RE: NOVEL WAY TO FEED DRO

Michael Livingston (mikel@pcnet1.pcnet.com)
Sat, 25 Feb 95 09:34:10 PST

>MI-I am in Connecticut. Like I said I have some gnats in my
office
>MI-which I disable and then place on the plants leaves, but there
are
>MI-not always many bugs around. This is my first experience with
CPs
>MI-so I don't really know what is _right_.
>
>If you get some carbon dioxide gas, in cylinders or generated by
>burning propane (make sure it is cooled, first), it will help the
>plants to grow. The food is just fertilizer, like vitamins to a
>human - they really only use CO2 and water for food, and, in a
>terrarium, they don't get enough CO2. A cylinder will cost up to
>$200, but by putting a good regulator on it (available for less
>than $20 used) and a solenoid (available for $18 from a
hydroponics
>supply house), it is possible for that tank to last for a couple
of
>years (it will cost up to $20 to refill it) - it should come on
for
>a minute at low-output about once each six hours (depending upon
>the size of the terrarium, the volume dispensed, and the
>ventilation of the terrarium). To get that fine of a time frame,
>ordinary household timers won't work - but an X-10 controller
unit,
>programmed by computer, is very good for one-minute intervals
>(there may be other timers that can do this, and you can probably
>make a solid-state timer on your own that would work, if you know
a
>smidgen of electronics).
>

Douglas,

Thanks for the tip on message line length. I had no idea that it
was causing problems. Hope this worked better.

As far as the CO2 dispenser goes, that is an expense that I was not
quite expecting. Like I mentioned I only have two Drosera which
for the time being are quite small. However, the D. spathulata had
suddenly taken ill. It looked wonderful up to a few days ago,
practically dripping dew. Then one morning I came in and all the
dew was gone and the filaments on the leaves are kind of curled
down. I have been keeping loosely placed plastic bags over the
pots to help keep the humidity up, so I wonder if it has been
starving for CO2. Incidentally, the D. capensis which has been
kept similarly is doing great.

I this problem rings a bell with you or anyone else (you will
notice I posted this to the list) I would greatly appreciate any
help.

Michael Livingston
NetCraft Software Development, Inc.