FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hello, I'm trying to grow three plants, purple pitcher plant, cape sundew and venus fly trap. They aren't doing too great, I see signs of small growth from them with my current set-up but it's not enough I'd say. They're getting reverse osmosis water(filled in a styrofoam bowl with a plastic pot in the middle of it), CP soil mix(peat, sand), left moist every day, and direct/indirect sunlight through a glass window(Not sure if that would reduce the UV rays from coming through).

The only thing I can think of, is that they lack sufficient sunlight to really flourish. I'm using a cree 60w 5000k daylight led bulb, http://www.homedepot.com/p/Cree-60W-Equ ... /204476611. I've tried it from a safe distance and noticed some improvement but I wanted to find out which led bulb is best for a small indoor grow(3 small plants), with some access to direct/indirect sunlight.

That is all, I didn't know where to post this at, but this seemed like the best board because it's lighting related.

TLDR: I'm looking for the best led light for a small indoor grow(3 small plants) with some access to direct/indirect sunlight.

Astral_Revenant wrote:Hello, I'm trying to grow three plants, purple pitcher plant, cape sundew and venus fly trap. They aren't doing too great, I see signs of small growth from them with my current set-up but it's not enough I'd say. They're getting reverse osmosis water(filled in a styrofoam bowl with a plastic pot in the middle of it), CP soil mix(peat, sand), left moist every day, and direct/indirect sunlight through a glass window(Not sure if that would reduce the UV rays from coming through).

The only thing I can think of, is that they lack sufficient sunlight to really flourish. I'm using a cree 60w 5000k daylight led bulb, http://www.homedepot.com/p/Cree-60W-Equ ... /204476611. I've tried it from a safe distance and noticed some improvement but I wanted to find out which led bulb is best for a small indoor grow(3 small plants), with some access to direct/indirect sunlight.

That is all, I didn't know where to post this at, but this seemed like the best board because it's lighting related.

TLDR: I'm looking for the best led light for a small indoor grow(3 small plants) with some access to direct/indirect sunlight.

Depending on your location, outside is best to grow. VFT can withstand temperatures into freezing and can even be there for a few days before the frost starts to affect their rhizomes. Your purple pitcher plant (assuming its a Sarracenia purpurea) can be outside all year round, they grow well into Canada and can withstand freezing temperatures no problem, they are pretty hardy plants. As for your sundew (Drosera) depending on its species, should do fine by a window sill or outside, they're pretty lenient on growing conditions and are known as "weeds" because of how quickly they multiply.

As for talking about growth carnivorous plants in general, they grow a lot slower than normal plants. For a day to day basis expecting to see a lot of change, your time table would be more week to week. This is because they adapted to growing in nutrient poor conditions, their "fertilizer" is the bugs they catch. Feeding them more does help but it is not a requirement, they are plants and still photosynthesis. With VFT, you need to be careful because right about now is when they are getting close to dormancy and in their natural habitat, bugs are scarce. Do not feed them when they are in dormancy and when they are approaching dormancy, just let them do their own thing.

Pertaining your grow bulb, the biggest thing your looking for is lumens, or the light intensity. That bulb does not have that many lumens and for those three plants it would be barely enough light. A good rule to go by is 2000 lumens per square foot to keep your plants flourishing. Although T5HO bulbs are more expensive, they use relatively low energy and produce a lot of lumens. For your setup, I would suggest a 2ft T5HO bulb at 6500k. Also, keep in mind cooler colors (closer to the 6500k) are for better growth, whereas warmer colors (closer to 2500k) are better for flowering. It is best to mix in both if possible, if not stick to a cooler color.

Hope this helps and good luck growing!

Hi astral, a friend i have been talking back and forth about LED lighting, This friend of mine has been using a 10w LED down light (the one you posted actually uses 9w), it's probably better to compare by lumens, but the one he linked me didnt have it specified, just assume it's a little more powerful than yours (about 15%)

Anyway, he was using it in a small fish tank (maybe 36x18 if i recall correctly) on some cp's, cant recall which
he said that it was allowing his plants to grow, but it wasn't quite enough, the plants would grow, but would get a little long and thin
based on this, i personally am using LED star lights to assemble my own grow light, i doubled the wattage (also hoping that the red/blue lights would be more valuable per watt), but i hope that 20w worth of LED lights will be sufficient for the area

anyway, could you take a picture of the area you're keeping them in, or give rough dimensions of it?
i think if you're committed to using those sorts of bulbs, if it were me, i would have atleast 3 total for maybe 1-2ft sq area

edit: also seems to concurr with bvalente's post, 3 total would be 2400 lumens

Thanks for the help and quick replies! I'm going to get a stronger bulb by Cree then. I was looking at a 75W 5000k daylight bulb with 1800 lumens. http://www.homedepot.com/p/Cree-100W-Eq ... /205054836. You did say 1x1 sq ft of 2000 lumens would be sufficient. If I'm getting 1600 lumens from the bulb, that might be enough to cover the little carnies for now.

