Posts Tagged ‘w’

Designs and Sizes of Wrought Iron Wine Racks

Wednesday, August 12th, 2009

The beauty in a strong metal like wrought iron wine racks can be stored displayed with the vintage looks. Works like these are wonderful pieces of art which can be styled and designed in any way you want. These are products of skillful craftsmanship that comes in various sizes and shapes to meet your aesthetic needs. You can have an awesome accent for your bar or in any portion of your home where you want to display your wines.

You can have your wrought iron wine racks painted in any finish you desire to complement your house colors and decors. You can always customize them according to your needs. Racks for big and small wines may be created separately with fabulous designs you have conceived to be more unique. You can mark your statement with these vintage-looking ironworks.

If wall decors and other home decorations have their specific places in your house, you can also do the same with these wrought iron wine racks. You can create a cellar right in the middle of your home if you do not have a bar. These ironworks can be mounted on your walls just like any picture frame. You can have the suspended style like the island kitchen lights, or place them on top of your huge pieces of furniture or furnishings. There is a lot more you can do with these amazing creations.

How reverse osmosis system works and its various uses

Monday, May 18th, 2009

The reverse osmosis system was originally developed for industrial use in printing and photo processing but because of the need for clean water, systems have been adapted for domestic use. Finding the right reverse osmosis filter system for cleaner water at home is important if you understand that there are more than 2000 toxic chemicals in our drinking water.

Reverse osmosis is a process that makes use of high pressure to force unpurified water through a semi-permeable membrane so that toxic chemicals are removed from the water. The only problem with this system of ‘cleaning’ water is that while toxins are removed, almost all other minerals (even trace minerals) are often also purged from the water, leaving water without any nutritional content.

It is important to understand that the concentration of toxins, water pressure and quality of membrane used to design a filtration system. There are generally two types of membranes used in reverse osmosis – the cellulose triacetate (CTA) membrane and the FTC membrane – each with their own functions. While CTA membranes are organic and more cost effective, they tend to attract bacteria growth and sometimes may generate a smaller volume of water with a lower quality.

Hydroponics: its History

Tuesday, April 21st, 2009

History reveals that the Hanging Gardens of Babylon is a big evidence of a hydroponic garden. Moreover, the Aztec Indians in the now Mexico had a system of growing crops on rafts. These rafts are in shallow lakes that you can still see in floating gardens near Mexico City. Therefore, history shows the great significance of hydroponic system of growing plants even in ancient times.

Developments with hydroponics did not however take place in Europe until 1699 when Woodward discovered it. He found out that he can grow plants in a solution of water to which soil had been added.

On the other hand, Liebig, a German scientist, originated using nutrient solutions to study the nutritional requirements of plants in the 1850′s. It was then followed by Sachs in 1860. Knop also did some studies of nutrient elements in water solutions in 1861. They grew plants in nutrients-rich solutions with mineral salts. This does away with the soil as a main requirement for growing crops.

Many researches on the nutritional requirements of plants extended through even until the 1870′s. By 1925, practical applications of hydroponics were being introduced for the vast development in the greenhouse industry.

Information Orchid Root System

Monday, August 11th, 2008

One adaption in orchids can be found among the epidendrums. The species E. falcatum retains all its weight in the thick, heavy leaves. The root system is not numerous, but s-ong enough to hold a heavy plant firmly in its place on a tree. The pseudobulbs are merely short stems which support the long, spears-lriaped leaves which, rough and hard, will withstand a harsh environment. They are the main source of food supply for the plant.

The life span of a root can be one season only in orchids whose pseudobulhs arc of annual duration or the roots may live for several years, their life span related to the state of the pseudobulbs they are supporting. When leaves are eventually shed, that pseudobulb has no further use for roots, and they will die naturally.

Nevertheless their culture remains specialised, and their roots are all important to them. They do not take kindly to pot culture and should be accommodated on hark. Pieces of rough bark are ideal, as their extensive fine root system will take advantage of every crevice, the roots hugging the bark as well as growing freely in the air.

Orchid Humidifex

Saturday, August 9th, 2008

There are various grades of polythene sheeting for fixing to the glazing bars with drawings pins or a stapler. For an aluminium house there are specially-designed clips. A totally sealed greenhouse will give the grower a fresh crop of problems. Condensation will build up on the polythene and reduce the light drastically in the winter when every bit of light is of benefit.

It should be placed near the floor, below the plants, to allow the cool vapour to reach the plants standing above. Within a few weeks of introducing a humidifex into the greenhouse or home you should see a noticeable increase in aerial root activity on your orchids.

This material can be fixed in the same way as polythene, but because it is full of minute holes it is able to breathe which prevents condensation and drip. Neither does it cut too much light from the plants. The netting is easily obtainable from garden centres. It can be taken down in summer and stored for the following winter. As it does not tear easily, it should last for several seasons.

