Plants
2021
2021-02-12
Motivation
The plant collection is becoming big and with an almost only north facing set of windows, the plants were only growing slowly. I had previously done smaller artificial illumination projects:
- 2019-07 to 2019-09: A two-spot ordinary reading lamp to augment sunlight in a dark spot as part of an aeroponics project in a bucket with greenhouse film to isolate the mist-ified root system from the outer environment.
- 2019-09 to 2020-08: A multiple LED-strip setup as a bigger continuation of the previous project, in a total of four rectangular boxes with one 5 meter strip for lighting, split up in 5 for 100cm breadth of lit area.
Project
Bought legs (250cm /4= ) 62.5cm and screws, and built the frame to elevate the bed by 62.5cm. For the lighting, added:
- 3:1/red:blue 10m strip, so in 5x 2m parts.
- 3m double, warm white:cold white, about 12-24W strip in one 2m strip and joined 1m with next strip:
- Old led strips are repurposed too, one 12W 5m in two 2m strips and 1m joined with the above.
Current wiring
Power accross a 11m long DC wire, all strip terminations are in parallel on the legs end of the bed, notice the black cable on the picture.
2021-02-16
Standard pots
Bought three 95*37cm rectangular underpots and some corresponding standard-sized pots to fit in them: This is planned to be the dominant pot size, 1.5L and 15cm ø at the top, 13.5cm high. 12 pots per underpot and there is place for 5 underpots. Most plants from the window are now under the gardenbed. Also bought some more standard pots and some soil.
gardenbed leg screw fixation
gardenbed leg screw fixation
gardenbed light strips layout
gardenbed light layout
gardenbed with plants
2021-03
Seedlings
Progress on some vegetable (zucchini) seedlings, and planted some garlic too, which sprouted. The lemon seedling from 2020 though seems dry.
gardenbed progress seedlings
2021-04
The little orchids attached to the mother plant have started flowering on themselves. The Amaryllis seeds have successfully sprouted. The garlic has dried out and died.
New Lights
Bought 20m of high power light strips to extend the lighting and balance it a bit more to the white. It also now takes about twice as much power.
Ventilation
There are now ventilation fans on the legs end of the bed, for cooling the lightstrips and also providing some ventilation to the plants, preventing stale air.
orchid white phalaenopsis three small ones
orchid white phalaenopsis thee little ones
amaryllis seeds sprouting
gardenbed lighting update
2021-05
Thicker wires, more power
Added some more fans to the ventilation. Changed out the 11m cable for a thicker 2.5mm2, allowing more power and therefore more brightness.
2021-06
Bought some more standard pots.
2021-09
Added some foam behind the ventilation fans to filter the air a bit. Bought more standard pots and soil.
White orchid multiplies
The white orchid had three little offshoots, two of which were big enough so I separated and repotted them. This was while flowering so they may be pertubed a bit.
Electronics rewiring
Major rewiring on the electronics side, the following changes were made:
- swap around side of lights: head end of bed is now where the strips are connected to power
- disconnect 11m 2.5mm2 thick wire and swap it out for a two-step transistor+relay system: the power supply now is at the nearest outlet to the strip connections and there is a thin 11m wire that only carries a 3.3v (10mA maybe?) signal, which controls a 12v relay switching the AC, through a 12v transistor
All this increased brightness noticeably, measurements: 11.4V 10A (=114W) before rewiring and at PSU end, only 9V at LEDs end. After: 10.5V 20A (=210W).
plants update more earth and more underpots
amaryllis seedlings update
amaryllis and orchids update
plants view from top
2021-10
Additional power improvements
There were two power bottlenecks that became obvious on the wiring change:
- There were two relays in parallel (for the 10A current) switching on the DC side. The wiring to them was a part of the bottleneck so I moved them over to the AC side and they completely connect/disconnect the PSU. Now a single one is enough, as they are rated 30A: and at 220vAC it is switching 1-2A, ample headroom.
- The direct connections from the PSU to the LEDs now carry more current and therefore heat up noticeably (30°C everywhere). I changed most PSU→LEDs wires out for thicker 4mm2 speakerwires (nothing else available was ≥4mm2), for a majority of the distance (about 1m in the longest case) and split up the shorter wires at the ends to not be longer than 10cm, and to generally not carry more current than for three 2m strips at a time.
