Orchid boarding houses
Hello all
Ive heard that in the US you can buy your orchids and board them at a nursery.Does anyone know any details and costs of this. Thanks Stuart |
Orchid boarding houses
Stuart,
I can't be specific as to cost, since nurseries that do this kind of thing vary. But I know that in the grand scheme of things it's a pricey proposition. One fellow grower said she'd checked with a local in her area and was quoted $1 per day per plant. She has around 50 plants and was going to be gone for two weeks. You do the math. Plus, no guarantees on the health of the plants other than that the grower would treat them well, and remedy any problems as best as possible. Others may know of less costly services. Diana "stuie stuie" wrote in message ... Hello all Ive heard that in the US you can buy your orchids and board them at a nursery.Does anyone know any details and costs of this. Thanks Stuart |
Orchid boarding houses
Stuart, There used to be a nursury in the Richmond area that would take out of bloom plants from people and board them until they bloomed again. The idea was that it was cheaper to board that plant than buy new plants in bloom. Each year you got a bigger plant and even better if it was a gift from family member you got the memories. I think they charged by the month and by the size of the plant but I don't recall the cost. For some well to do folks who always want a blooming plant they would drop the plant off and pick up another one in bloom. Sounds like a great business in a wealthy area. I don't believe they offer this service any longer. Good growing, Gene |
Orchid boarding houses
On Sun, 11 May 2003 23:19:18 GMT, "Gene Schurg"
wrote: Stuart, There used to be a nursury in the Richmond area that would take out of bloom plants from people and board them until they bloomed again. The idea was that it was cheaper to board that plant than buy new plants in bloom. Each year you got a bigger plant and even better if it was a gift from family member you got the memories. I think they charged by the month and by the size of the plant but I don't recall the cost. For some well to do folks who always want a blooming plant they would drop the plant off and pick up another one in bloom. Sounds like a great business in a wealthy area. I don't believe they offer this service any longer. Good growing, Gene I Colorado Springs there is a florist that does hotel flowers and others. She sells the plant, will take it back for 1/2 credit on the next bloom you buy. Sounds like a used book store I know. But the book store sells the used books at 1/2 the cover. The plant store sells the out of bloom at $5 to 10. But of course they generally no longer have the name tags. Some growers that board do it by the square feet of bench space, others do it by the # of pots and size of pots. Either way it is very expensive. I have known some AOS judges that kept specimen size plants with favorite growers. But the pollen was the growers to use. Most boarded plants I have seen have had a problem due to lack of personal care. SuE http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/albums.php |
Orchid boarding houses
Although I haven't looked into this yet, it has been a thought that
has plagued me for several years now. My in-home collection has grown to over 60 orchid plants, a major responsibility requiring almost as much attention as 3 kids, two dogs, 4 cats,a hampster and 2 horses. I used to travel quite a bit before my orchid addiction got started. Now, all I do is care for, inspect for disease and water plants and smell & look at the blossoms. Everytime I start to think about a two week to a month trip all I envision is a pile of dead orchids when I get back. It's too much to ask of someone to come in twice a week for 2 to 3 hrs let alone trust someone to do it right. Many of the local greenhouses store fuscias and other potted plants for people through the winter around here. The costs are supposedly quite reasonable although I've never checked into it. I have several friends that use this service. I see the problem as being that buisness slows down in the winter so they have the room for them then. They'll fillup almost half of the g.h. with them. In the summer they're full up with all the plants they're trying to sell. It'll probably be more expensive to get them to do it during that season. I'm a slave to my orchids. If I ever really want to spend a lot of time traveling again, I'm afraid I'll have to get rid of my orchids. Not yet though. Susan Erickson wrote in message . .. On Sun, 11 May 2003 23:19:18 GMT, "Gene Schurg" wrote: Stuart, There used to be a nursury in the Richmond area that would take out of bloom plants from people and board them until they bloomed again. The idea was that it was cheaper to board that plant than buy new plants in bloom. Each year you got a bigger plant and even better if it was a gift from family member you got the memories. I think they charged by the month and by the size of the plant but I don't recall the cost. For some well to do folks who always want a blooming plant they would drop