Paramo Box

Here are some photos of my paramo box. I'm growing some paramo species from above 3000m and some sub-paramo species from around 3000m. I got these orchids on Friday from Ecuagenera. It's kind of trippy to look at them under the lights. I think it should work though.

I was surprised that the temperature range without anything in the wine case is cooler than when the plants are in the case. With plants I can get the temperature up to 55F and then drop it down to 39F at night.

No leaf drop or cell collapse, so I think that's a good sign! I'll know in a month or so if the plants are actually growing well.

 

Yep! I just bought a regular wine cooler: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/danby-3...=6767123&st=categoryid$abcat0901007&cp=1&lp=4

It has removable racks so I removed the middle ones and used those to hold the light and that just rest right in front of the case. They look well illuminated so I think it should worked. I tried placing the light inside of the case but it was warming it up too much. I adjust the temperature manually with a dial on the wine cooler.

 

Hi Kelly, the light is an LED light specially designed to emit wave lengths matching each type of chlorophyll in order to maximize photosynthesis. The model I'm using also emits UV ligt which tricks the plants into thinking they're growing in real sunlight and it has the added advantage of killing mold and mildew spores. I thought the UV light would also be important considering the high amounts of UV in high elevation environments like the paramo.

http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-7-Band-135w-ufo-led

 

Perhaps, they do look tasty...

I've only encountered mention of the effects of UV on plants in a paper I read about the evolution of Andean lupines. They hypothesized that one of the reasons why their rate of evolution is so fast is because of the increased rate of mutation caused by UV. I haven't looked though. If there is a paper you are thinking of, I can probably access it through my university library. My reason for choosing the light with UV is to try and replicate their natural environment as best I can. I imagine it will make the plants grow more compactly and hopefully induce them to produce more pigmentation in the flowers.