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I got laid off so I made a prototype to see if I could grow outdoors without wasting water in my now ample free time. I could have probably fit more pots, but I didn't feel like it.

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Sorry to hear that man. That'd be cool, I can see what you're doing. That transparent layer sealing the pots in though looks a lot like what I do to "solarize" soil for bonsai. The inside of that tray with the water may heat to unsustainable temps. A greenhouse effect of sorts. A reflective layer like something white or mylar may help the cause.

It was just a temp position with the census, but scotus ruled in favor of the trump administration so it ended before it was supposed to. I'm currently looking for work, but I may have to move to a new state because Nevada is screwed for jobs right now. I thought about mylar, but seeing as we're in our last month of temps regularly hitting 90° F i figure that'll be an issue for employed murk to fix down the line.

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You might try using a sheet of plastic foam rather than clear plastic to cover the tray up, like they do with hydroponics.

If I have any of this left over from building my diffuser panels I'll give it a shot. The big challenge is cutting a tight fitting opening and protecting the foam from UV damage.

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Yeah I think there might be some specific types of foam that are UV-resistant. Not sure how long a panel like that would hold up outdoors but it would definitely prevent solar heating in the tray.

Fwiw it gets full sun early in the morning, and shade the rest of the day.

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murrkywaters wrote:I got laid off so I made a prototype to see if I could grow outdoors without wasting water in my now ample free time. I could have probably fit more pots, but I didn't feel like it.

You know what may work for stuff like that would be one of those hole cutting drill bits that are used to make reliefs for bolts or cutting spots for doorknobs. The bit itself shouldn't be expensive, particularly if you have a place like harbor freight. Cut to one size less than your pot rest and sand it down for your fitting. But then again, I don't know the density of the foam, it could break apart. I do think creating a pilot and sanding it down/shaving with a blade would be an accurate way to do it though, even if it'd be tedious

Lmao, I have a bad history with those. Use clamps kids. I'll spare the gory pics, but I'll post the scar

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Anyway I loaded it up with various species of tropical drosera, because I have a bunch of seeds. If it fails no great loss

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I wanted to ask you if you had any leftover tuberous seeds from your batches. Rarexoticseeds apparently won't even ship drosera seeds to Florida, which is weird. I've never had issues from other areas. I'm wanting to try ga3 on them to see if I can get them to work out this year. Plan on requesting some from the seedbank 11/1 we'll see how it goes.

I have like 5 gigantea seeds I haven't planted yet, but if you need me to forward you some lmk. I might have some extra stolonifera on the way. If I ever get tubers I'll send you some.

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I use the under bed storage bins for my out door plants. they are really cheap and not very long lasting in UV light so i scuff them up with a scotch bright pad and paint to make them last. if you used the lid and cut holes in it for plants it might look really good and get the same result.

guess i am spoiled here 24 ppm tap water 80% humidity in the summer.

Incredibly. Our tap water ppm is 250 @ 16° C, our rh is 16% today. Not really great for carnivorous plants. The sun on the other hand is great! So I wanted to try to take advantage of it without wasting the precious little water we have.

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On the flip side I have to pot my cactus in 50% perlite and terracotta pots just so they don't rot outside in the summer, mainly hurricane season.