61–70 of 94 posts
Coming soon: a subscription-based PWAAS* startup * (Plants-and-Watering-As-A-Service)
But, Reddit-puns aside, this is already quite a common office service in London. We pay a company to bring plants, water them, prune them, etc.
Aping them by putting plants in front of disempowered bored workers will not help.
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We have a flood'n'drain style hydroponic garden at the office we use to grow Basil. We've tried some other stuff but nothing else is as low maintenance as basil. Now we have a problem where where to put it all. I make a huge bowl of pesto every week and force feed basil to all my coworkers whenever I get a chance but I just can't get rid of all of it. I can't even make a dent in the huge bush we have. We also grew so…
Could you post a picture? I'm intrigued by the idea of having too much basil - we pay a crazy amount ($1-$2) for maybe a dozen leaves when we make pizza. I've always been afraid that there would be not point in getting a basil plant because we'd strip it bare each time we needed basil.
I don't know what we'll do with the starters for more plants, as I think we probably have enough basil. But, "too much basil" might be a nice problem to have.
I have this[1] closed ecosystem on my desk that I share with a coworker. Best decision ever. 1. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005IZOB5M/
My first EcoSphere was the little one, and the shrimp lasted a year or two.
My large sphere has been going for at least 4 years. From what I remember reading the algae will go on basically indefinitely once the shrimp died, but my little shrimp are still kicking. I've got two little shrimp in there right now, and I've seen so much.
When the shrimp die, they go away (eaten by bacteria) quite quickly. You can see the other shrimp poke at the corpses, I assume eating some of the bacteria or algae.
The shrimp also change colors. Depending on how stressed they are and a few other things they can be quite light pink (fading into white) or bright red.
My shrimp have bread at least one. I saw the little bits in the water and thought it was some sort of debris but I noticed that it was moving. They looked like little fry. I don't think any survived (I assume died or eaten), but maybe the shrimp I have are second generation or more. No real way to know.
I haven't touched it in years. It gets a dusting every few months, but there isn't much dust so it doesn't matter. I haven't done a 'cleaning' (uses a magnet sealed inside to scrap algae off the glass) in years. It sits in my apartment that I try to keep about 70 but has been as low as 60 and over 80. They seem quite resilient.
It's a very neat desk accessory. At this point there is quite a bit of algae built up in mine so it looks dirty, and a few people have asked me why I don't clean it (doesn't help since the algae is still trapped in there) or just throw it away because it looks disgusting.
But with the two shrimp living in there, I can't throw it out. They're still happy.
Coming soon: a subscription-based PWAAS* startup * (Plants-and-Watering-As-A-Service)
Are dead plants better than no plants at all? That's our problem... but it is really nice to have (mostly living) plants around, have to admit.
I have this[1] closed ecosystem on my desk that I share with a coworker. Best decision ever. 1. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005IZOB5M/
I have one of the large (6.5") EcoSpheres on my counter right now. "Average life span of 2-3 years." Heh. My first EcoSphere was the little one, and the shrimp lasted a year or two. My large sphere has been going for at least 4 years. From what I remember reading the algae will go on basically indefinitely once the shrimp died, but my little shrimp are still kicking. I've got two little shrimp in there right now, and…
http://www.petshrimp.com/opaeinfo.php
Although I have to admit large-scale installation of these things in cubicles would be quite the fitting ststement for many companies...
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I have one of the large (6.5") EcoSpheres on my counter right now. "Average life span of 2-3 years." Heh. My first EcoSphere was the little one, and the shrimp lasted a year or two. My large sphere has been going for at least 4 years. From what I remember reading the algae will go on basically indefinitely once the shrimp died, but my little shrimp are still kicking. I've got two little shrimp in there right now, and…
Please don't buy Ecospheres - I realize that many people don't feel particularly sympathetic toward shrimp, but they really are amazing creatures slowly starving to death: http://www.petshrimp.com/opaeinfo.php Although I have to admit large-scale installation of these things in cubicles would be quite the fitting ststement for many companies...
It wouldn't surprise me much if you were right.
I don't plan to buy another though. It's been neat to watch, but after 6+ years (since I've had two spheres) I'm satisfied.
What plants can survive with 100% fluorescent office lighting? I tried a succulent but the soil was covered in mold in a few weeks.