FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I know outdoors is best, but I bought these plants to brighten up my room, where I am stuck most of the time. I need a hobby and something pleasant in my personal space, you know? Unfortunately, I have hardly any space in here. There is simply no room for a 48" fixture. A 24" is a maybe, but it's not too convenient either. My window is on the side of the house that gets zero sun, on top of that.

Originally I was going to use CFLs in reflective clamp lights, but the smaller clamp light I have is too small for the higher strength CFLs. I could swap into 10-inch clamp lights, I suppose. Even these are hard to fit, but I could probably squeeze in a floating shelf somewhere with the clamp lights hanging on Command hooks. I currently have a 3800 lumen, 100-watt-equivalent GE CFL, 2700k, which I would add a second to later. Alternatively, I could use 3 or 4 LED 100-watt equivalents, 2700k (for a total of 5040 or 6270 lumens). This would be a lot more expensive ($60-80), but they'd last longer.

Does anyone know if those 12" "under the cabinet" T5/T8s would produce a sufficient amount of light with 2 or 3 installed? I can't seem to find much information on those. This would be pretty ideal since I could just convert a shelf into a growing area.

Marionette wrote:Does anyone know if those 12" "under the cabinet" T5/T8s would produce a sufficient amount of light with 2 or 3 installed?

They should, but it depends on what species of carnivorous plants you're attempting to grow (you don't specify in the post).

The things with lights is that your plant really doesn't care/know whether it's under a 12 inch or a 48 inch light. Longer lights produce more lumens but that makes sense since they're longer. A longer light gives you a large growing area.

So to answer your question I think you could use a 12 inch light but you'd probably only be able to get 2-3 plants under it and you'd definitely want 2-3 installed.

If you can manage it a 24 inch light would be best for the amount of plants you have based on your other post. Something like this is nice because it takes two bulbs and is thin enough that you could put two next to each other for good coverage.

Or something like this.

Edit: This of course is ignoring any dormancy requirements your plants have. The pings may or may not depending on what you got. The VFTs will need a dormancy.

Whoops, the species would probably be helpful.

Two very small VFTs, one Dentate Traps VFT and an albino Sundew (from Flytrap Shop, so I'm not sure how big those will be), and four super-tiny Mexican pings (Sethos, agneta x moranensis, Pirouette, and I think a moctezumae crossed with something else, not sure off the top of my head). Some of them may move outside upon significant growth, but for right now everything I have is extremely small. What I'm concentrating on is the flytraps because they seem to be a lot touchier than the pings, and they are not happy right now.

I live on the east coast, so it's time for VFTs to be out of dormancy, and the pings are either freshly out or just coming out of their dormancy as well. Thus, I'm looking for full light for both. I do believe that the pings may require less light than the flytraps, but I'm not sure whether the information I found pertained to temperate or to the Mexican pings I have. Sundews... to be honest, it was an impulse buy and I don't know anything about them, but I'm researching currently. I didn't think I liked them much until I saw the albino.

With the under-the-cabinet lights, I'm mostly curious about what kind of lightbulbs I would need, if any would be sufficient. I'm a lot more familiar with CFL and LED bulbs. I'm confused about the T5/T8 types and can't seem to read anything that makes me less confused. I know I could get 24" T5/T8s that would be sufficient, but I'm not sure if under-the-cabinet lights could handle a strong enough bulb.

Something to consider with Mexican Pinguicula is that, unless you live in their natural range (or have very similar conditions), they typically aren't good outdoor plants (though greenhouses in the right climate are wonderful for these guys). The two major issues are water and temperature; these plants can handle pretty high temperatures (45°C has been recorded somewhere) but the lower end of the spectrum can cause issues. As Mexican pings are very sensitive to rot, you ideally need to keep them somewhere where they won't be pelted with water during rainstorms and such. Cold temperate Pinguicula, on the other hand, can usually handle outdoor conditions.

Artificial lighting has been used with Mexican Pings with great success, and you can get some fantastic colours popping, too. I wish I could offer in-depth advice regarding the fittings you describe, but I only have basic knowledge about artificial lighting and even that is rather limited - I am sorry!