the plant off and pick up another one in bloom. Sounds like a great business in a wealthy area. I don't believe they offer this service any longer. Good growing, Gene I Colorado Springs there is a florist that does hotel flowers and others. She sells the plant, will take it back for 1/2 credit on the next bloom you buy. Sounds like a used book store I know. But the book store sells the used books at 1/2 the cover. The plant store sells the out of bloom at $5 to 10. But of course they generally no longer have the name tags. Some growers that board do it by the square feet of bench space, others do it by the # of pots and size of pots. Either way it is very expensive. I have known some AOS judges that kept specimen size plants with favorite growers. But the pollen was the growers to use. Most boarded plants I have seen have had a problem due to lack of personal care. SuE http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/albums.php |
Orchid boarding houses
If grown in the right conditions, most healthy plants are going to take a
two week drought totally in stride. Watering thoroughly - almost overwatering - for a couple of days prior to leaving helps a lot. The plants won't get root rot from one episode of overwatering. If you can provide a high-humidity environment, that'll help as well. If you have mounted plants that require daily watering, put them outside and set your garden sprinkler on a timer. Or..... grow 'em semi-hydroponically and two weeks is a walk in the park! -- Ray Barkalow First Rays Orchids http://www.firstrays.com Secure Online Ordering & Lots of Free Info! "solo_voyager" wrote in message om... Although I haven't looked into this yet, it has been a thought that has plagued me for several years now. My in-home collection has grown to over 60 orchid plants, a major responsibility requiring almost as much attention as 3 kids, two dogs, 4 cats,a hampster and 2 horses. I used to travel quite a bit before my orchid addiction got started. Now, all I do is care for, inspect for disease and water plants and smell & look at the blossoms. Everytime I start to think about a two week to a month trip all I envision is a pile of dead orchids when I get back. It's too much to ask of someone to come in twice a week for 2 to 3 hrs let alone trust someone to do it right. Many of the local greenhouses store fuscias and other potted plants for people through the winter around here. The costs are supposedly quite reasonable although I've never checked into it. I have several friends that use this service. I see the problem as being that buisness slows down in the winter so they have the room for them then. They'll fillup almost half of the g.h. with them. In the summer they're full up with all the plants they're trying to sell. It'll probably be more expensive to get them to do it during that season. I'm a slave to my orchids. If I ever really want to spend a lot of time traveling again, I'm afraid I'll have to get rid of my orchids. Not yet though. Susan Erickson wrote in message . .. On Sun, 11 May 2003 23:19:18 GMT, "Gene Schurg" wrote: Stuart, There used to be a nursury in the Richmond area that would take out of bloom plants from people and board them until they bloomed again. The idea was that it was cheaper to board that plant than buy new plants in bloom. Each year you got a bigger plant and even better if it was a gift from family member you got the memories. I think they charged by the month and by the size of the plant but I don't recall the cost. For some well to do folks who always want a blooming plant they would drop the plant off and pick up another one in bloom. Sounds like a great business in a wealthy area. I don't believe they offer this service any longer. Good growing, Gene I Colorado Springs there is a florist that does hotel flowers and others. She sells the plant, will take it back for 1/2 credit on the next bloom you buy. Sounds like a used book store I know. But the book store sells the used books at 1/2 the cover. The plant store sells the out of bloom at $5 to 10. But of course they generally no longer have the name tags. Some growers that board do it by the square feet of bench space, others do it by the # of pots and size of pots. Either way it is very expensive. I have known some AOS judges that kept specimen size plants with favorite growers. But the pollen was the growers to use. Most boarded plants I have seen have had a problem due to lack of personal care. SuE http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/albums.php |
Orchid boarding houses
I don't know how you'd do it inside but my wife and I found that if we