How to Grow Health Orchid Plants

Friday, August 8th, 2008

The heater is the most important single piece of equipment in the orchid house. The choice of equipment is wide, from the old- fashioned coal or coke fired boilers with hot water pipes, which can be fired by gas, either bottled or mains, or oil from a reservoir tank to the most modern, clean and efficient electric heaters.

The main benefit of a hot water system is that if anything goes wrong, and the fire goes out, you are left with a large reserve of hot water which will keep hot for many hours giving time to rectify the fault.

Although reliable, this equipment is expensive to install. The most popular form of heating is by electricity, either tubular, fitted along the walls beneath the staging, or the electric fan heater usually placed on the floor. This produces a current of warm air which circulates evenly throughout the greenhouse, thus ensuring that there are no cold spots.

The orchids live behind plate glass in an environment where the humidity, light and temperature are all controlled. A time clock measures the difference between night and day to ensure that the plants receive the right amount of artificial light every twenty-four hours and that the temperature rises and falls in sequence with the lights.

Masdevallia Orchid

Thursday, August 7th, 2008

The lycastes are a relatively small, but influential, natural genus of medium-size plants. They have had a great impact on the related anguloas with which they will readily interbreed to produce some of the most showy artificial hybrids.

The majority of the flowers are typically triangular, the shape formed by the widely spread sepals that frame the cupped petals and lip. When crossed with the tulipshaped anguloas, the superb, large, openflowered angulocastes are produced, which have done much to promote this alliance. Although the majority of the species within the lycastes and anguloas are of pale colouring, the rosy-red varieties of Lycaste skinneri have emphasized rich colours in hybrids such as L. Wyld Fire.

The largest flower in the genus is that of M. acrura, which measures 30cm (12in) or more vertically from top to bottom. This impressive length arises because of the long, tapering sepals. These evergreen epiphytic, or occasionally lithophytic, orchids inhabit cool, shady and moist areas of forest woodland high in the Andes of South America.

Wheelie Bin Storage – Camouflaging An Ugly Bin

Wednesday, August 6th, 2008

Wheelie bins have becomeare a necessary, but ugly, part of waste disposal in our homes. They are very useful but dont exactly look appealing, especially the bigger bins. How then, can you camouflage this necessary eyesore in between collection days? Here, we will discuss a number of effective ways to store a wheelie bin.

Number One, the portable screen.

The portable screen is a relatively inexpensive solution to this unsightly problem. They can be bought from garden centres or hardware stores and come in a selection of materials. A popular one is the bamboo screen that can double as a dividing wall in a garden: others are constructed of expanding trellis made from either wood or pvc slats.

Because they are portable, these screens can be moved to different places around the garden and can also be used to disguise other essential items in the garden that you dont want people to see. They are also a great idea for people who are renting: the screen can move with you to your new address.

Next, a permanent screen.

Cattleya Alliance

Monday, August 4th, 2008

Plums need soil with a pH of 6.0 to 8.0. Buy standard trees 3 to 6 feet tall, and dwarf trees 3 to 4 feet tall. Japanese and Japanese-American hybrids begin to bear two to four years after planting; European and damson plums begin to bear three to five years after planting. In Zones 4 and 5, plant plum trees in early spring as soon as the ground can be worked; they should be planted during the fall or winter.

Cattleyas form part of a huge alliance comprising many other related orchids, the best known of the natural genera being Laelia, Brassavola, Sophronitis and Encyclia. These, and others, have been widely interbred for nearly 200 years to produce the colossal range of variously sized flowers that is available. The species in the alliance originate from Central and South America, and in the genus Cattleya there are about 50 species. Most of these are rare in the wild and are found in cultivation in specialist collections, where they have been raised in nurseries from selected clones. Hybrids can be counted in their thousands, and range from miniature plants containing species of the diminutive Sophronitis, mostly with brightly coloured flowers in orange, yellow and red, to the large, frilled excesses of the Brassavola crosses. The most well known of these man-made hybrids are Sophrolaeliocattleya, Brassolaehocattleya and Laeliocattleya.

Dendrobiums Orchid Species

Saturday, August 2nd, 2008

The dendrobiums comprise an enormous genus and their growth is extremely varied to suit all environments. A somewhat unusual species is D. cunninghami, which is adapted to the temperate conditions of New Zealand.

Flower spikes are produced at regular intervals from the axils of the young leaves. Aerial roots are also made at intervals from the opposite side to the leaf, lower down on the plant.

No part of the plant is soft, the roots arc thin and wiry, the leaves hard, almost rough to the touch. Thus the plant is able to stand a severe climate, at the same time capable of extracting what little moisture there is available through its foliage.

The thin, diminutive pseudobulbs carry little food reserves and would not sustain the plant through any lengthy period of drought, although in extreme seasons the soft leaves would quickly be shed to help the plant.

The leaves of D. cunninghami are far more important to it than the roots or the pscudobulbs, both of which appear very meagre in their usefulness to the plant. -There are numerous miniature orchids found throughout the world which deserve more attention. They are every bit as beautiful as their Larger counterparts although a magnifying glass is helpful to see this.