FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Intheswamp wrote: ↑Sat Feb 17, 2024 2:19 am I believe SNW lines there's with black plastic to keep the solar radiation from baking the plastic.

You can get away with that in the Pacific Northwest, but here in the southeast, that's a recipe for summertime carnivorous plant stew.

I saw someone who found flexible, white, vinyl sheeting that he used to line his homemade water trays. Not sure where he got it, though.

As much as I've talked about black pots and heating I let this fly right over my head. You are *very* correct, Mike, that's a non-starter for down here.

I had a commercial building roofed a few years ago with pvc. It came in either 8 or 10 rolls...black on one side and white on the other. I kept a scrap of it...probably a 8x10 foot piece. But this stuff is THICK and wouldn't bend enough to fold into a pool. I've been tempted to take it and see if I could join to pieces of it together with pvc glue. Or, either line a box with it and use silicone to seal it. Some cheap, blue pool liner might work...maybe find a pool installation/repair company that has some scraps they want to get rid of...it'd be blue but it's made to survive in the sun...???

Intheswamp wrote: ↑Sat Feb 17, 2024 2:19 am In regards to the plastic kiddie pools. I believe SNW lines there's with black plastic to keep the solar radiation from baking the plastic. I think I saw a Youtube where one of them commented that it added several years to the pools' lives.

ETA: MikeB brought me back to reality. Down here in the south where Ol' Sol bears down pretty hard in the summer it would turn that black into a nice receptor for solar radiation...and make some potent "carnivorous plant stew", as Mike put it. Thanks for the whack on the back of the head, Mike!

Tyvek house wrap is white and light weight. Folds easily. Don’t know if one can buy it small enough to be cost effective though.

wcrosman wrote: ↑Sat Feb 17, 2024 4:40 am Tyvek house wrap is white and light weight. Folds easily. Don’t know if one can buy it small enough to be cost effective though.

Tyvek is not made for long term water exposure. It's fine for the little bit of water that might get behind siding, and acts as a barrier to keep the water off the wood, but it's breathable to allow water vapor through. Siding or other exterior facing is the primary water barrier, protecting the Tyvek. It will degrade with prolonged water exposure, likely releasing chemicals into to water if used as a liner.

You can get the white vinyl that is used for billboards. There is a company that sells them used but I can't remember the name.

the whole point of a $13 kiddie pool is that you can throw it away when it starts disintegrating... if you're gonna spend $$$ protecting it with liners, might as well buy a better pool in the first place.

Hmm, I wonder about the old billboard material. I have no real idea about how they mount them to the sign boards. Do they use some type of paste/glue to attach them? That might be an issue but if turned away from the water would it matter?

elaineo wrote: ↑Sat Feb 17, 2024 2:50 pm the whole point of a $13 kiddie pool is that you can throw it away when it starts disintegrating... if you're gonna spend $$$ protecting it with liners, might as well buy a better pool in the first place.

Go back to sleep, elaineo, it's too early out your way! Besides, you're making us look, well, er, uh....stup...uh, let's just say not as smart as we seem to appear to mere mortals.

Intheswamp wrote: ↑Sat Feb 17, 2024 3:17 am I had a commercial building roofed a few years ago with pvc. It came in either 8 or 10 rolls...black on one side and white on the other. I kept a scrap of it...probably a 8x10 foot piece. But this stuff is THICK and wouldn't bend enough to fold into a pool.

An alternate idea: level off a stretch of ground, use some bricks to outline a 7x9 foot rectangle, and line it with your scrap of roofing material. Voila - instant watering tray. If you need more depth, just stack the bricks two-high.

MikeB wrote: ↑Sat Feb 17, 2024 2:54 am

Intheswamp wrote: ↑Sat Feb 17, 2024 2:19 am I believe SNW lines there's with black plastic to keep the solar radiation from baking the plastic.

You can get away with that in the Pacific Northwest, but here in the southeast, that's a recipe for summertime carnivorous plant stew

Another possibility, one I’ve never tried since living in an apartment there’s no way I can have a pool outside my door, might be to spray said black plastic liner with a white paint. I would suspect that, especially if the paint is one made for marine craft, it should be more than able to handle contact with water without degrading quickly as well as able to handle the sunlight better. You could also perhaps look at covering the white paint job with marine grade silicon, which would not only seal it from the water, but not pose any hazards of Chemicals leaking from the silicon into the water supply.

If you did create an actual moat around your plants, you could perhaps have your own resident aquatic “monster” in the form of a snapping turtle. Might give the tree rats pause.

MikeB wrote: ↑Sat Feb 17, 2024 3:53 pm

Intheswamp wrote: ↑Sat Feb 17, 2024 3:17 am I had a commercial building roofed a few years ago with pvc. It came in either 8 or 10 rolls...black on one side and white on the other. I kept a scrap of it...probably a 8x10 foot piece. But this stuff is THICK and wouldn't bend enough to fold into a pool.

An alternate idea: level off a stretch of ground, use some bricks to outline a 7x9 foot rectangle, and line it with your scrap of roofing material. Voila - instant watering tray. If you need more depth, just stack the bricks two-high.

If I could make that stuff bend enough it'd last forever!!! But, the best that I recall, there's no way to get anything close to a right-angle formed into it...it'd have to be a kind of sloped inward pool. It's kind of hard to explain. It's over in town so I'll have to check it out again...maybe I'm wrong about it's rigidity. It would definitely be a nice big and tough water tray!!!

DragonsEye wrote: ↑Sat Feb 17, 2024 4:42 pm Another possibility, one I’ve never tried since living in an apartment there’s no way I can have a pool outside my door, might be to spray said black plastic liner with a white paint. I would suspect that, especially if the paint is one made for marine craft, it should be more than able to handle contact with water without degrading quickly as well as able to handle the sunlight better. You could also perhaps look at covering the white paint job with marine grade silicon, which would not only seal it from the water, but not pose any hazards of Chemicals leaking from the silicon into the water supply.

If you did create an actual moat around your plants, you could perhaps have your own resident aquatic “monster” in the form of a snapping turtle. Might give the tree rats pause.

The trick is to find out and *know* that the paint won't off-gas or leach chemicals into the water.

I'm really wondering how much a small piece of commercial pool liner would cost. You can get EPDM liners for garden ponds but they're black. The blue pool liners are as tough as the pond liners but they still last for years.

Intheswamp wrote: ↑Sun Feb 18, 2024 2:02 am If I could make that stuff bend enough it'd last forever!!! But, the best that I recall, there's no way to get anything close to a right-angle formed into it...it'd have to be a kind of sloped inward pool.

Can you heat it to soften the material, press it into shape, and hold it that way until it cools?

I might give it a try. When they installed the roof the roofers used a machine to weld the seams, so it definitely responds to heat. I've only been on top of the building a couple of times since it was roofed and as I recall the roof material turns up at the walls with a rounded 45-degree angle. I can't remember how they handled the corners, though, they might might be interesting.