wanted to travel, we simply had to automate. We spent a year's (+) travel money to add automated louvers, fans (large and small exhaust and HAF), pumps for evaporative cooling and mist for watering. Sensors and thermostats helped instead of just timers (although timers would probably work just fine for a few weeks). I had an extra computer left over from upgrading my wife's which I could then program to control most of the sensors. We still hire a local teen to check out the greenhouse every other day for things that look too dry (she's a very responsible 14 yr old and learns quickly). This is just extra insurance that doesn't cost much. Now, for a weekend trip, a week at the beach or mountains, or a major 2-4 week vacation to visit the folks or grandkids (and probably collect more orchids along the way) our only loss is missing a plant in bloom. Now I just need to get that teen to take pictures of the missed blooms and set up the computer so that I can control it with my laptop from across the country if necessary. Besides allowing travel, the automation allows you to enjoy the orchids more and when you want to, not when you have to. "Susan Erickson" wrote in message ... On Sun, 11 May 2003 23:19:18 GMT, "Gene Schurg" wrote: Stuart, There used to be a nursury in the Richmond area that would take out of bloom plants from people and board them until they bloomed again. The idea was that it was cheaper to board that plant than buy new plants in bloom. Each year you got a bigger plant and even better if it was a gift from family member you got the memories. I think they charged by the month and by the size of the plant but I don't recall the cost. For some well to do folks who always want a blooming plant they would drop the plant off and pick up another one in bloom. Sounds like a great business in a wealthy area. I don't believe they offer this service any longer. Good growing, Gene I Colorado Springs there is a florist that does hotel flowers and others. She sells the plant, will take it back for 1/2 credit on the next bloom you buy. Sounds like a used book store I know. But the book store sells the used books at 1/2 the cover. The plant store sells the out of bloom at $5 to 10. But of course they generally no longer have the name tags. Some growers that board do it by the square feet of bench space, others do it by the # of pots and size of pots. Either way it is very expensive. I have known some AOS judges that kept specimen size plants with favorite growers. But the pollen was the growers to use. Most boarded plants I have seen have had a problem due to lack of personal care. SuE http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/albums.php |
Orchid boarding houses
|
Orchid boarding houses
What is it about these slow growing plants that we find fascinating to the extent of changing our behavior and reducing our autonomy? Is it their epiphytic independence from soil and the necessity of being rooted in the garden that provides them with an air of mobility and independence that robs us of ours? Or is it their marvelous flowers and exotic scents that gradually seduce us into surrendering our mobility Let's put it this way. At our society's show in March, as I watched people leave with arms full of as many orchids they could carry, I remarked to a friend that I'd never seen anyone go so quite so soft-headed over rose bushes! |
Orchid boarding houses
The orchid vendor in the Richmond, VA area that boards orchids is Chadwick and
Son Orchids in Powhatan, Virginia. Boarding orchids is still a large part of their business. You can find their website at the Orchid Mall. |
Orchid boarding houses
Automated horticulture is the solution.
Quite right. I can envision a future in which each plant is tended by a solar powered computerized system capable of sensing environmental conditions and adjusting them to remain within preset bounds. Irrigation, temperature, illumination, humidity, air movement, nutrition, all independently manipulated optimally for each plant by simple off-the-shelf technology available today. Where can you find this kind of hardware off the shelf. When I ask at various vendors around here, they give me a blank stare as if I was using some strange, alien language. Controllers are easy enough to find, but sensors for temperature, humidity, soil moisture and nutrients, that will pass data to the computer are a different story. Occassionally, I find a vendor far far away that might have a suitable sensor for temperature, but no such luck for the rest. This is the final hurdle in the construction of my growth chambers or wardian cases. The programming side is easy. And I can see the technology being modular, and therefore quite scalable from something small enough for a single african violet to something large enough to handle the largest orchid collection imaginable. I can even see a future in which such hardware is connected to a relational database containing data documenting optimal growing environments for each species/variety/grex/&c., at least given common experience with the plants, so that all one need do is enter the names of the plants being maintained and the computer will either tell you that it isn't possible to keep the named species together because the best environment for one will kill the other, or compute the best environment to keep all identified plants happy The real question is, "Who is going to finance the development and marketting of such products?" Cheers, Ted |
Orchid boarding houses
Sensors and thermostats
