I just wanted to share this since I know I'm not the only one out there desperately searching for ways to grow Draculas (and other cool growing Pleuros) in warmer temps.
I read about
Cool Pots and
Cool Tubes a while back, but I'm always leery of products that seem too good to be true, so I just kind of assumed they were. A couple of weekends ago at an orchid show, I stumbled upon The Orchid Gallery's booth and actually got a chance to see the Cool Pots in action. I have to admit....I was shocked the first time I touched one...it actually was cool and damp to the touch. So, I picked up a Cool Tube and a type of Cool Pot that you can mount smaller plants to the side of (I don't see this one listed on her website). When I got it home, I filled the Cool Tube with water and treated it like it had a plant mounted on it for about a week just so I could get a better idea of what conditions it could offer me. I tried to watch the temp to see just how cool it would get, but we ended up having freakishly cool weather for Louisiana that week, so I don't feel like my temps could accurately portray what I could normally expect. I do feel that I can expect cooler temps than I would normally get in my grow area. I ordered a Dracula vespertillio and mounted it on the Cool Tube a few days ago. It's an intermediate growing Dracula, and from what I've read, it isn't a very difficult one to grow. If it does great, then I plan on getting another Cool Tube and trying out a cool growing Dracula. Here's a picture.
So far it's keeping the moss very moist. I was putting a little water on the moss and then topping off the water in the tube, but it ended up dripping a lot, so now I'm just topping off the water in the tube every evening. It feels cool to the touch and the plant seems happy. It's only been a couple of days, but it hasn't lost any leaves or had any browning, so I'm happy about that.
Dracula vespertillio grown on a Cool Tube
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