Current diagram:
electronics relay wiring and mounting
wiring upgrade power supply and thick cables
2021-10-10
Seeds
To clean up seed reserves (for fear of reaching expiration dates). Seeded all of this:
- green kale (plants entire 06)
- spinach (plants entire 05)
- miscellaneous/rare seeds: passiflora edulis, passiflora coerulea, strelitzia reaginae and Violette Glocke (plants entire 06)
- basil (plants entire 02)
plants entire 01
plants entire 02
plants entire 03
plants entire 04
plants entire 05
plants entire 06
2021-10-16
plants basil seedlings
plants seedlings green cabbage, miscellaneous leftovers and spinach
dionea muscipula
pinguicula weser bloom
small orchid separated while blooming
2021-10-29
Internal resistance of LED strips
Because of the recent power increase, and therefore more brightness, one weak point became noitceable: the internal resistance of the strips themselves accross 2m. They heat up considerably, though not dangerously, and are dimmer at the not-connected end. To remedy this, simply replacing, or instead shoring out the strips with thicker conductors than they have internally should lower the total resistance and allow cooler and brighter functionning. Furthermore, adding a second power connection accross a 2m strip would be most optimal at the 2/3 mark from the connected end, meaning any power travels 1/3 of 2m for the farthest, a 3x increase from the previous 2m farthest with adding only one more connection along the length. The 4mm2 cables were used for these connections, necessitating a 16mm2 domino at the power supply to connect everything.
electronics update, some tidying
electronics update, some tidying 02
electronics update, some tidying 03 domino distributor
2021-11
Bought two 50x16cm rectangular underpots to fill the 15cm remaining gap. There are now carnivorous plants in the forward one, the backward one is empty for now.
2022
2022-01
A few changes since 2021-11, they are:
UV lights experiment
Bought 5x 365nm and 5x 380nm leds, they are mounted on coolers with fans and are a bit dim so quite near to the plants.
Added morning lights
Added some, 10W total, dimming lights for a more soothing sunrise experience than an instantaneous (or about 0.2s) turning on: a 10min slow dim up of some little led lights, and only after that do the main lights turn on. This is not for the plants but for my comfort, see a picture in #2022-03.
Plant updates
- Both amaryllis overwintered in the cold and dark, though not freezing.
- Strelitzia reaginae is the only plant that sprouted from the rare and date-expired remaining seeds, and even there only one plant of 4-5 seeds. The Violette Glocke also sprouted but it was before its expiration date.
- White rescued orchid was successfully fertilized and is forming a fruit.
dionea muscipula wintering
lights ultraviolet experiment
salad, orchids, rescued orchid and rescued mint
blooming rescued orchid
amaryllis emerging from winter
strelitzia reginae
amaryllis second flower spike
orchid watering
pinguicula weser feeds on little insects
basil
cephalotus follicularis
orchid successfully fertilized
total view
Fertilizing
Probably started to regularly fertilize some plants, to compensate that they are in pots and to boost yields. The fertilizer is an aeroponic tomato mix of several mineral powders/salts which are dissolved in warm water.
2022-02
Violette Glocke (Cobaea scandens)
amaryllis with ten leaves
mint cuttings make roots
amaryllis 2021 seedlings update
green kale
amaryllis first spike flowering
electrical wiring update, added secondary power supply
orchid fruit
amaryllis second spike flowering
Amaryllis leaf-growing season
The mystery amaryllis did make leaves this season but it does not make a flower spike. Brought in a new amaryllis, a white one. It has finished flowering but has weakened: it had little water and sun and bloomed two spikes from hormones from the store. The spikes I cut, and it has four green leaves.
Plagues
The mint brought from France seems to have some kind of fungus parasite. To stop it proliferating, I take cuttings of not infected parts and plant those once they have roots.
2022-03
violet orchid
dimmable leds
red-yellow orchid getting ready to flower again
small still attached white orchid flowering, it gets sugar from the mother plant
plants view update
consoude plants
mint cuttings update and lettuce seeded
avocado update and repotting
Strelitzia repotting
Repotted the strelitzia because it seems to have a carrot-like central root and was reaching the bottom of its current pot. It now is in a square green high pot.
New plants
Bought the violet orchid. Seeded lettuce to test whether this lettuce too wil be as floppy and acid as the previous one. In the worst case it is to use up the seeds.
2022-04
kale flowering
topview, amaryllis unexpected new leaves (totaling 12)
cephalotus placement and orchids and amaryllis below
plants view
Lettuce problems
The lettuce is doing the same thing as the previous one, I think now that it is beacuse of lighting: there is not enough of it for lettuce. As a little surprise, the red amaryllis is making two new leaves after having bloomed.
Plants misc
On the other hand, the white amaryllis seems to support the lighting but it dried one leaf off. The infested basil did not survive the outside, now putting the pots inside to at least try, and check they do not contain any greenflies. Will probably start over with new basil plants.
2022-05
Violette Glocke grows outside bed frame
phone autophoto placing
miltoniopsis orchid
mint tea
Schedule change
Switched illumination settings to flip the year: instead of the longest day on 21jun and shortest on 21dec, now the shortest day is jun21 (06:20-18:30) and the longest will be 21dec (06:20-21:00). This is to heat less in summer and to light more in winter (better mood for me). Because of heat from the lighting among others, I bought an air conditionning unit to cool down during the hottest days. This should also help the sensitive plants like miltoniopsis.
2022-06
kale
gardenbed overview
violette glocke
basil seedlings
basil seedlings
strelitzia reginae 4th new leaf
Seeded a basil "big-leafed" variety, now to see that it doesn't get infested with greenflies.