helped instead of just timers (although timers would probably work just fine for a few weeks). I had an extra computer left over from upgrading my wife's which I could then program to control most of the sensors. Where did you find these sensors, and exactly what were you measuring? Finding suitable sensors has been, and continues to be, the most problematic part of my efforts to make a growth chamber. I can not take a vacation since the only person who could conveniently take care of my plants is my sister, and she has such a black thumb she can even kill plastic plants. ;-) I DID manage to teach her daughter how to keep an african violet happy (though I help her out a bit when she's at school or in bed), but she is still too young to take on such a responsibility for plants that cost just a wee bit more than her C$2 violet. Cheers, Ted |
Orchid boarding houses
On Tue, 13 May 2003 23:19:11 -0400, "Ted Byers"
wrote: Automated horticulture is the solution. Quite right. I can envision a future in which each plant is tended by a solar powered computerized system capable of sensing environmental conditions and adjusting them to remain within preset bounds. Irrigation, temperature, illumination, humidity, air movement, nutrition, all independently manipulated optimally for each plant by simple off-the-shelf technology available today. Where can you find this kind of hardware off the shelf. Thermostats and thermistors are readily available, as are photocells, humidistats, fans. Anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of electronics can cobble together a circuit that will sense the resistance between two electrodes imbedded in the potting medium to sense moisture. Nutritional control is best done 'open loop' at present through timed release. When I ask at various vendors around here, they give me a blank stare as if I was using some strange, alien language. Controllers are easy enough to find, but sensors for temperature, humidity, soil moisture and nutrients, that will pass data to the computer are a different story. Occassionally, I find a vendor far far away that might have a suitable sensor for temperature, but no such luck for the rest. This is the final hurdle in the construction of my growth chambers or wardian cases. If you can't find sensors available that are dedicated to the purpose you need, construct your own from discrete parts. The programming side is easy. And I can see the technology being modular, and therefore quite scalable from something small enough for a single african violet to something large enough to handle the largest orchid collection imaginable. I can even see a future in which such hardware is connected to a relational database containing data documenting optimal growing environments for each species/variety/grex/&c., at least given common experience with the plants, so that all one need do is enter the names of the plants being maintained and the computer will either tell you that it isn't possible to keep the named species together because the best environment for one will kill the other, or compute the best environment to keep all identified plants happy What you describe is doable today. The real question is, "Who is going to finance the development and marketting of such products?" Cheers, Ted When the marketplace is willing to pay for such technology, the products will appear. Until then, we'll have to develop our own automated systems. Perhaps you'll find some useful information he http://www.maxim-ic.com/appnotes10.c...category/ln/en |
Orchid boarding houses
Use a search engine google, or my favorite, Copernic. Look at the grow sites for hydroponics. (loads of info and parts in the pot growers sites as well). I have been in the microfilm, camera, processing and printing industry most of my life, so I have tested many parts and sensors for reliability. I also am an electronic hobbyist, so I build a lot of my own circuit boards for certain applications. You can cannibalize cheap thermostats from home depot for sensors. Try a couple of these places as well. http://www.controlsupply.com/humidity.htm http://www.greenair.com/product.htm http://www.atlantishydroponics.com/index.html http://www.fullbloomhydroponics.com/ http://www.greenbeam.com/home.stm http://www.graybar.com http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/wwg/start.shtml Grow On NANOOK On Tue, 13 May 2003 23:25:55 -0400, "Ted Byers" wrote: Sensors and thermostats helped instead of just timers (although timers would probably work just fine for a few weeks). I had an extra computer left over from upgrading my wife's which I could then program to control most of the sensors. Where did you find these sensors, and exactly what were you measuring? Finding suitable sensors has been, and continues to be, the most problematic part of my efforts to make a growth chamber. I can not take a vacation since the only person who could conveniently take care of my plants is my sister, and she has such a black thumb she can even kill plastic plants. ;-) I DID manage to teach her daughter how to keep an african violet happy (though I help her out a bit when she's at school or in bed), but she is still too young to take on such a responsibility for plants that cost just a wee bit more than her C$2 violet. Cheers, Ted |
