Construction of a cool-growing box - ideas?

[calvin_orchidL]

I'm thinking of constructing a cool-humid grow box for my neofinetia and my coelogyne nitida. I would like the temperatures to drop to about 4 degrees C (40F) at night, but be a good 10 degrees C (50F) in the day. I want humidity to be around 75% which is impossible unless inside a closed space. The setup I was thinking of was to use a swamp cooler which has been alluded to several times, enclosed inside some sort of box with the plants inside, as well as a fan and some lights.

I was thinking that if I run the cooler for a few hours in the evening, then the night temperature will be sufficiently low, and the day temperature will be higher when the CFLs are on and there is sunlight. While the neo enjoys a bit of water during the winter, the coelogyne really seems to rely on the moisture from dew/fog during the winter months. You may be thinking why I'm going through all this trouble to do this (since I could theoretically just spray the plant every day)- well, the situation is that this plant grows at home because I can't bring it to my downtown residence where I have dry heaters blasting away. At least I have a cold window at home where I can put the plant in front of. However, since I spend the week at my residence, I can't be home to spray the plant every day. So I decided to bring the whole shabang downtown with me - build a nice cool box for these two so I can monitor them.

I have some questions though, before I embark on this project. If anyone has experience building something like this, I would really appreciate any input.

1) I don't think people use swamp coolers ever this far north. I'm looking for mini ones - I recall someone saying that these exist. Are you talking about something like this?

2) Assuming I can get a mini one, I need some sort of box to hold in the low temperature and moisture. This is where it gets a little tricky - At first I was thinking of getting a glass aquarium and just inverting it to make my box. However, I am having trouble finding one that is large enough (for a budget). I need something that is at least 2ftx2ftx2ft in dimensions to accomodate my plants and the cooler. Plus, I wouldn't know how to mount my lights inside the thing. I was therefore thinking of building a frame cheaply out of some PVC piping from home depot, and wrapping some sort of insulator plastic around it to make the box. That way, I could hang my light from the PVC frame inside the box. Does this sound feasible or completely ridiculous? Any materials come to mind? What about that plastic stuff people use to make green houses with?

3)What will happen to my CFLs if they are mounted inside with 75% humidity? Will water get into the ballast and short the light? I don't want to have any electrical accidents.

4) I feel like I need some sort of exhaust fan. Will this provide sufficient air movement or should I also install internal fans?

I'm looking at all of you who grow dracs and have fantastic setups to give me a hand here. Any ideas would be appreciated. I know this may seem like a lot of work for a couple of plants...I mean, I suppose I could nag my mom into spraying the coelogyne for me every day...but I'm thinking it could be a fun project to try out! (Plus, I really do like these two plants and I want them under my watchful eye).

[Ross]

How about this artical: http://www.orchidboard.com/Growing-P...hallid-Orchids Any ideas come to life here? Also there was one further back where the poster had his tank mounted against the window where the cold outside air helped. Only problem I see is that any high intensity lights will run warm (like t5's) and offset any cooling you may be able to provide unless you can blow the heat away before it gets into the tank. That's what I do with mine. I have Dracula lotax in bottom of my tank in basement where it gets low light, constant breeze (24/7) and runs about 69-71 degrees F. It seems to like it. It is in spike right now.

[Grandma M]

WOW. That makes my head swim just trying to think about it.

[korxi]

You could use regular 5mm LEDs for lighting, they hardly emmit any heat or produce IR radiation
If you don't care about the light color you can just use blue and red LEDs, they will give you good wavelengths for photosynthesis (use many more red than blue LEDs).
You could also throw in a bunch of white ones just to make the color more eye friendly
IMO around 50 or so 5mm LEDs should be used pr. square foot to get enough light. It might not seem as much, but if the right colors are used it is comparable to dappled sunlight, or even full sun if enough lights are used
The only thing is, you need to be a bit handy, electronics wise, since you would have to do alot of soldering etc. On the other hand you will have lights that cost almost nothing to run and will last a looong time with only little loss of effect.

In regards to cooling, you could buy one of those cooler boxes you can hook up to your car to keep drinks cold, and just modify it a bit.. Or just take the lid (where the cooling thingie is) of an use it as the lid for your box.
At least it could be an alternative to a swamp cooler

Christian

[Ross]

Originally Posted by korxi

In regards to cooling, you could buy one of those cooler boxes you can hook up to your car to keep drinks cold, and just modify it a bit.. Or just take the lid (where the cooling thingie is) of an use it as the lid for your box.
At least it could be an alternative to a swamp cooler

Christian

Christian, that's called a Peltier cooling unit The Heatsink Guide - Peltier cooler information They work by creating a cool zone a certain amount cooler than the ambient temps. They are great and also have a side affect of creating a higher-than-normal relative humidity! Now that's a problem? Nope!

[korxi]

It might just be perfect then and probably cheaper than a swamp cooler

Christian

[Tindomul]

Take a look at these threads: http://www.orchidboard.com/community...terrarium.html

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...-problems.html

[calvin_orchidL]

Hi everyone
First of all, thanks for the great replies and suggestions.

The CFLs I have emit very little heat and should be okay - I have some set up out in the open less than 1" away from my leaves and there is no burning. I haven't made the plunge for LEDs yet because I'm still waiting for them to be cheaper (student budget! )

That Peltier cooling unit is an interesting concept. I will have to look into it a bit more. I've been advised that a misting system is quite good in terms of maintaining humidity, so I will look into that too but thanks for all the examples. A lot to learn from!

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[ericst11]

hi my names eric try using a ultrasonic humidifier