# Playing with Hygrolon and Ecoweb



## Duff (Aug 4, 2011)

I just had to try Hygrolon and had some left over Ecoweb. I've being thinking and thinking of a way to do a small Hygrolon tower. While putting dishes away last week it came to me. I spied tons of flower bud vases... perfect. One happened to be 1.5" wide and about 11 tall. Then I realized by itself it was not tall enough when I put it in a 4" dish (for water). digging around the house I found some small clay pots and after a bit of silicone this is what I ended up with. They were the perfect size for each other! It ended up being about 13" tall and about 4" wide. All in all it is pretty stable but I may end up gluing it down to a 4"x4" stone tile I have left over from another project. 










Close up. All in all very strong bond. It only took about 4 hours for the silicone to dry - no smell at all! 










I only had a small portion of ecoweb so it did not quite meet the bottom. I added a bit more silicone to the glass and wrapped the ecoweb around the whole thing and tied it off with garden twine to hold it down while the silicone dried. Since it will be covered with ecoweb I was not too worried about needing to use a lot of silicone - just enough to hold the edges down and a bit on the opposite side. 










24 hours later:










Took about 30 minutes to sew on the Hygrolon. I used button thread and a 3" needle. I used some titebond III to reinforce the sewing line thinking that overtime the thread would deteriorate being wet. Then used a small strip of hygrolon to cover the sewing line. 










sewing line:









I left about 6" of extra Hygrolon at the top to tuck into the glass bud vase to wick water from the top (unsure just how high the water would wick). I also added (2) 1" strips of hygrolon to reach the bottom of the bud vase and the tops are tucked in between the Hygrolon and ecoweb. This is the top view:










Time for water!










Let is sit for about 30 minutes and when I came back to it - full hydrated from the bottom:










Then of course I got ambitious today. I have some very fine clear nylon thread used for quilting and a 5" needle (the stuff is a nightmare to sew with) frequent cursing and few needle pricks the individual Orchids were sewn on. Overkill I am sure as I could have wrapped it but I had the time and wanted a cleaner look... One orchid has Oak leaf ficus growing in it - hopefully it will like this set up. 










The other side: 









Currently it is sitting under a CFL light in a tall desk lamp that sines down. I may move it closer to a window. Still keeping the light but also using natural light.... 

So there you have it. Thanks for looking at my little 4 day project


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## my_shed (Feb 8, 2013)

Well done, you've managed to do something lots have tried, and made a good looking hygrolon cylinder. Very neat and tidy, which I think is what sets it apart from other efforts, look forward to seeing how the plants do on it. Will you be introducing moss to it?

Dave


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## leeslikkers (Mar 31, 2013)

Love it! Been wanting to try something similar...was the Hygrolon easy to work with?


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## Duff (Aug 4, 2011)

@ My_Shed: Thank you Dave! I picked up the Hygrolon weeks ago and struggled to come up with something that was ultra cheap... in a worse case scenario I can fit in my grow out tank if the Orchids start to look stressed. I did add a moss mix to it today, I hope it works!

@ Leeslikkers - it was awesome to work with, like a soft cotton blanket. It has quite a bit of stretch both ways and has "Holes" about every 16th of an inch. There is an outer layer with the holes on both sides and then a solid inner layer. - It's a bit hard to sew through the material itself but using the "holes" made it very easy. 

Now I am looking through my house to see what else I can cover. I found a outdoor pipe cover (to put around outdoor pipes to keep them from freezing) not sure what it is made of but would make an awesomely cheap liana. I need to search online to see what it is made of but looks like a close cell foam of some sort... 

I'm very curious to see what happens over the next few months. Since the material is so absorbent I only add a bit of moss behind each one - more to keep the roots off the hygrolon at bit. I figure if they like the moisture they will seek it and if unhappy they have some relief. This also will allow me to watch to roots more closely for signs of rot. The material when sitting in water is like a very wet sponge so I left the water in the top glass and drained off the water from the bottom dish. All these Orchids were mounted on cork hanging in my window - I hope it's not too much of a shock for them...


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## leeslikkers (Mar 31, 2013)

Excellent, thanks for the feedback...Orchids would be my focus for the project as well. Keep up posted on any progress and updates. Thanks!


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## folius (Jan 2, 2013)

Excellent work and idea!


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## jpstod (Sep 8, 2005)

I want to get some..

I have some 4" Sch 40 pvc I could cover to make some columns.


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## Duff (Aug 4, 2011)

Quick update. All seems to be well. I've added moss (Last weekend) and just upgraded the lighting to a 13w LED. 

I've learned this week that filling the center column results in watering wicking out into the bowl in about 1 hour and then the water wicking back up the little tower over the course of 2 days. So in the end it may be over kill to have the center filled with water if the column is under 12" and sits in water. I may move this over to a more humid enclosure to get better moss growth, then one the moss has a better hold, move it back out. Time will tell. But the good news is that all the roots look good and I am able to see a tiny bit of new growth on some of the orchids. The Oakleaf ficus is still hanging on and and has a few tiny new roots as well. 

Here's a few updated shots


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## Duff (Aug 4, 2011)

@JPStod - I highly recommend you get some to play around with - it's really cool stuff! Be sure to post and creations you make. I was thinking along the same lines and was looking around home depot and found thin wall pipe in the bathroom plumbing section. I'd like to try this as it us ultra light being that it is so thin. 

Duff


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## Duff (Aug 4, 2011)

Moss growth! It's just starting to grow but there's growth. I moved the whole thing into my grow out tank and it seems to be much happier with the higher humidity.


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## sanderdm (Jun 12, 2013)

Any updates on how it's doing?


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## gturmindright (Mar 15, 2006)

I also would like to see an update.


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