Orchid boarding houses
You could try
http://www6.mailordercentral.com/igc....asp?dept=1022 (there are other pages there you might be interested in also), http://www.greenzonecontrols.com/ used to be there but I can't find them anymore. I'm sure there are others, but the first is a good starter. "Ted Byers" wrote in message .. . Sensors and thermostats helped instead of just timers (although timers would probably work just fine for a few weeks). I had an extra computer left over from upgrading my wife's which I could then program to control most of the sensors. Where did you find these sensors, and exactly what were you measuring? Finding suitable sensors has been, and continues to be, the most problematic part of my efforts to make a growth chamber. I can not take a vacation since the only person who could conveniently take care of my plants is my sister, and she has such a black thumb she can even kill plastic plants. ;-) I DID manage to teach her daughter how to keep an african violet happy (though I help her out a bit when she's at school or in bed), but she is still too young to take on such a responsibility for plants that cost just a wee bit more than her C$2 violet. Cheers, Ted |
Orchid boarding houses
In article ink.net,
"Diana Kulaga" wrote: Let's put it this way. At our society's show in March, as I watched people leave with arms full of as many orchids they could carry, I remarked to a friend that I'd never seen anyone go so quite so soft-headed over rose bushes! i think you need to meet more rosarians... ;) (i actually saw 2 ppl do this last weekend, over very expensive J&P roses yet. yikes. i should have a yard that big... and they were *novices* at it too.) (as to the original post--i went away for ten days and had my housemate take care of the plants (orchids in the living room amaryllii in the kitchen). i put a sticky note on each one saying "pls water me on sunday" or whatever. everything looked great when i got back. this is perhaps my best motivation for keeping the collections small and non-delicate; i still want to be able to take vacations. :) --j_a |
Orchid boarding houses
"Larry Dighera" wrote in message ... On Tue, 13 May 2003 23:19:11 -0400, "Ted Byers" wrote: Automated horticulture is the solution. Quite right. I can envision a future in which each plant is tended by a solar powered computerized system capable of sensing environmental conditions and adjusting them to remain within preset bounds. Irrigation, temperature, illumination, humidity, air movement, nutrition, all independently manipulated optimally for each plant by simple off-the-shelf technology available today. Where can you find this kind of hardware off the shelf. Thermostats and thermistors are readily available, as are photocells, humidistats, fans. Anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of electronics can cobble together a circuit that will sense the resistance between two electrodes imbedded in the potting medium to sense moisture. [snip] If you can't find sensors available that are dedicated to the purpose you need, construct your own from discrete parts. But that is "the hard part". While I can get a computer to do literally anything I want, just by writing a program to do it (I can even get a computer to exhibit behaviours as complex as those of almost any animal; a fact which raises countless interesting philosophical questions we probably should avoid in this forum), I would likely be quite dangerous trying to put together a circuit of any kind. Or maybe it is a question of simply never having done it before. Do you know of any good reference books which would show me how? I can read, and follow instructions accompanied by diagrams, so maybe there is hope ... The programming side is easy. And I can see the technology being modular, and therefore quite scalable from something small enough for a single african violet to something large enough to handle the largest orchid collection imaginable. I can even see a future in which such hardware is connected to a relational database containing data documenting optimal growing environments for each species/variety/grex/&c., at least given common experience with the plants, so that all one need do is enter the names of the plants being maintained and the computer will either tell you that it isn't possible to keep the named species together because the best environment for one will kill the other, or compute the best environment to keep all identified plants happy What you describe is doable today. Yes, I expected as much. Certainly the software involved is easy to implement. While I expect the hardware required is available, my complete lack of electrical engineering background puts me at a loss. When the marketplace is willing to pay for such technology, the products will appear. Until then, we'll have to develop our own automated systems. Yes, but I suspect that the development of a prototype or two will stimulate both the early development of a market and the availability of more hardware that could be used in our products. Perhaps you'll find some useful information he http://www.maxim-ic.com/appnotes10.c...category/ln/en Thanks, I'll take a look. Cheers, Ted |
