S/H outside. Too hot for standing water?

[DirtyCoconuts]

I recently acquired a Phrag and given it's propensity for staying wet i was thinking about S/H (especially after some smart members suggested it )

I have always been a mounts and air kind of guy and one of the things i was concerned about with S/H is can it be done outside?

I don't like standing water for a few reasons....MOSQUITOS, also i am afraid of cooking the plant as it can get quite hot here and i have walked upon a bucket of water left in the sun that was almost hot enough to burn one's skin.

clearly this will not be in the direct sun but is this a viable concern at all or am i way off?

another thought that i had was to make a tube from the rain barrel to the S/H res and that way the water from the rain over flow (almost always) will flow into the res and act like a stream, if you will, ensuring the water is a) never stagnant and b) more likely to stay cool as i can make it a MUCH larger res and do a few plants in there


thoughts and advice are appreciated in advance

[Subrosa]

In a typical s/h pot the water in the reservoir isn't accessible to mosquitoes. If you're growing in a tray, there are a couple of options. You can use Bti (Bacillus thuringiensis israeliensis) in either liquid, granular or mosquito dunk form. You can dump and refill trays daily or as I did when I was breeding fish collect the floating egg rafts daily. If you can get water movement with a pump or airstone mosquitoes won't lay their eggs in it. One consideration, to my knowledge Phrags prefer it on the cooler side. I only have a couple, and am definitely no expert with them, but that's what I've heard.

[DirtyCoconuts]

interesting...if that is the case then indoors is my only option..
this was growing in a shadehouse down here so i know it CAN tolerate the temperatures but if it is ideal is more my consideration.

have you had any experience with the SH res getting too hot outside and cooking a plant?

---------- Post added at 03:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:19 PM ----------

this is sort of what i was envisioning

Pod and nepenthe by J Solo, on Flickr

[Subrosa]

If you had it growing well in normal culture you should be better than fine, since s/h tends to run cooler. I don't use a large reservoir such as you have in mind, just regular s/h pots with internal reservoirs. I haven't had any issues with heat, but I am in PA! While they're outside I keep my Phrags on an open porch that keeps direct sun off of them except for an hour or two in the evening when the sun gets low.

[WaterWitchin]

Mine go outside for six or so months of the year. Kansas heat and humidity. Winter inside the other six or so months. All S/H. I've only had one out of many that hasn't done well, and it's a "special" one. Being outside here in summer in SH helps a lot. Winters... meh, they survive until the next go round.

PS I have a phrag that's reached a fairly good size. It bloomed starting in June, all summer, and just dropped what appears to be its last bloom for awhile about a week ago (been back in basement since late October). They aren't that difficult to grow. Paphs and Phrags, that is.

[Ray]

The reason your bucket of water got hot was because the surface area is small compared to the volume (mass) of the water. In a semi Hydro pot, evaporation is a much larger part of the equation. No problem with overheating.

[DirtyCoconuts]

Great info guys. Thanks!