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Cut them in half lengthwise? or laterally? could I get 4 cuttings from 1 leaf, if I cut them both ways? this is why I need pictures, you see

Thanks Anodyne, that's useful. Planthelper, I did search the forums & there is a lot of discussion, but I couldn't find anything with pictures. I'm not very good without pictures.

The LEDs will only really be a booster for the vine, it'll be in sun half the day anyway. I'll probably bump up the flouro for the viridis when it gets bigger. And if a chip blows, I'll just cut it & rewire it from the next good set. they're grouped into modules of 3 diodes, and each module has its own solder points (pretty standard I think). I've already cut it up into 4 strips, and I've got 2 adaptors running 2 strips each. Here's the trellis so far The LEDs are mounted on the rear side of 4 wooden strips, braced away from the trellis on brackets, so they point towards the trellis from about 5 inches out. The light is pretty even across the bulk of it.

As per title. keen to get hold of established plants or rooted cuttings (any size, any strain).

some people recommend the dull side of foil because it's less reflective, again so it doesn't create hot spots & burn the plants. as in my previous post though, it's only really relevant for hot lights, like HPS. "The reflectivity of bright aluminium foil is 88% while dull embossed foil is about 80%" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium_foil)

Foil is more reflective, afaik. the reason people recommend mylar or white paint instead is to prevent burning from hot spots, because it dissipates the light better. but I'm only using flouros anyway so it's not an issue.

Just as a follow-up, I thought I'd describe my planned setup (for b. caapi & p. viridis). I have a big wooden chest (about 1m x 0.5 x 0.5). it's lined with aluminium foil, and has a few quarter-inch holes drilled in the side near the bottom, with an 80mm silent pc fan next to the holes (on the inside) sucking air in from the room. I've got a 40W grolux flouro in there mounted to the inside front wall, and some trays of water to keep the humidity up a bit. it usually runs at about 60 - 65% humidity and 27 - 30' C, with the lid on. I've got three b. caapi cuttings in direct light, & three p. viridis, in the corner behind a shade. the light is on a timer, it runs 18hrs / day. I'm using that for a sort of nursery, I'll be filling it up with caapi & viridis cuttings over the next 3 or 4 weeks. I've also got 20 viridis seeds germinating (hopefully). soon I'm gonna build a wooden trellis, & fit it to the back of the chest, up against the wall, like this but taller, up to the height of the ceiling. when the caapi are too big for the chest, I'll get rid of the lid, & let them climb up the trellis. this is where the LED strips come in, I'll run those (4 strips, 1.25m long) vertically up the trellis, so at all points on the trellis, the caapi won't be more than about 6 inches from an LED strip. The viridis should be ok with the 40W flouro in the chest, as they're understorey plants. the humidity & temp will suffer obviously but I figure they'll be easily big enough to cope by then, and they should be fine with all the light they're getting. basically I'm totally winging it, but I haven't killed anything yet, so fingers crossed it'll all work out ok. I'll post a photo when it's all set up, it should look pretty cool

I just bought some LED lights, a 5m strip of red / blue: http://www.aliexpress.com/snapshot/251849001.html I've plugged them into a 12v adaptor, but they're flashing, at about 2 Hz. I guess this is because they're controllable, & have a flash mode, but I don't really want to buy a controller to stop them flashing, I'd rather just put them on a timer. Does anyone know how to get them into static mode..? Also please note I may be a massive idiot. _____________ Edit: I've found that if I only touch a strand of one of the wires from the LED strip to the adaptor, they stop flashing & stay on static. so it must be the current that is making them flash. maybe I'm giving them too much juice. The adaptor is 12V / 2.5A, the lights are 12V / 14.4W. If I split them up & wire them in parallel (which I was planning to do anyway) would that reduce the current? my electronics knowledge is obviously shit. _____________ Edit 2: turns out: yes. they're running fine when they're split up into parallel strips. _____________ Edit 3: turns out not enough juice! I broke it up into 4 strips of 1.25m. with 2 strips connected to the adaptor (in parallel) they both run fine. with 3 or 4 strips connected, they all flash. guess the adaptor doesn't push out enough current. so I'll just buy another adaptor. -E

I'm keen. Could you pm me please? cheers -E

ok cheers. is there any difference in effect between viridis & nexus?

I've got a little perspex hot house for my chillis (trinidad scorpions) on the balcony, but it still gets really cold at night. there isn't enough volume for it to stay warm, especially with the breeze off the ocean. the chillis are pretty much dormant at the moment, they lost loads of leaves over the last 2 months. there's still some fruit growing but no flowers. I think the box is running pretty nicely at the moment though. what sort of humidity is optimal for B. caapi? would about 60% be enough? if the box starts to suffer from the humidity I'll seal the inside with something. it's god & solid though so it should be fine. I think it's oak or teak.

Well anyway, what I've done is drill 5 quarter-inch holes in the side of the chest, & I've put a little pc fan on the inside next to the holes to pull some fresh air in, and left the top of the box open just a touch to let some air out. I've also put 2 shallow dishes of water in there in front of the fan. I think the heat from the flouro is enough to evaporate some of the water, it feels nice & humid in there, and it's probably hovering around 30 degrees. I've got a hygrometer on the way from ebay so I'll be able to get a better idea next week. While I've only got cuttings in there I think that'll be fine. I think I'll need more substantial ventilation when they get bigger though. I've also made a little shaded section in there for the P. viridis, so it's getting the heat & humidity but less light. ho hum -E

It still gets down to single figures at night here in the winter, plus I'm right at the beach, so we get a lot of salt flying about when it's windy. I don't have a garden (3rd-floor flat) so it's just easier for me to grow it indoors. I have chillis on the balcony which are suffering from the cold & the salt, and I don't want to kill my caapi plants. maybe when they're bigger I could move them outside, but I want to get a lot of young plants on the go.

noob alert. I've got some B. caapi & P. viridis plants (little baby ones) - would keeping them in self-watering pots be a bad idea? Does that make the soil too damp? Also I'm going to germinate some more P. viridis seeds - should I be mixing some sand into the potting mix? Any tips much appreciated. -E

I didn't re-pot it, I just put the pot in a tray with water in the bottom. it seems to be recovering this morning. I'll just water it manually for a while & make a little sauna for it.

I had my B. caapi in a self-watering pot (I only received it yesterday) & when I got home today it was looking pretty sad & wilty. so I'm not sure if it was the self-watering pot, or shock from being in the post. I also had it in the window today, which is direct sun most of the day, but I had a layer of gauze in front of it, to filter some of the sun out. so there are 3 things that could be affecting it... the p. viridis was ok though. I've taken it out of the self-watering tray now, and moved it out of the sun. hopefully will be looking a bit more perky tomorrow...

Ok cheers, I'll stay away :/

I am aware of one, & have contact details... happy to exchange with contact details for a non-Santo Daime group... -E

hello, new member here with ponderings & interests in this area. could someone brave please PM me? post edited by mod.