A Begonia Rex plant in my home seemed to quietly complain about too much sunlight in the hot summer days, too cold environment in the fall without heating on and not enough moisture in the air when the central heating was on.
I placed it farther away from the front windows so it would get less direct sun, used a shallow metal 'bath' for it to be in a moist environment and added an aquarium heater to keep the pool of water at aroiund 25ºC.
That looked fine but I did not feel at ease with the glass heater at 230V sitting there, ready to break if someonw would happen to drop a hard object on it by accident and then possibly electrocuting something or someone.
Next I bought a second hand heating mat that's used to keep plant seedlings at the correct temperature but after reading the manual information conveniently printed on the mat I decided againsty using it. It needed to be kept away from water and needed to be monitored continuously to ensure safe operation.
Then I visited a shop for owners of reptile pets (http://www.paludaria.nl/) and they recommended a more robust heating mat such as is used to keep the home of a bearded dragon at the best temperature, plus a high quality German thermostat.
I installed it and I hope the Begonia and the other plants will enjoy the place.
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The plants
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The aquarium heater
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Second hand mat, not ideal
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| Second hand mat, not ideal |
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| Second hand mat, not ideal |
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| Second hand mat, not ideal |
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| Second hand mat, not ideal |
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| Second hand mat, not ideal |
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| Second hand mat, not ideal |
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new and robust heating mat
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ready to place metal 'bath'
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'bath' ready on top of heating mat
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| Thermostat |
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| Thermostat |
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Thermostat room temp
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thermostat target temp
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plants are happy (i hope)
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Reacties