FlyTrapCare Forums

I keep all my dews on south east facing windowsills alongside my neps and helis, and they have no problem at all even up north in Scotland.

Mark

Any lamp will help, but standard desk lamps are far too dim to provide much energy to plants. I will say that it looks like your plant could use more light so give it what you can.

About color temperature - there's a lot of misconception out there about light spectrum (mostly perpetuated by marijuana growers) but in the end it doesn't make a real big difference. Generally people aim for between 3000k and 6500k for plant growth while standard warm white lightbulbs are 2700k. Lower color temperatures (more red) will provide more photosynthetic energy while higher (more blue) will encourage a more compact growth habit. There are limits of course, and it really doesn't take much blue light for most plants to grow normally. For this reason I generally recommend shooting for a lower color temperature - I aim for around 4000k myself - but as I said it's not super important.

nimbulan wrote:Any lamp will help, but standard desk lamps are far too dim to provide much energy to plants. I will say that it looks like your plant could use more light so give it what you can.

About color temperature - there's a lot of misconception out there about light spectrum (mostly perpetuated by marijuana growers) but in the end it doesn't make a real big difference. Generally people aim for between 3000k and 6500k for plant growth while standard warm white lightbulbs are 2700k. Lower color temperatures (more red) will provide more photosynthetic energy while higher (more blue) will encourage a more compact growth habit. There are limits of course, and it really doesn't take much blue light for most plants to grow normally. For this reason I generally recommend shooting for a lower color temperature - I aim for around 4000k myself - but as I said it's not super important.

Great info! I guess I would be much more curious as to what amount of lumens being put out by a CFL in a table lamp would actually show benefits. I keep my Miranda and a few others under my desk lamp using 6k color and I think 1900-2300 lumens and my Miranda is halfway red so I assume it is a decent amount of usable light as it turns the leafs red. It nowhere near what I have seen on other Miranda's

Yes red leaves are certainly an indication of good lighting and can help the plant produce larger and more colorful pitchers, though Nepenthes don't absolutely need that much light and some species may not exhibit leaf tanning at all. It doesn't take all that much to tan the leaves on a lot of species, though.

For my indoor plants, I usually aim for around 2000 lumens per square foot of grow space (with little natural light) for high light plants like sundews to keep them healthy. Keep in mind that this is the area the light is cast on so if you want to use a CFL bulb for instance, you'll want to have a spotlight-style lamp rather than a shade-style lamp like you posted a picture of to focus the light on the plant.

Drosera don't go into dormancy. An incandescent light will only provide warmth. Your average LED bulb will give some photosynthesis in the blue spectrum and if your light is on anyway, go ahead. Photosynthesis takes place in the blue and red spectrum. You could spend days trying to figure out the properties of lighting and plant growth. If the sun is your primary source, you have nothing to worry about except extensive heat and drying.

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DRBeck wrote:Drosera don't go into dormancy.

Haha that's funny. And incorrect.

DRBeck wrote:An incandescent light will only provide warmth.

Haha that's funny too. So no light comes out of a lightbulb?

DRBeck wrote:Drosera don't go into dormancy.

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May I kindly ask you to do a little more research before making such a statement. This kind of misinformation can be detrimental to a beginner that may read this.

First of all, why the attitude? If I made an incorrect statement kindly teach me.

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MrSleeves wrote:

DRBeck wrote:Drosera don't go into dormancy.

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May I kindly ask you to do a little more research before making such a statement. This kind of misinformation can be detrimental to a beginner that may read this.

I understand that drosera do not go into a proper dormancy (if tropical), but they do die back to roots and slow growth which is basically dormancy.

DRBeck wrote:First of all, why the attitude? If I made an incorrect statement kindly teach me.

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Sir, I said "may I kindly ask you to do more research". That isn't attitude. Also we don't mind teaching but that requires asking questions, not making false statement. If you don't know then don't post. Research first or ask questions. And that being your first post on this forum, that is not a great start my friend

That tells me nothing about light spectrum. And while I don't consider myself anything close to an expert, I have done considerable research. Instead of making snide remarks, how about correcting my error?

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I don't think anyone is is being snide. When you post statements that are incorrect, expect to be corrected, it's happened to me.

I've read about and researched an obsessive amount on CPs daily for a year and am still a complete noob. Get off of the defensive and you'll learn a lot more.

If I am wrong, then politely correct me.

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BTW, I'm a complete noob too, but I do know photosynthesis A & B take place in the blue and red spectrum. I have plenty of learning to do.

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