FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I read all the posts to try and learn how best to care for all the different types of CPs that I grow...Is there a general photo period for each type? I read posts where people give there plants anyway from 12-16 hours a day.. My question is what is REALLY required for sundews? Helis? Highland and lowland nepenthes? Cephalotus? Utricularia? I currently have everything set for 12 hours on/12 off..But it would be great to know what's the minimum for each species to keep them happy... I mean in nature do cephalotus really get 16 hours of light year round?
Thanks for your input...

As far as what's "necessary" for hours I really can't help much. I still have a lot to learn.

I can tell you what my mindset is on it though. I buy the digital timers with a DST setting and keep my lights synchronized with the sun. My Heli's I added two hours of daylight to my sunrise time, my seedlings and now drosera I added an hour to the sunrise time.

I think the different lighting cues help keep it a little more natural for the plants. That way they still get the different seasonal cues.

Great thread!

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If you look at daylight charts for common subtropical regions like South Africa and SW Australia where Cephs grow, you'll see the minimum day length in the winter is about 10 hours while the maximum in summer is around 14.5 hours. I believe people generally keep the photoperiod a bit longer since artificial lighting tends not to be nearly as strong as the sun. I'm planning on trying out a 10-14 cycle (rather than my current 12-16) but I'm hesitant until I can replace my T5 fixture with more LEDs to avoid bulb fade.

The best option, as nimbulan said, is to look up weather and daylight data for the locations of the plants you are growing. However, the artificial environments are quite a but different from in-situ, so you sort of have to follow your own judgement from there.

Thanks for all the advice... I was really thinking more about my pocket book and the $$$$ on my electric bill.... Not to be a chisler but man the cost to run this room is adding a spike to my bill...They probably are going to think that I have a different "crop" growing....
If they fly over with the infrared my house probably glows in the dark..

You could probably go 10 hours winter, 14 hours summer if you want to cut back costs a little. Remember, the stronger the lights, the closer you can get to the actual daylight cycle of your plants. If you had really strong LEDs, you could probably turn the morning lights on an hour after actual dawn, and have them turn off and hour before actual dusk, as it takes a while for the sun to actually get to the point where it is producing "full sun".