Put one pot of lettuce outside on the kitchen west window. It is liking it and takes on a more lettuce-like shape and is stronger, the leaves taste less acid and sweeter too.
New plants
Definite logkeeping start on 2022-06-23. Planted Apfelminze (probably Mentha suaveolens) from Omate, and also Melissa (probably Melissa officinalis). The lettuce ouside dried out, bringing it inside for now, but one basil that survived the cold april and may nights is still outside and flowering, it might not have any greenflies anymore.
2022-07
strelitzia reginae with new 5th leaf starting
pinguicula flower
PSU swap out
Bought new 400w PSU after the 5+years old one failed silently. Also wired a 3.3V and a 5V rail of the new PSU for the small UV leds (3.3V) and charging the photo-phone (5V).
Miltoniopsis
The miltoniopsis suffered a bit from the heat I think (upwards of 28°C some days with night lows rarely below 20°C) and stopped flowering, though it already had the flowers open for its typical period.
Misc Plants
Brought the flowering basil inside as it seemed to not have any greenflies and was being eaten up by snails.
The big white orchid's fruit finally matured and burst. For now, I collected the dust-like seeds but I am not too interested in setting up an entire orchid growing facility, as it seems to be a quite labour intensive process to seed those.
2022-08
strelitzia reginae 5 leaves
violette glocke flower
pinguicula flowers
mint growing near to lights
new light mounting system 1
new light mounting system 2
new light mounting system 3
new light mounting system 4
final led strip arrangement 1
final led strip arrangement 2
Electronics controller changes
Changed some electronics because planning on adding more old-phones-as-cameras. Currently still only using one phone but the system will now easily work with multiple phones. Changed:
- Added a rasbperry pi (version 2) near the PSUs
- Replaced arduino by the raspberry pi. Because the raspberry pi and the phone charging were connected to the same 5v line as the arduino, it would sometimes not have enough power and reboot. That meant it thought it was morning and would take 10min to turn the main lights on again.
- Therefore all automated functions are run on the raspberry pi: turning main lights on/off, morning lights fade up, and calculating sunshine time (and therefore time synchronization).
- Because the rasbperry pi 2 does not have wifi, it has an external usb3 wifi antenna and corresponding drivers. It keeps wifi off most of the time, only turning it on once a day for uploading pictures. (On a reboot it will not turn wifi off, only the next day at 07:00 once the upload finishes). To schedule maintenance login, it checks that
rigel:/mnt/18a/plants/keeponlinedoes not exist and only then turns wifi off. if it exists, it keeps wifi on and a login will be subsequently possible.
Electronics power rewiring
Introduce multistrips
Changed the mounting strategy for individual strips making maintenance easier because they are detachable: they just slide in with screws as hooks, no screwing in is needed. It is now possible to attach/detach a multistrip easily: slide the set in a free space and then connect the wiring. No need to access from below, no need to screw in (just slide in), and all soldering can be done before connecting.
Wiring clean up
The wiring had some clean-up, and was extended all the way to the other end of the bed: the 1m modular multistrips have power connections on both ends, for avoiding too high voltage drops accross 1m length (just like power injection at the 2/3 mark of 2m strips to avoid dimmer ends of strips than their start).
Basil seeds
The basil seedlings are progressing and seeming healthy.
Light experiment
Doing a little experiment with two pots of mint, putting them up higher nearer to the lights. This is to see how they grow with more intense light and if it makes sense to split up some part of the gardenbed to be two-storied, as in make an about 30cm-high table and put plant trays on it. From below, it would have lights and more plant trays on the floor: two abut 30cm-high stories instead of one 60cm (with lights that far away, the plants are losing some light). The mint plants seem to be doing quite well and I am planning forward.
Orchids
Most orchids have started to make new leaves or are continuing to grow new ones: the violet one, the yellow-bordeaux one, the two little white ones and also the big white one. The mother white one which still has a plantling attached also seems to do something at its stem, either a new plantling or just a new root or flower spike. Do they like the heat this much? It may also be because they were watered from below and left in 2cm deep water twice for more than a week each time.
White amaryllis
The white amaryllis has dried all its leaves. I will unpot it and start its hibernation now, unfortunately in the fridge for its start; before something starts to rot and it definitely dies. The bulb is still stiff and with an earlier winter (starting now) it could make new leaves by october-november.
Misc plants
About amaryllises, planning on repotting all the 2021 seedlings (some are 30cm high already) in one long rectangular pot and try to make a blooming cascade when they mature in a few years, by starting (potting in/pulling out of hibernation) every plant offset, by a week for example.
The parsnip grew well, but it had some insects, maybe some greenflies. To stop them I cut away everything green and only left its root stem sticking out the ground. That has started to make half a dozen green buds and leaves now, and does not have any parasites.
New oncidium
Bought a healthy Oncidium, also called Cambria, its flowers were bordeau, on discount because it had finished blooming. It it quite similar to the Miltoniopsis, also in growing conditions.
