Carol, mine would generally be considered partially to mostly closed, I believe. When I obtained my 90 and 55 gal tanks, the top glass came with each. (The 90gal was a garage sale purchase, and the 55gal a hand-me-down from a friend's father who decided that after 20-30 years he was tired of keeping cichlids.) With the 55gal, the top glass covers about 75-80% of the tank -- it's missing the rubber "hinge" section as well as the plastic backsplash section. With the 90gal, about 90% of the tank. Having the top glass does help with keeping the humidity higher and more consistent. The only way the "above fluoros" would be anything more than useless would be if the tubes sat across the top of the tank. Sorry about that. You are absolutely correct that you would need to provide supplemental lighting. I did have a buddy who did just that with one of his larger terrs. He got 2 -two bulb 4ft shoplights and sat them across the top of the tank. Worked well. My tanks both have simple hoods I designed and my dad helped me make years back when I went upstate to visit. Each hood is hinged so I can flip back half of the hood to access the tank and the bulbs. The hoods -- from front to back -- cover about 90% of each tank. For lights I use six 200W equivalent coiled fluorescent bulbs in my 90gal and four 200W equv + two 100W equiv in my 55 gal. I have pondered trying some of the newer tube LEDs (I know a grower who supplies plants to the pdf hobbyists. He has done a great deal of investigating to find a brand of LED he feels will actually work for growing plants... as opposed to the junky ones you will find at a BBS.) Unfortunately, the suckers are EXPENSIVE. That has held me back. I'm currently testing out 2 LED tube bulbs on my plant stand. I'll see how they work out. (Definitely a LOT less heat than even regular fluoros, but haven't had them in play long enough to see what the plants think of them.) If your tanks are open, you will have to play much closer attention to humidity issues ... or more to the point a lack there of. Even without a top, you should wind up with an overall higher humidity level within the tank than the rest of the room. And depending upon just what plants you wish to grow, the humidity levels you will need to maintain may or not be more challenging to maintain in an open system. The buddy of mine who had the shoplights lying across his tank had a stream running through the tank (I think it may have been a 125gal L tank but it has been too long so memory is fuzzy.) The stream kept the tank envir. quite humid even though the tank was open.

Hey Toots, Pls. remember they're jungle cacti, they WANT water when active. I'd say check all the way down in the mix w/ a pencil or thin knife. (Like testing a cake for doneness), if the pencil comes out w/ mix on its tip there's still some moisture down below. I'd say as long as you're careful to check, if they dry out in 4, 5 days, maybe give them more water. Or if you're really unsure, maybe mist the mix when you feel you want to water again? I water mine (in a west window) every wknd, maybe every 10 says when I forget. In summer I water maybe every 5 days or so.

Not sure about NY, but in WA we see tuberous begonias for sale (full price) in about May, and discounted by early July. Re planting in ground: tuberous begonias are way too tender to overwinter in states north of about SC. Just dig up the tubers after the first *light* frost, or when the leaves start to drop and drop off the tuber. You can also pull them up when things start to get chilly, then lay them on newspaper until their leaves/branches fall off (they get a little energy from the branches). Then store in a cool, dark place in a paper bag, and mist from time to time, until they start budding (around mid-Feb). I've tried to overwinter them in pots, but they just do exactly the same leaf/branch drop, and you still have to dig them up and store the tubers. Then, plant them in pots till late April when they've leaved out a bit. When the weather is predictably above 50 at night, transfer the plants to the ground. I *love* tuberous begonias - they're gorgeous, and surprisingly forgiving and pest-resistant, and the deer don't touch them.

A dead pest is a good pest an eaten pest (on the other hand) is even better. Not a question but how cool/ neat is that pot that your Euphorbia gorgonis is in ?. It does look nice with what it has in it but IMO I'm not getting why E. gorgonis . I mean it's going to be a long long time in that depth sized pot. A Carol Moore pot I assume ? As it is a Carol Moore you own one of the best heat resistant pots I have ever used. Question for you ... how did you get yourCephalopentandra to break dormancy? I can easily move it to get loads of sun time here and have very close to same temps day to day as you... ( Thinking out loud I maybe a bit to light on watering) I also noted your sun screen I don't have a need for and don't use one as items can and are allowed to break inside Over the the past few warmer weeks it's been outside for E X SE AM sun times it also and gets a broken sweep of 100 % with hard shade later PM 3 pm ish to 4 PM ish. I am seeing a little something in there in more than one place but nothing as prominent as yours in foliage it also has less burnt coloring than that seen on your lower fat area. Thanks ahead of time. I also have Operculicarya X 3 ( with a tree hoarding addiction too ) that are progressing very well, do you water your Cephalopentandra the same as you do your Operculicarya ? Not to derail or off topic your thread a short pic and minor chat for Biker: Odd things can ( and do) sometimes happen at the strangest times. In reference to..... This.. Both sides Having seen only two spent flowers drop and three leaves there after & sense ( allegedly) ' dormant ' watering is very light with cooler night air to help apx tri weekly watering here On hard sun days it gets Apx 35-45 minutes per day of hardest sun and what ever brightness the rest. As the sun starts to drop it will get more time with the lower but shorter in time sun times which is sadly soon on the way. (Six week cycles are something to adventure) I tend to agree ( not always but for the better part )that if a plant doesn't want to go dormant, by all means let it grow but do consider that it will also want and need to go dormant at sometime Opposite also apply as these can remain dormant for an odd time as well.