This could also be just a text post

Saved, thanks!

The key thing is to only slightly coat them. If you smear too much on them, they won’t ignite that easily.

But yeah. The wax should be very runny and hot, so it gets soaked up by the pad. And then heat it, so it re-melts, for example with a very hot heating gun or baking oven.

And when you want to use it, just tear the cotton apart a bit, so the fibers get exposed, and it will ignite instantly.

I like it more than petrol jelly, because it’s hardened and not as sticky.

“Napalm” is usually considered as a weapon. What you meant is probably just “emergency firestarter”, or as I would call it, turbo-tinder :D

I personally prefer using cotton pads, that are soaked in liquid candle wax. When it’s cold, it hardens and the whole pad gets stiff and hydrophobic.

Instead of having to lift a glass jar, you can just slip a few of those discs into your pocket or a small bag.

And because the wax is hard, you don’t have to worry about storage, and they will stay that way forever. With your polystyrene goo, you have to remember that the jar will never be 100% gas tight and it will evalorate over time.

The pads even work when wet (because they won’t get wet) and can be used with a ferrocerium rod.

Also, styrofoam releases toxic gases when ignited, wax won’t.

You can’t just use LECA straight as a 1:1 replacement for soil (or bark in your case).

Right now, I’ve made a introduction guide for example that, but sadly only in German yet. You can try to read it by translating it automatically via your browser, maybe it works.

https://photon.slrpnk.net/post/slrpnk.net/17681128

In that post I also explain what fertilizer I use.

TL;DR: Wash and soak your LECA first after arrivial, and use orchid fertilizer at 1/2 strength or so. But proper hydro fertiliser should be better.

I don’t have any “secret advice” so to speak off, sadly. But I can tell you everything I do “right”.

First of all, I have zero experience with orchids yet, except those ones. Everything I know is from what I’ve researched.

First, high air humidity and indirect light. They don’t like direct sun blasting on them or prolonged very low RHs, like most other houseplants.
That’s why they’re behind a very thin white curtain, or in my bathroom.

And about those rock pebbles: they’re called “LECA”, or hydroton, or expanded clay pebbles. They’re a kind of hydroponic medium.
Because they’re in this special setup, called “semi-hydro”, they receive optimal conditions, with lots of air, nutrients, and steady stable water supply. Because they have stable and perfect conditions, they are less stressed and grow optimally.

Regarding the other benefits of hydroponics itself (pest control, etc.), you can read countless reports and literature about it, and also check out !hydroponics@slrpnk.net in the meantime, where I might make a post about this setup soon.

It’s absolutely great, I really recommend you trying that!

Sadly, yes. I got them at Lidl here in Germany, when they were in stock.

I really hope they will be back soon!

Hey :) I’m very sorry that you now feel bad because of my post. I just wanted to inspire some people out there, because a lot of plants/ orchids get thrown out, even in way better conditions.

I even noticed a few people throwing orchids into the trash after they finished blooming! :o

Really, please don’t feel bad. My journey to zero waste is also very long, even after a few years. Every little bit counts!
I still produce A LOT of waste, I just wanted to inspire others a bit with my submission.

Cheers!

I actually do even operate my home server with Home Assistant already! :)

But if I feel the need to have a dashboard display somewhere, I would like to use something with an e-ink display instead and then integrate it properly.

But, at least right now, I barely have something one might call a smart home, and therefore not as many use cases for HA just “because it’s neat”.

I did this too with a few laptops. Rule of thumb is, that if it runs Windows already decently, it will behave like a racing car under any distro/ DE.

Those special “low-spec” distros often look outdated and aren’t as much as a joy to use. I would recommend trying something with Gnome, Cinnamon or KDE first, and if it doesn’t run smoothly, then try something else.

Good distros for newcomers are Mint or Aurora / Bluefin.

The hardest part of using Linux as someone who isn’t tech iterate is the installation part. It’s extremely easy, but many people are afraid of bricking something, which isn’t possible. Installing Linux is way easier than installing Windows. And as long as the new user knows where they can find the browser, they’re good most of the time.

Regarding phones: sadly, this is way harder. Not only are most used phones either damaged or have a bad battery, but most have a locked bootloader, so you can’t install other OSs. This includes most budget phones (Xiaomi, etc.) and Samsung devices.

Wow! That looks very beautiful!

What tree is that? And where do you live, because everything is green and blooming right now?