2022-09
cephalotus follicularis
total view with new shelf mount in the back
sarracenia
basil seedlings on the shelf
amaryllis repotting
enitre view right
enitre view left
hoya carnosa, or porcelainflower; just potted in
vanilla planifolia
Electonics updates
Made multistrips of the remaining previous leds: some misc strips and the long-waiting UV led strips. They are now installed and wired up.
Measured the power use:
- AC: (235±0.5)V ac, (2.26±0.02)A ac ⇒ (531±6)W
- PSU_2(450w): (12.15±0.01)V 30.7±0.5)A ⇒ (373±6)W
- PSU_1(350w): (11.41±0.01)V (10.7±0.4)A ⇒ (122±5)W
for a total of (495±11)W and power efficiency in [0.901, 0.964]. Note that the two PSUs are not exactly connected on their 12V DC side, they connect to different sets of leds and any path from one to the other passes through a led strip: most strips have connections on both ends to prevent a too high voltage drop over 1m. When the inputs are shorted, I think PSU_2 takes over to 100% output and PSU_1 has no too much to do. PSU_2 is sensitive to its load and at 100% it ramps up its ventilation fan, which is too noisy and that is why I rewired it like that.
New space for plants
Made a table structure and now there is more space, for 24 standard pots in two x12 trays. The lights below the table are not yet mounted so there are no plants there.
Amaryllis replanting
Replanted the amaryllis plants (seeded 2021) from 4 standard pots into a rectangular 17x60cm and four standard pots. The biggest bulbs are already 6-8cm diameter, there are about 10 that are >5cm and 25 in total, with only about 5 smaller than 2cm. When they will be mature for flowering, I will need to find wider rectangle pots, something like 60x30cm, thrice with that many bulbs. At this point it would be the same as square pots, 30x30cm times 6.
Amaryllises
The not-yet-flowered amaryllis has made new leaves while drying out its older leaves. It also had some burns from lights. Because of that I think its winter will be planned November22-March23.
The big bordeau amaryllis is also drooping its leaves, multiple have folded along their length but they are not drying out for now. I am thinking of overwintering it longer this year, maybe 01october22-01january23.
New Sarracenia
Bought a sarracenia, to try out and also to tackle the high amount of flies in the apartment.
New strawberries
Brought a few strawberry plants from france. I had to mow the patch of strawberries there because it was full of weeds. But after two weeks, because the roots had stayed, strawberry leaves started coming up again. I took a few of the plants here and after careful washing potted them in, over a total of 9 standard pots. When the table will have lights from below, they sould go there I think.
Oncidium and miltoniopsis
The Oncidium and Miltoniopsis are now watered with filtered water and the Miltoniopsis had some (looking like salt) spots, which are not on new leaves anymore.
Misc plants
Also stood up the biggest kale plants to help them grow straight and up, and allow more airflow to ventilate and reduce the fungus there. Did a somewhat big cutting of mint to make it grow differently under the nearer light, without making too much of a tangle and grow more leaves and less stems than before.
New vanilla orchid
Bought a big vanilla orchid (the usual comestible vanilla planifolia) on 26 Sept, and counted its leaves and the stem layout:
1:(4-5):7{A,B,C,D}
A7:(8-9A):(25.26A):29{X}:(41-42A):44
B7:(11-12B):(24-25B):39{X}:(39-40B):(50-51B):54
C7:(13C):13:X
D7:(9-10D):(21-22D):(41-42D):47
Syntax explanation: a number always means node count, always from the roots. Letters mean different stems except for X where a stem ends. Curly braces after a number mean a multiplication of stems at that node, with the list of new stems in the curly braces: 7{A,B,C,D} means 4 new stems called A, B, C, and D start at node 7. Then each line is about a stem.
Colon-separated elements describe features along the concerned stem, with :X denoting the end of a stem, :([num]-[num+1][etter]): means a tagged internode, so a tag attached to the piece of stem between leaves at nodes [num] and [num+1]. An element like 39{X} means a new stem starts at node 39 but also directly ends there: probably where a cutting was previously taken.
2022-10
big bordeaux amaryllis unpotted and roots washed
white orchid new leaves from new basal growth
sarracenia, with new pitchers growing
vanilla new growing spike
basil after first harvest
installed new lights under table
installed new lights under table, view from below
ficus bonsai air roots
Amaryllis hibernation
Put the big amaryllis to hibernation, and unpotted it this year because it had stayed in the pot the previous winter. Also got the white amaryllis out of the fridge and put it in the dark with the big one.
Vanilla paused
The vanilla orchid had a few parasites (greenflies) on the ends of its stems and I cleaned them away with vinegar. Now the vanilla did not like this at all and the ends are now brown. I am thinking that new growths will start somewhere below and it will take some time. It took about three weeks but among all 4 stem ends, they all stopped growing from the vinegar and restarted on a few leaf nodes lower. There are now 4 growing stem ends.
New red lights
The new leds arrived, I soldered and mounted them together on the table.
Table new strawberries
From the new space, almost half is laready taken up by strawberries. This also airs up the rest of the trays, most notably the orchids and the kale. Some seedlings are planned in the remaining empty space.