Orchid boarding houses
"nanook" wrote in message ... Use a search engine google, or my favorite, Copernic. Look at the grow sites for hydroponics. (loads of info and parts in the pot growers sites as well). I have made a number of attempts, but usually found it an exercise in frustration since either the components I found were serious overkill or I didn't know what I was looking at (since I know nothing about electronics, and the information was presented in a way that only someone wit an electronics background has a hope to understand). And there was invariably a problem with information overload, with a lot of hits referring to pages that were either irrelevant or containing information I just didn't understand. As an example, I found myself at Honeywell's website, and while that site is huge, and I believe they have some components that may be useful to me, on most of their website I had no idea what I was looking at or how it might be useful to me; and even when I do find something, if it is of research calibre, it is both much too expensive and serious overkill for my purposes. I do not need nearly the precision that is typical of devices used in a research or industrial lab. I spoke to one vendor yesterday, at a trade show, who could provide industrial calibre equipment, but he'd be charging of the order of a few hundred dollars per device/sensor: which is appropriate for a comercial greenhouse, but I'd need to be able to assemble the entire suite of sensors and controllers for what he'd sell a single device for. I have been in the microfilm, camera, processing and printing industry most of my life, so I have tested many parts and sensors for reliability. I also am an electronic hobbyist, so I build a lot of my own circuit boards for certain applications. You can cannibalize cheap thermostats from home depot for sensors. Can you recommend a good book or two that would give me the background I'd need to handle this particular project? Try a couple of these places as well. http://www.controlsupply.com/humidity.htm http://www.greenair.com/product.htm http://www.atlantishydroponics.com/index.html http://www.fullbloomhydroponics.com/ http://www.greenbeam.com/home.stm http://www.graybar.com http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/wwg/start.shtml Thanks, I'll take a look. Cheers, Ted |
Orchid boarding houses
"V_coerulea" wrote in message ... You could try http://www6.mailordercentral.com/igc....asp?dept=1022 (there are other pages there you might be interested in also), http://www.greenzonecontrols.com/ used to be there but I can't find them anymore. I'm sure there are others, but the first is a good starter. Thanks, I'll take a look. Cheers, Ted |
Orchid boarding houses
I've been read this thread and have to laugh.....
I built my home and greenhouse around my gardens and collection of orchids so I wouldn't have to travel and take a vacation. I enjoy a short business trip or a weekend vacation but I always look forward to getting home and back to my plants. Of course once I finish my orchid shopping on a trip I want to get home even more to get them settled in their new home. Good Growing, Gene |
Orchid boarding houses
"Diana Kulaga" wrote: Let's put it this way. At our society's show in March, as I watched people leave with arms full of as many orchids they could carry, I remarked to a friend that I'd never seen anyone go so quite so soft-headed over rose bushes! i think you need to meet more rosarians... ;) (i actually saw 2 ppl do this last weekend, over very expensive J&P roses yet. yikes. i should have a yard that big... Rose people may just be worse than Orchid people with this. Plus roses are much cheaper, on the whole, than orchids. I mean, an expensive rose is around $25. That's cheap for a nice 'chid. I on the other hand am a long time orchid person with a rose habit going on 5 years. |
Orchid boarding houses
One of my first contacts used Venger's to board her orchids. She was
quite satisfied. Many of the first boarding facilities have fallen by the wayside; i.e. Brech's Orchids in Newport Beach. People with large facilities would probably love to board orchid; however, it is really a risk-taking venture in that a stressed-out orchid might thrive under certain conditions but not under other conditions. Sometimes raising orchids reminds me of my son and his fish. Change the conditions and then the fish die. .. . . Pam Everything Orchid Management System http://www.pe.net/~profpam/page3.html Free updates to purchasers of 03/25/02 and beyond. New version is here!!!! |
Orchid boarding houses
On Thu, 15 May 2003 00:16:07 -0400, "Ted Byers"