I'll have to get a picture of my grow area then, it's not ultra tech but it gets the job done... you'll see what I mean. I would love to grab two bulbs, one being 3000k and the other 6500k but my budget is tight and I lack a proper lamp-post for more then one bulb. I know 5000k isn't as good as the above but I heard it gets the job done, http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/lumen ... ml#p144568.

Other then that, I'll keep the low intensity one on them for now and increase it tomorrow.

Also, I'd grow them outside and all but the area I live in has lots of trees which blocks the direct/indirect sunlight, coupled with clouds, the sunlight is kind of infrequent but luckily the spot they're in gets direct/indirect sunlight from the glass/wood framed windows just as much as some of the other parts of my yard. Also, the animals are pretty menacing. They'll spot the plants after a couple days and destroy them. However, in the future, I'll probably make an outdoor grow area that will be protected from harm(animals, debris, etc). Well, thanks again for the help everyone, have a nice day!

Hi, The pot looks like it's being kept too wet. It might work for drosera but I strongly suggest pouring out excess water immediately and let your pot dry for a minimum 4-8 days if you have no fan at it. The LED light is also too far up, personally I would put the lights at least 6 inches above the pots.

yep ^
also, if you get the 1800 lumen bulb, then you effectively have 2600 lumens if you use the bulb you already have too.
also, i would suggest getting a large water tray large enough to fit them all in it, that way the light can possibly have to cover a smaller area (meaning you might be able to get closer with the light, or fix some sort of lens/light director to it)

Alright, I grabbed a Cree daylight 100 watt 5000k led light. Along with it, an hdx clamp light. I re-potted the plants, along with rinsing the soil out and draining the water from it. Also, what you're saying about the water in the tray... how much should it be filled up to then? The CPN site said 1/4 water level for most CP plants and 1/2 for pitcher plants but I will seriously reconsider doing this if it's bad for them. So maybe just 1/4 for all of them then? I usually fill the tray up with water and sprinkle a little at the top each day. Well, I'll have to take another picture to show you the new set-up. Have a good day! =]

Well honestly, for my plants, i just try to keep some water touching the sphagnum through the pot holes, not sure there's much difference after that with the wicking effect, depending on how deep your pots are

For pitcher plants, it's fine to leave them sitting in water. But for Venus flytraps, they do much better if the soil is kept moist, not wet. To achieve this, we check the soil often and water when the soil feels just barely damp. We thoroughly saturate the soil and then allow it to dry again to the point of being barely damp. Growing indoors, keeping the soil just damp, instead of wet, will be even more important because flytraps under lights are more susceptible to root rot.

Alright, I made some more improvements to the set-up. I moved the led light and light clamp closer to the plants. I moved the bowls closer together and under the light. As for water, I only filled it 1/4 of the bowl for the sundew and venus. And 1/2 of the bowl for the pitcher. I can see why doing it based off the cpn site is kind of bad if its indoors. I'll probably find a bigger bowl with dividers for each plant, maybe another bulb or some type of reflector for the sides for more light. That is all, here are some more pics. Have a swell day!

Astral_Revenant wrote:I only filled it 1/4 of the bowl for the sundew and venus.

In my opinion, leaving a flytrap sitting in water, especially when growing indoors, is just asking for problems. If they were my plants, I'd not keep any water in the bowl, but only fill the bowl when the top of the soil started drying out. And then leave the bowl full of water for 30 minutes or so and dump out whatever water the soil didn't take up.

That sounds logical, I'll keep water out of it until the top is mostly dry then. I moved the light up a bit to around 6 - 8 inches from the plants. Thanks for the help.

Alright, what everyone said here is correct (regarding lighting lumens) But keep in mind that lumens are not everything.

The reason that modern LEDs are so crazy efficient (and expensive!) is because technological advances have enabled lights that put out the spectrum that plants use, which is, in parts, invisible to humans. Not trying to say that the lumens are not a good rule of thumb, but a modern LED grow panel, is, for the number of lumens, going to put out more of the spectrum that plants need, than, say, a normal LED. But even T12s and CFLs can grow plants, so what you have is fine anyway. Just thought I would chime in something I learned from another grower, good luck and update us on how it goes!.

Thanks for that info. Yeah, what I have is probably good enough to grow them now. I put them on a glass plate and grouped them together in the center. So light-wise they are good to go now. I'll still keep an eye on them to make sure all goes well. I'll post more pictures after a couple more days.

Alright, so I've been using the new led light and light reflector. It's working pretty well, I definitely notice better color/growth from the plants. I do give them a bit of water(reverse osmosis) from time to time when it starts really drying out on the surface. I'll keep it between damp dry - damp for now. Once they start really growing, I might keep them just damp. Any more help would be appreciated, I will still keep an eye on them and make sure they grow well.