2022-11
vanilla new spike growing with drop: high sap pressure
strawberry flowering
vanilla air roots
temporary electronics: current limit with thick white, 7m, 2x2.5mm^2 wire
resoldering to "60V" and voltage-boost power converters
bordeaux orchid new massive leaf
miltoniopsis new leaf
before-220V relay and controllers newly mounted in box
Major electronics rewiring to 60V
Motivation
The previous layout ov 12V was getting a little out of hand, and with the multistrip setup the resoldering from 12V x5 in parallel to 60V in series should be easier and much more modular than doing it on the entire circuit at once. Also, adding dimmability should be a big upgrade for the PSU's behaviour: it should no longer be at 100% load and the fan could be silent without needing a modification (which breaks the warranty sticker).
Also, the just-enough 4mm2 wires at 12V should be amply enough at 60V and make about 5x less heat losses. Some wires that move more than 5A at 12V are currently warm at the touch, this would not be the case at 60V.
Process
Needed to resolder LEDs in series by strips of 5: for a theoretical 60V. Now it's not running at 60V but just 45-50V (thanks to the dimmer!). This is enough light for the plants and, exactly because it is dimmable, it allows for the PSU to not serve as the current limiter (and being used at 100% load). Rather, the LEDs will limit their power consumption when limited by the lower voltage (45V/5=10V instead of previously the PSU's 12.15V) and so the whole system puts less stress on the PSU.
Remaining 12V capacity
On the other hand, the UV leds specifically have a higher voltage threshold for minimal/normal brightnesses, and there are only 2 of them, for about 50W it does not warrant another separate "~55V" circuit: They will stay on one remaining 12V wire.
The fans at the other end of the bed need 12v too.
B long wire
The PSU does not want to turn on with everything connected, only A+12v load or only B+12v seems to work but not all A+B+12v. After some experimenting I found that an additional 1m length of 12V wire, at 4mm2, between 'PSU 12V 650w' and 'B' would somehow solve the problem. It may have to do with constructive and destructive interference backfeeding from one voltage converter to the other, as they are connected in parallel over their input. The 1m length seems to add enough stray capacitance, inductance or resistance to lower the effect so that the PSU is not overwhelmed. This length is not shown on the diagram.
Multistrip layout
| W | white |
|---|---|
| B | red+blue in either 3red:1blue or 5red:1blue ratio |
| R | pure red |
| U | ultraviolet |
| number | amount of rows of leds and NOT the amount of strips (e.g. 5 for the 10W) |
| Bed feet end | Bed head end | Under Table (below head end) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10W | A | 5R | A | 5B | B |
| 5B | A | 5R | A | 5R | B |
| 5U | (A)off | 5B | A | ||
| 5U | 12v | 5B | B | ||
| 10W | A | 3W | 12v | 5R | B |
| 3W | 12v | 10W | B | 10W | B |
Multstrip name and electric connections are given:
- A means 12v x 5 in series = "60V" (variable, 46V now) connection to DC-DC step-up voltage converter A,
- B also "60V" (variable, 46V now) for converter B.
- 12v means direct wiring to PSU 12v without any converters.
Electronics clean-up
Mounted all the controller electronics in a plastic box, more compact and less open. This is now much cleaner but I need a ventilation fan before closing the box with its lid.
Mystery amaryllis
On 24Nov, transplanted mystery amaryllis out of pot and rinced its roots: put it into wintering mode and laid it in the cold and dark.
Vanilla resumed and others
The vanilla is growing with vigour, on all 4 spike ends. Most orchids are in leaf-growing season, even the miltoniopsis and oncidium are showing they are well this way.
2022-12
all electronics now secured and stable
cephalotus multiplied
new arriving pinguiculas, droseras, nepenthes
dendrobium phalaenopsis
hoya carnosa new growth
Electonics clean up
Finally mounted the electronics onto a piece of wood instead of having them hanging around. This happened after some inspiration of mounting the before-220v contoller part into its plastic box, all nice and tidy. It still remains to close, for that I still need an air circualtion fan and to shorten some wires to optimal length.
Cephalotus
Repotted the cephalotus, and since it was growing quite big and was risky to pull out the glass hole of its container, it is now multiplied, and only part of it is back in the glass container. The other bits and pieces are now in a more standard pot, I hope they don't suffer from not humid enough air and take root. Though the cephalotus famously grows slowly, taking root should take at least four months.
Plagues
The basil and mint have been having some problems with fruitflies, the basil is doing quite poorly and dying out. The mint had been battling some kind of fungus but keeping on top. On 04Dec I trimmed most of it down and set the leaves to dry; then I added more earth in the pots from the top. This is to add new minerals and help decompose biological remains on top of the soil and maybe aspyxiate some of the fruitflies. The basil on the other hand has died out surprisingly fast, now only three pots remain.
Pinguiculas
I put two pinguiculas next to those pots to attract the fruitflies more and am now resounding to more methods: there is now a sticky flytrap between the pots. I hope that will help the basil, and for the mint: it should grow through the new layer of soil in a few weeks, maybe even just one.
