FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Let me know when you achieve fusion, seems your getting close

Its a structure fire waiting to happen.

I would replace that whole contraption with something like a 300w mars hygro. not only does it not look safe but you get a lot of light loss with round bulbs like that. The mars would direct much more light to the plants. You are beating your self up trying to cover that many plants with bulbs like that. I definitely give you an A+ for effort. I just think there's a better way to do it and get better results.

Could always put them outside, its free, its safe and the plants will live forever. Just sayin.

Fieldofscreams wrote:Its a structure fire waiting to happen.

Can you make sure my obituary says that I died alongside my Venus flytraps?

Hey Doublebass!
After reading this paper:

https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmed ... -238-w.pdf

This thread as well:

how-much-light-do-you-really-need-t31035.html

I measured the PPFD of the Feit 9 watt LED light model # A19/GROW/LEDG2 , about $13.00 at Home Depot that you gave specs for at 4" and 6" directly above above the sensor of an Active Eye quantum PARmeter distributed by Hydrofarm. I also measured the PPFD of this bulb at various distances horizontally from the center line of the bulb at various heights above the sensor. My results are as follows:
With the bottom of the bulb six inches and 4 inches above the sensor,
6" 4"
Directly above 123 230
2" off center 103 170
3" off center 85 117
4" off center 62 78
5" off center 51 56
6" off center 36 37

These results are interesting but are an instantaneous reading of the PAR a plant receives. What is quite important to plants is how much light a plant receives per day. This measurement is called the DLI or daily light integral. We know the PPFD is figured in micro moles (um) per second falling on a square meter. We know there are 1 million micro moles (um) in a mole. We know there are 86,400 seconds in a day. So to find the daily light integral (DLI) that you are providing your plants we would take the PPFD measurement I obtained (123 PPFD 6" above surface) multiplied by the number of hours the light is on (in this example I say 24 hours) multiplied by {the number of second in an hour, divided by 1,000,000 ( the number of micro moles in a mole )}
Or:
123 X 24 X .0036 = 10.63
Which yields a DLI (daily light integral) of 10.63

For comparison, commercial greenhouse growers shoot for a DLI of 20 for full light plants. A DLI of 20 also coincides with about the average DLI a VFT in the wild would receive in full sun during the months of November, December, January and February. Of course a VFT would typically be shaded to some extent by grasses, shrubs and trees unless a fire had recently passed through the area.

If we used the PPFD of 230 which I measured with the bottom of the bulb at 4" above the sensor and ran the lights at 24 hours a day we would yield a DLI of:

230 X 24 X .0036 = 19.87
DLI = 19.87

Interesting setup. Nice plants.