wrote: While I can get a computer to do literally anything I want, just by writing a program to do it You can't get a computer to SUCCESSFULLY divide by zero. :-) (I can even get a computer to exhibit behaviours as complex as those of almost any animal; a fact which raises countless interesting philosophical questions we probably should avoid in this forum), That would be an interesting topic of discussion. I would likely be quite dangerous trying to put together a circuit of any kind. It's not as difficult as you fear. Or maybe it is a question of simply never having done it before. Do you know of any good reference books which would show me how? These authors can make learning the fundamentals of electronic circuits painless: Don Lancaster Cmos Cookbook http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...glance&s=books Forrest Mims The Beginner's Handbook of Electronics http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/se...846201-3696862 I can read, and follow instructions accompanied by diagrams, so maybe there is hope ... You might also cultivate an amateur radio buddy as a consultant to bounce your ideas/needs off of. Radio Amateurs of Canada: http://www.rac.ca/ The American Radio Relay League: http://www.arrl.org/ The ARRL publishes The ARRL Handbook for Radio Amateurs which contains basic electronics theory introductory chapters: http://www.arrl.org/catalog/?item=1891 These folks are talented, and usually willing to assist with interesting projects. You can order small quantities of electronic parts from Digi-Key Corporation: http://www.digikey.com/ http://www.digikey.com/Scripts/US/DK...?KeyWordSearch I'll cross-post this article to some of these newsgroups, and perhaps we'll get some additional help in getting you started in electronic circuit design: sci.electronics.basics,sci.electronics.design,rec. radio.amateur.homebrew |
Orchid boarding houses
"Larry Dighera" wrote in message ... On Thu, 15 May 2003 00:16:07 -0400, "Ted Byers" wrote: While I can get a computer to do literally anything I want, just by writing a program to do it You can't get a computer to SUCCESSFULLY divide by zero. :-) Sure you can! The precise result is infinity. Floating point arithmetic has two useful identities: INF and NaN. NaN is an acronym for not a number, and is used whenever something realy bad happens: it just isn't useful in this context. INF represents infinity, and, while most FPUs will throw an exception with a divide by zero error, all one needs to do is catch and clear the exception (on Windows done by the OS and converted into a "structured exception"), and then set the result to INF. Of course, how easy or painful this is depends on what language you're using. This is all very simple, although it isn't very practical. That said, dividing by zero is something I generally don't want to do. In fact, I generally try to avoid it! In the software engineering I do, a divide by zero operation is generally a consequence of structural instability of a system given the parameters selected by the user. In such a case, it is best to test for a denominator of zero, and, when such a condition occurs, stop the simulation or analysis and notify the user about what has happened. But I guess, in some respects, being able to get a computer to do anything I want it to do is guaranteed by more than two dozen years experience working with them, and thus knowing what they can and can't do, and thus guaranteeing that I never want a computer to do what I know they can't do. For example, I don't want to spend time making a computer that can speak English, or any other natural language, because natural language is multivocal (i.e. there are many examples of sentences that can have more than one meaning - a common tool in humour), and computers can handle only univocal languages. A computer can neither make nor understand a pun. Of course, down the road, some genius may well be able to prove to me that what I had thought was impossible is both possible and practical; but that is a different question. (I can even get a computer to exhibit behaviours as complex as those of almost any animal; a fact which raises countless interesting philosophical questions we probably should avoid in this forum), That would be an interesting topic of discussion. Indeed it is! I spent a large part of my second doctorate studying this from different perspectives: philosophy, educational psychology, cognitive science, software engineering, &c. But it is also a very difficult one and an area where even experts seem to easily fall into error. I would likely be quite dangerous trying to put together a circuit of any kind. It's not as difficult as you fear. I hope you're right. Or maybe it is a question of simply never having done it before. Do you know of any good reference books which would show me how? These authors can make learning the fundamentals of electronic circuits painless: [snip] I'll cross-post this article to some of these newsgroups, and perhaps we'll get some additional help in getting you started in electronic circuit design: sci.electronics.basics,sci.electronics.design,rec. radio.amateur.homebrew Terrific. Thanks a lot. I really appreciate this. Cheers, Ted |
Orchid boarding houses
the more you guys talk about this the more i feel the urrrrrrrrrggggggggggg.