Naming scheme for underpot trays
| shorthand | size | where |
|---|---|---|
| 1A | 37*95cm | Leftmost 1 on the groud |
| 2A | 37*95cm | From left 2nd on the ground |
| 3A | 37*95cm | From left 3rd on the ground |
| 4A | 37*95cm | From right 2nd on the ground (below table) |
| 5A | 37*95cm | From right 1st on the ground (below table) |
| 1B | 37*95cm | From right 1st on table (over 5A) |
| 2B | 37*95cm | From right 2nd on table (over 4A) |
| 1C | 2x round | Pots between 3A and 4A |
| 1D | round | Front on table to the right of 2B |
| 2D | 50*17cm | Back on table to the right of 2B |
| 1G | 60*17cm | perpendicular in front of 1, 2 and 3A |
New carnivorous arrivals
In this new naming scheme, added tray on 2D, which is full of 5 carnivorous plants: drosera binata, drosera alicae, pinguicula moranensis, pinguicula esseriana, pinguicula weser, pinguicula anna, and one nepenthes hookeriana.
New dendrobium phalaenopsis
In the now orchid-and-strelitzia tray 3A added dendrobium phalaenopsis, bordeaux but finished blooming in november. To clarify, tray 1G is the one full of amaryllis seeds from 2021.
Only one strawberry left
On 18Dec tidied up some pots and reorganized layout. I think the strawberries mostly died from a soil issue, but am not sure. To prevent further problems, I plan on not letting the soil die out and have started watering it. This means empty pots are not stacked anymore: every pot has water at its bottom after watering. Tray 5A has 12 only-soil pots and we'll see how it goes. There are a few empty pots (without soil even) in 4A. There are other soil-only pots in 1B, 2B, and 1A. All these soil-only pots come from dead plants that I removed most roots from. After some mixing soil between the drier and wetter pots, I just placed them around where plants were generously spaced, to not force all plants to be too dense.
Amaryllis preparations
To prepare for the amaryllis returns (there will be three big pots!) in the start of 2023, I moved the mostly empty and dry blue pots from 4A to 2A and moved the small phaleanospis there to 4A. These blue pots serve as an experiment in composting for now: I pot most of the dead roots and leaves there with the dry earth and mixed that a little. Planning on watering this a bit, it could decompose some. In any case, this stuff will partly stay there for the amaryllis to use. I might move it all for only the biggest one, just so that it eats it up and if it weakens from that, it should be fine just because of how massive that bulb is anyway.
Hoya carnosa
After cutting off the dried up end spike of the carnosa, it seemed to realize that it was growing nowhere and happily started two new growths.
2023
2023-01
amaryllis x3 before potting in
amaryllis and tulips potted in
hoya carnosa new stem growth
repotted cephalotus
amaryllis growing
PSU changed orientation
control relays for dimmming
new pilea
small white orchid blooming
strelitzia reginae new leaf
Amaryllis and tulips
In parallel to potting the amaryllis in, I received some tulip bulbs in December and potted them in at the same time. The tulips also have some of the slightly decomposed roots and various dead bits because there was quite a big volume to put just in the amaryllis' pots. Note that one amaryllis (the white flowering one) has dechlorophylled leaves: it had started growing them during its stay in the cellar while being near the window, but then I covered them up to not confuse it (I had started its hibernation in september in the fridge, and the temperature going from 4°C to 10°C in november when it went to the cellar triggered the leaf growth).
Misc
Also, the pinguiculas are blooming and the new ones are already growing and showing healthy.
Electronics capcacity improvement
| V | A | W | efficiency | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| before DC-DCup A | 12.05±0.01 | 10.53±0.2 | 126.9±3 | |
| before DC-DCup B | 11.78±0.01 | 10.41±0.2 | 122.6±3 | |
| after DC-DCup A | 46.3±0.1 | 2.71±0.2 | 125.5±10 | [0.889,1.00] |
| after DC-DCup B | 46.3±0.1 | 2.46±0.2 | 113.9±10 | [0.827,1.00] |
| 12v line (UV+3W+DCDCdown->
4V fans) |
12.15±0.01 | 9.28±0.2 | 112.8±3 | |
| total 12v | 362.3±9 |
Slightly turned up the "60V" output to heighten brightness.
Motivation
This is now beyond the PSU's overcurrent protection and it therefore trips if all the leds are turned on at once. To mitigate this, the Raspberry pi now follows a "bootup sequence" to progressively turn on LEDs in the morning:
Transformer amp limiting
The voltage transformers have multiple setting variable resistors (to be set with a screwdriver), the voltage one being currently used. But they also have a current (amp) ceiling variable resistor, which I used to implement the power-throttling: The variable resistor is set higher than the actual current consumption, but it has the two poles connected to relays with resistors. When the relay engages, the resistor is in parallel to the variable resistor and therfore lowering the current ceiling to a "trottled" state; and when the relay is disengaged, normal "full-power" operation resumes.