Another thing to keep in mind is that Mexican Pinguicula (P. emarginata not included) have a winter dry period where you reduce watering, sometimes stopping altogether depending on your air humidity; photoperiod is, of course, important in this process. The plants will enter a succulent growth phase where they stop producing carnivorous leaves. I guess you could call it a dormancy, but technically speaking it actually isn't. Cold temperate Pinguicula have a dormancy period similar to that of fly traps but such care for a Mexican Pinguicula would be deadly due to rot.

I keep my Mexican Pinguicula on an east facing windowsill, which isn't ideal, but the bright morning sunshine has kept them going strong for a good three/four years. Mexican Pings are hardy and can handle lower light levels than other carnivorous plants, as long as they receive some light; typically, if they don't have enough light they'll turn a deep, bright shade of green; this isn't fatal and can easily be reversed by exposing them to more light. Thankfully, many species of Mexican Pinguicula are very forgiving so you have an opportunity to experiment and find what works best for you.

Thanks for the extra info.

With lights the strength of the bulb scales with the length. So for the most part if you have any fixture it will be able to handle any light that it's rated for. So a 12/24 inch T8 fixture can take any 12/24 inch T8 bulb regardless of wattage and a 12/24 inch T5 fixture can take any 12/24 inch T5 bulb, etc.

With straight tubes you're looking at pretty much T12, T8, T5, and T5HO. That list goes from least efficient and less lumen output but cooler running to most efficient and greatest lumen output but runs hotter. I would ignore T12 since you want something with more power for a shorter light.

T8 will work good assuming you get several of them. T8 are nice because while they don't have the output of a T5/T5HO you can pretty much put them on top of the plants due to their low heat output. If your shelves aren't adjustable you may want to go this route unless the distance from bulb to plant is going to be more than 6 inches.

T5 and T5HO are the best bang for your buck, they're smaller in diameter so they take us less space. They run more efficiently and they put out more light. But they produce more heat so you need to make sure you can put them far enough away to not burn your plants. They also tend to be a little more expensive than T8's both in fixture cost and bulb cost.

Now the other factor to consider is bulb "color". This is the primary wavelength that the bulb puts out. I like 6500K bulbs for everything but there are some people who will mix 6500K and something with more red like a 5000K. To be honest I don't think it really makes a huge difference unless you're trying to get your plants to flower. But for indoor plants in their first year of growing for you I wouldn't try to get flowers yet.

Grey- Thank you! Yes, the pings will definitely be indoor plants. Flytraps I will consider moving outside if they get too large, but for now it's been too cold and stormy to think about putting anything outside for more than short periods. I do know about the pings' dormancy period; the ones I have right now are either recently out of dormancy or just coming out of it now, according to their grower, so I am looking to get them up and running.

I only wish I had a suitable window area, but my window gets the least amount of light; it's next to useless. Cats also frequent that area, so I'd have to keep them in a hooded aquarium (which they'd be all over, disturbing the light fixture, etc.). That's why I'll probably place them on a shelf with artificial lighting.

parker679- I'll look into smaller T5 fixtures, then. Also, my Flytrap Shop purchases got here. The Drosera looks great, but yeesh, the flytraps are stressed! It's to be expected after shipping though. I think they're not (at the moment) too large for a few 12" lights. Though I do wonder about the wattage now. Our electricity bill is already rather high, so I'm also shopping with an eye toward keeping that as low as I can. LEDs are desirable but also very expensive...

edit: So 6000 or 6500 is best for good coloration? I had thought that, but then I read in one of the lighting guides that 2700 was better. Hmm...

edit 2: Is something like this okay? Are the 8-watt ones okay if they're T5, 6500k, and I use 3 or 4 of them? On closer inspection, I don't think I'll be able to find anything stronger in a 12" size, because most people don't need knock-you-off-your-feet bulbs to light their sink cabinets.

edit 3: Scratch that. I measured, and I have almost 24 inches on the shelf I want to use. I wonder if I would have a 24" light that's sticking out a bit. Even if I can't, a 21" light is definitely the way to go, a bulb like this?