I Sorry dave, I cant do that dave. HAL 9000 "Ted Byers" wrote in message ... "Larry Dighera" wrote in message ... On Thu, 15 May 2003 00:16:07 -0400, "Ted Byers" wrote: While I can get a computer to do literally anything I want, just by writing a program to do it You can't get a computer to SUCCESSFULLY divide by zero. :-) Sure you can! The precise result is infinity. Floating point arithmetic has two useful identities: INF and NaN. NaN is an acronym for not a number, and is used whenever something realy bad happens: it just isn't useful in this context. INF represents infinity, and, while most FPUs will throw an exception with a divide by zero error, all one needs to do is catch and clear the exception (on Windows done by the OS and converted into a "structured exception"), and then set the result to INF. Of course, how easy or painful this is depends on what language you're using. This is all very simple, although it isn't very practical. That said, dividing by zero is something I generally don't want to do. In fact, I generally try to avoid it! In the software engineering I do, a divide by zero operation is generally a consequence of structural instability of a system given the parameters selected by the user. In such a case, it is best to test for a denominator of zero, and, when such a condition occurs, stop the simulation or analysis and notify the user about what has happened. But I guess, in some respects, being able to get a computer to do anything I want it to do is guaranteed by more than two dozen years experience working with them, and thus knowing what they can and can't do, and thus guaranteeing that I never want a computer to do what I know they can't do. For example, I don't want to spend time making a computer that can speak English, or any other natural language, because natural language is multivocal (i.e. there are many examples of sentences that can have more than one meaning - a common tool in humour), and computers can handle only univocal languages. A computer can neither make nor understand a pun. Of course, down the road, some genius may well be able to prove to me that what I had thought was impossible is both possible and practical; but that is a different question. (I can even get a computer to exhibit behaviours as complex as those of almost any animal; a fact which raises countless interesting philosophical questions we probably should avoid in this forum), That would be an interesting topic of discussion. Indeed it is! I spent a large part of my second doctorate studying this from different perspectives: philosophy, educational psychology, cognitive science, software engineering, &c. But it is also a very difficult one and an area where even experts seem to easily fall into error. I would likely be quite dangerous trying to put together a circuit of any kind. It's not as difficult as you fear. I hope you're right. Or maybe it is a question of simply never having done it before. Do you know of any good reference books which would show me how? These authors can make learning the fundamentals of electronic circuits painless: [snip] I'll cross-post this article to some of these newsgroups, and perhaps we'll get some additional help in getting you started in electronic circuit design: sci.electronics.basics,sci.electronics.design,rec. radio.amateur.homebrew Terrific. Thanks a lot. I really appreciate this. Cheers, Ted |
Orchid boarding houses
On Mon, 19 May 2003 18:47:53 -0400, "Ted Byers"
wrote: It's not as difficult as you fear. I hope you're right. It would appear that fully automated (indoor) greenhouses already exist: http://www.klimagro.com/products/products.html |
Orchid boarding houses
Xref: kermit rec.gardens.orchids:45605
"Larry Dighera" wrote in message ... On Mon, 19 May 2003 18:47:53 -0400, "Ted Byers" wrote: It's not as difficult as you fear. I hope you're right. It would appear that fully automated (indoor) greenhouses already exist: http://www.klimagro.com/products/products.html Yes, I have visited this site before. But their products strike me as rather small and ugly (but that may well be just a matter of taste). OTOH, their existence suggests to me that I should be able to make a larger, much more attractive unit for much less money. But, on the downside, I was laid of recently, so I won't be able to do any significant buying until I find a new position. Cheers, Ted |
Orchid boarding houses
On Wed, 4 Jun 2003 11:01:09 -0400, "Ted Byers"
wrote: "Larry Dighera" wrote in message .. . On Mon, 19 May 2003 18:47:53 -0400, "Ted Byers" wrote: It's not as difficult as you fear. I hope you're right. It would appear that fully automated (indoor) greenhouses already exist: http://www.klimagro.com/products/products.html Yes, I have visited this site before. But their products strike me as rather small and ugly (but that may well be just a matter of taste). OTOH, their existence suggests to me that I should be able to make a larger, much more attractive unit for much less money. I was thinking more along the lines of reverse engineering the (temperature, humidity, irrigation, ...) sensors employed in their products, and applying that knowledge toward your ends. But, on the downside, I was laid of recently, so I won't be able to do any significant buying until I find a new position. With additional time on your hands, you may be able to devote more to developing an automated orchid culture system. :-) Best of luck in your job search. I would think, that a fellow with your skills shouldn't have too much difficulty finding employment. |
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