The setup is represented here as the "relays" box where two additional resistors are switched into the DC-DC boost converters A and B's amp limiters (on the rectangles from below at an angle).
2023-02
big red amaryllis two stalks
pinguiculas, droseras and nepenthes
red-white amaryllis stem
red-white amaryllis blooms
red-white amaryllis three flowers
big red amaryllis flower before opening
big red amaryllis first flower
big red amaryllis six flowers on first stalk
bordeaux phalaenopsis blooms
big red amaryllis second stalk, again six flowers
hoya carnose new stem growths
big white phalaenopsis first bloom
Electronics troubles
After a little surprise when half of the light went out, I found one disconnected wire, which was the ultimate cause. But that wire was badly oxidized and still warm, with the plastic housing partly molten. It was a bad domino connection that, when carrying >15A would resistively heat up and that would thermally conduct into the copper. To prevent similar problems in the future, I rewired the high current circuits to have a minimal amount of dominoes and screw connections, replacing all but the two ends with soldered connections. One end goes to the PSU, which I am unwilling to open and solder onto the rails for warranty concerns; and the other end is on the voltage boost converters, where the connector is rated for 25A but is ony used at 15A so it should hold for now, I simply check regurlary that it is not hot, only warm, to the touch. Maybe a thermal fuse could be used here.
2023-03
big white phalaenopsis blooms
speckled violet small phalaenopsis blooms
cephalotus follicularis, big white phalaenopsis, mystery amaryllis two stalks and vanilla in the back
mystery amaryllis: a double-flower red
small salad harvest
orange speckled phalaenopsis first few flowers
double-red amaryllis first stalk with three flowers
Coffee grounds and eggshells ?
I started an experiment on the long run, regarding soil composition. Used coffee grounds and eggshells contain nutrients that I usually thow into the compost, but I wanted to try using them in the gardenbed. For now, it's just collecting the materials and testing things out. The coffee grounds I simply put in a container and then mix a little into the soil when repotting. For the eggshells, I dry them in the oven at >200C and then make a powder of them with a mixer.
2023-04
PSU troubles
Temporarily changed PSU to other model, of 750W. This is because the 650W one failed and the warranty return took some time during which I would prefer the plants to have lighting, so I bought a 750W for backup.
Also because of that, bootup timings are now longer (10s) to be gentler on the PSU in the long run.
pinguicula has a lot to eat
cephalotus trap macro shot
strelitzia reginae repotted for deeper roots
drosera, pinguiculas
Pilea wrinkles
I moved the pilea from the tabletop to tray 1A where the light is farther away because it was growing too strongly. Instead of having bombing leaves, I would prefer it to have its, admittedly characteristic, flat leaves.
Misc
Seeded some old seeds of aromatic herbs and some more recent basil, in 15 pots on trays 4A mostly and 5A.
2023-05
gardenbed front right tabletop view
gardenbed front right below table view
gardenbed front left view
table lights rewiring, double-domino solution
repotted droseras, pinguiculas and nepenthes
vanilla before
vanilla after untangling
vanilla in new space, on new support structure
orange speckled phalaenopsis blooms
The table
It got a little remake: I got it out to replace the screws holding it together with longer ones: that helped a lot to stabilize any previous wobbling. Before it would be sensitive to almost any push and move around a lot when the trays on it were manipulated (though the load-bearing capabilities were not compomised because of which blocks of wood rest on the others). Now it is much sturdier and sliding a tray full of pots onto it is much less terryfying.
Wiring upgrades
On that occasion, I redid the wiring for under the table as well, to send one thick 4mm2 wire diagonally across to deliver the current more homogeneously (well it's 4mm2 on maybe 1-1.5A,45V so the effect is mostly placebo, especially since I didn't mesaure).
Orchid dryness
The orchids usually run dry quite fast and I used up all sphagnum moss recently for the carnivorous plants repottings. Therefore I used some of the coffee grounds on top of their usual soil chips, to see if that could capture more moisture. The coffee grounds, when stored, start to lump up because some fungus likes to eat them. To prevent this, the container is open and equipped with a small computer fan that blows air on the grounds and keeps them dry enough to discourage fungal activities.
2023-06
drosera binata new leaves
2023-07
oncidium flower
bordeaux phalaenopsis
The Oncidium
It started blooming, but it only managed one flower before drying the stalk off, it may need more attention regarding watering as it regularly displays wrinkled leaves, which are a sign of not enough or irregular watering.
2023-08
new light multistrips
multistrips layout right side
multistrips layout left side
New lights
Added 4 new 10W multstrips, they are much brighter than the old 10W, because they use more LED power per length, not inherently different LED chips, though the old have 5050 and the new 2835 chips. One 10W still needs to be installed on the underside of the table.
2023-09
The 4 old 10W mutlistrips
They are degraded and have been dimming over time, to make them useful until the end, some wiring changes were made...
