outside, i thought about dedicating a room from my house just for carnivorous plants. (Well actually 2 or 3 rooms, a lowland, a highland and maybe a "Dormant" room haha )

My reasoning for this is that (depending on where you live) it can be hard to maintain temps/ humidty in a greenhouse thats placed outside. If you were to have a greenhouse-like room "built" into your home, it would be better insulated and easier to control temps/humdity.

I dont want to use artificial lighting though, i'd rather replace the roof of the rooms with panels that let in a substantial amount of light in. (Maybe not pure glass since it would get really hot!) Would a roof of skylights work? Or maybe just those poly-carbonate panels used for greenhouses?

I'd have an automatic misting/ watering system for when i'm gone for long periods of time and of course i'd make the entire room be able to withstand all the humidity without it going into the rest of the house!

Does anybody know somebody who has done something like this already? Any tips? I know its going to be expensive building these rooms (Let alone the entire house haha ) thats why i'm gonna start saving up for it now. It wont be until a few more years though, so i've got time to plan

I don't know if anyone has done this with natural light (I feel like a skylight would be pretty limiting), but somebody on terraforums did make a "grow room" to control temps and humidity with artificial lighting.

Benurmanii wrote:I don't know if anyone has done this with natural light (I feel like a skylight would be pretty limiting), but somebody on terraforums did make a "grow room" to control temps and humidity with artificial lighting.

Well yeah i didnt really think they would help much, i just suggested them because i have a couple of orchids growing under a skylight in my room and they seem to be doing great! I dont know though, i have to look more into what i can do for lighting.

If you've got limitless funds to blow, I'd first look into some charities, then maybe you can have a big parabolic reflector designed that tracks the sun and directs the light through a window at your plants (possibly bouncing off a few more mirrors first). Skylights will keep a phalaenopsis alive because they are ok in low light, but they wouldn't work for CPs. A sun room would be more practical.

xr280xr wrote:If you've got limitless funds to blow, I'd first look into some charities, then maybe you can have a big parabolic reflector designed that tracks the sun and directs the light through a window at your plants (possibly bouncing off a few more mirrors first). Skylights will keep a phalaenopsis alive because they are ok in low light, but they wouldn't work for CPs. A sun room would be more practical.

Haha I don't have flowing rivers of money or anything, I'm just a regular guy joining the military. (Not much pay) This is kind of just a "dream" or a "goal" of mine that I hope to achieve someday, probably not until my later 20's or 30's. I don't want a high tech set up like you described, just something simple that let's natural light in ya know?

Anyways, I looked up " Hampshire Carnivorous Plants" and really liked their displays! Hopefully I can pull it off one day, but for now, it's just a dream. I probably won't be buying any more plants for a while now until I can get a nice set up like the one I described, but I'm content with my small collection for now=)

I'm about too.

I lost my job and need to move all my plants out of the greenhouse I worked at. Should be an entertaining weekend.

SundewWolf wrote:I'm about too.

I lost my job and need to move all my plants out of the greenhouse I worked at. Should be an entertaining weekend.

Oh man! Im sorry to hear that! Hopefully things start going your way soon. Any ideas of what you're going to do with them?

If i can't buy grow lights i need to sell most of my collection soon, or put them in the dumpster. I have tubs of mangroves, cycads, seagrapes, etc.
I would need to buy a lot of lights for them...

SundewWolf wrote:If i can't buy grow lights i need to sell most of my collection soon, or put them in the dumpster. I have tubs of mangroves, cycads, seagrapes, etc.
I would need to buy a lot of lights for them...

Do you think you could set up some T-8's for them? They half like $20 light fixtures at home depot and i think the tubes are like $10 for 2...not entirely sure on the prices, but thats what i spent for my set up.

Hopefully you can keep your collection, maybe you could make a thread that asks fellow forum members if they could house your plants while you get a hold of things? I would definitely take some in for you, unfortunately i leave for bootcamp on monday=/

Hang in there!

I'm looking into different companies that make geodesic domes. It seems that they are much more affordable and easier to put together than traditional greenhouse type structures.

It's still likely that a greenhouse structure is the smartest way to go, but I would attach it to the house or use a walkway.

By the way, depending on where the land you're looking at is, this can be surprisingly less expensive than one would initially think.

It's definitely feasible, just takes a small amount of planning.

-Andrew

a hill wrote:I'm looking into different companies that make geodesic domes. It seems that they are much more affordable and easier to put together than traditional greenhouse type structures.

It's still likely that a greenhouse structure is the smartest way to go, but I would attach it to the house or use a walkway.

By the way, depending on where the land you're looking at is, this can be surprisingly less expensive than one would initially think.

It's definitely feasible, just takes a small amount of planning.

-Andrew

Oh wow, thats pretty interesting...Have you gotten a quote on how much it would cost? For what size?

Maybe it would be easier to just attach one of these to a house rather than make a greenhouse-like room.

What company are you leaning towards right now?

I was thinking about T8's. I'm gonna check lowes tomorrow.

SundewWolf wrote:I was thinking about T8's. I'm gonna check lowes tomorrow.

Yeah i think T8's would be best.
Good luck!