FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hello there! Just want to ask experienced artificial light growers on indicators if my vft is ok with my led bulb.
Bought my vft as a plant already. Most ofvthe traps and leaves turn black after a few days. Then after almost a week with me a new leaf has sprouted, but the plant is just near a window with no direct sun light.
Then after another week, tried using led bulbs. From then two more leaves sprouted.
Does this mean they are fine with my bulb
Its a 12watt 6500k daylight bulb. Equivalent to 80watts incandescent bulb.
Dont know how to attach pics haha.

Richard hao wrote:Hello there! Just want to ask experienced artificial light growers on indicators if my vft is ok with my led bulb.
Bought my vft as a plant already. Most ofvthe traps and leaves turn black after a few days. Then after almost a week with me a new leaf has sprouted, but the plant is just near a window with no direct sun light.
Then after another week, tried using led bulbs. From then two more leaves sprouted.
Does this mean they are fine with my bulb
Its a 12watt 6500k daylight bulb. Equivalent to 80watts incandescent bulb.
Dont know how to attach pics haha.

all depends on the wavelength. Wattage isn't as relevant. But for contrast, I grow with a 300watt LED light setup. Hate to say it, but your bulb isn't sufficient. You need one that's full spectrum to see any benefits.


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Thank you for replying.. but what kind of benefits are you referring to?

Richard hao wrote:Thank you for replying.. but what kind of benefits are you referring to?

Real/sustained growth by light originating from the LEDs

Most of the "300 watt" pannels are actually running at 140 watts, Marrs Hydro is one of them. They are good lights for the price. IME, full spectrum is not necessary, probably 95% of your photosynthesis occurs in the reds and blues. There may be some other benefits to the yellows/greens but I grow a lot of plants without them. If you want your plants to really color up, a lot of red light will do it.

Smooter80 wrote:Most of the "300 watt" pannels are actually running at 140 watts, Marrs Hydro is one of them. They are good lights for the price. IME, full spectrum is not necessary, probably 95% of your photosynthesis occurs in the reds and blues. There may be some other benefits to the yellows/greens but I grow a lot of plants without them. If you want your plants to really color up, a lot of red light will do it.

Yes, red and blue light is needed. Mine includes white LEDs too, which help. But you do need a combination to really take advantage of LED lighting. MarsHydro is great for that reason. It's affordable and plug-and-play. And yes, I know about the 140 watt throttling so to speak.... but again, wattage isn't really important.

I agree that it's a good light. It would be interesting to find how little lux/lumens/par is required for only red/blue compared to something like 6500k. I bet I would be like 1/3. I known a lot of 6500k users freak out when you tell them how little lumens you are growing you plants with.

"White" light is a combination of wavelengths. Almost any normal light bulb is "full spectrum". I don't have enough pratical LED experience to say if it's beneficial along with red/blue or not or what the benefits might be. Red/blue are much more plant and energy efficient but white may have its uses too.

Watts do matter when it comes to LED's. It's lumens etc that do not matter with LED. Also that's correct white is full spectrum so combining them in a Blue/red will increase some waves more then others so your peaks in blue and red will be much high all together.

tannerm wrote:

Richard hao wrote:Hello there! Just want to ask experienced artificial light growers on indicators if my vft is ok with my led bulb.
Bought my vft as a plant already. Most ofvthe traps and leaves turn black after a few days. Then after almost a week with me a new leaf has sprouted, but the plant is just near a window with no direct sun light.
Then after another week, tried using led bulbs. From then two more leaves sprouted.
Does this mean they are fine with my bulb
Its a 12watt 6500k daylight bulb. Equivalent to 80watts incandescent bulb.
Dont know how to attach pics haha.

all depends on the wavelength. Wattage isn't as relevant. But for contrast, I grow with a 300watt LED light setup. Hate to say it, but your bulb isn't sufficient. You need one that's full spectrum to see any benefits.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Wattage is relevant. Even with LEDs that emit the most usable spectrums of light, a low-wattage LED fixture is not gonna cut it for your plants.

I'm not educated enough on LEDs to fully answer the question though.

Benurmanii wrote:

tannerm wrote:

Richard hao wrote:Hello there! Just want to ask experienced artificial light growers on indicators if my vft is ok with my led bulb.
Bought my vft as a plant already. Most ofvthe traps and leaves turn black after a few days. Then after almost a week with me a new leaf has sprouted, but the plant is just near a window with no direct sun light.
Then after another week, tried using led bulbs. From then two more leaves sprouted.
Does this mean they are fine with my bulb
Its a 12watt 6500k daylight bulb. Equivalent to 80watts incandescent bulb.
Dont know how to attach pics haha.

all depends on the wavelength. Wattage isn't as relevant. But for contrast, I grow with a 300watt LED light setup. Hate to say it, but your bulb isn't sufficient. You need one that's full spectrum to see any benefits.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Wattage is relevant. Even with LEDs that emit the most usable spectrums of light, a low-wattage LED fixture is not gonna cut it for your plants.

I'm not educated enough on LEDs to fully answer the question though.

A 12watt white LED might be okay for a plant. Just would have to keep it closer compared to something higher in watt so that the plant can receive those waves.