Motivation
They seem to be ageing, though most damage comes from one power supply changeover where they were driven at 12.10V per strip, compared to the usual 9-10V; and they had overheated and shut down in just 10 minutes: only 95% diodes survived. To squeeze some more light out of them (as dim as they are now, they could last 10 years but they are probably much less lifetime-total efficient that way), let's just drive them at a higher voltage.
Solution
This requires putting them on a new third "~60V" circuit, called C which runs at about 44V. This number is constrained from above by the PSU's overcurrent (A < max_A) and over-current-sharp-rise (dA/dt < max_dA_dt) protections, and from below by the low brightness. New wires were run and the mount for the A and B step-up transformers already had a third space, it was just a matter of screwing things in. The new transformer does not yet have the over-amperage limiter for when the PSU is turend on from a cold state, I am just hoping the A and B amp limiters will be enough.
Remove B long wire?
Wire length not shown on the diagrams, but it seems the additional 12V 1m wire length before the B transformer was unnecessary, as the C transformer is, like A, connected to the PSU over just 20cm of wire and it all works fine. I am planning on shortening B's 1m of 12V wire after some testing. That 1m of additional wire was introduced (2022-11) before the amp limiters (2023-01), and the amp limiters may have made the 1m wire redundant in the while. This removal would be advantageous for cable management, but also for efficieny: over 120cm vs 20cm of wire, more resistance is encountered on the 120cm. Now it is 4mm2, but at 12V; the heat loss prevented should still be nonzero.
Multistrip layout 2023-09
| Bed feet end | Bed head end | Under Table (below head end) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (front) | |||||
| 10W | (new) A | 5R | A | 10W | C |
| 10W | C | 10W | (new) A | 5R | B |
| 5B | A | 5B | A | 5B | B |
| 5U | 12v | 5R | A | ||
| 10W | (new) A | 5U | 12v | 5R | B |
| 10W | A | 3W | 12v | 5B | B |
| 3W | 12v | 10W | C | 10W | (new) B |
| (back) | |||||
Vanilla cutoff
The Vanilla had a nick on one stem connection, exactly where there was a Y. It was probably from some manipulation while untangling it, and I just left it hoping it would be fine. As it turns out, it wasn't fine because the entire stem after that point had drooping leaves, was not growing on the end and had a shriveled stem.
The stem was effectively cut off and was not getting nutrients from the soil. After untangling it, it spent a week in a bucket with 10cm of water, to revigorate it. Now it has its own pot and the stem loops thrice through the pot, this should maximize root growth instead of just putting one end in the pot. Furthermore, the stem is about 150cm long so it's taking up less space rolled up.
Repottings
A few plants were thriving for a long time and had multiplication repottings overdue. Those are:
- Pinguicula Weser in 1B, always thriving but let's allow it to thrive: more pinguiculas means less fruitfiles when their season ultimately comes
- Pinguicula Guatemala in 1B, repotted from the small original pot to the two sides of a standard pot
- Pinguicula Anna in 1B, to two pots
- Nepenthes in 1B, a surprise since it's growing slowly but it is clearly thriving
- Sarracenia from 1C to 1C+1B, it was already cramped in its original pot. The offshoot in a pot with the nepenthes offshoot: try a mixed-species pot
- Pilea from 1A to 2 pots in 1A and 2 pots in 4A, clearly cramped in its original pot. Two offshoots in addition to the mother plant. Also cut off a few leaves just to try cuttings
Seeded
Quite a few pots were still available and with the new 10W lights, everywhere has a high light intensity, also with not-red. Concerned:
- Basil 4 pots in 4A front, seeds from summer of 2022 from just one plant and two flower stalks
- Celery giant red 6 pots in 1A back and 6 pots in 4A back, seeds may have low sprouting because of age
2023-10
2023-11
2023-12
Humidifier for vanilla
I'm thinking of building an automated humidifier system for the vanilla orchid. Currently the system is manual, just a sprayer with distilled water. But because of that I don't actually use it often... I already have almost all the parts for an ultrasonic humidifier-based setup :
- ultrasonic humidifier (24V 1A)
- fan for moving the mist
- servo for orienting the fan [missing] (overengineering?)
- water reservoir: just a plastic box where the humidifier sits in
- relay to switch humidifier on/off programatically
What remains to be done is build the thing, place it in the back somewhere near the vanilla, and connect it to the raspberry Pi.
Electronics tidying
The 220v relay for turning on the PSU is the central part of the pre-PSU control circuit. Currently, this is all mounted in a plastic box but it doesn't close. Something better is needed, I'm thinking of a multi-layer "open-air" setup, where components are mounted on wood plaques which then screw on the main mount. Then multiple plaques can be mounted ontop of eachother, with fans blowing cooling air in from the sides.
Also, in the post-PSU part, the boost converter A's amp throttling control came loose and the wire isn't making contact anymore. Surprisingly, the PSU seems "worn in" enough to still start up (with only B being throttled). And C does not have a throttle yet as well... Next time it's unscrewed: solder on connectors and new wires. Add connectors so that the trottle connections can also be unplugged, this was probably why A's write disconnected in the first place.
