FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

So ive had many plants over the years and had some live for over 2 years but ive moved 3 times since then and they didn’t survive , i dont have enough space for the rest of my plants so i took it upon my self to buy a shelving unit from Ikea called OMAR it was £35 and its a metal unit, i have the space for this and bought 2 desk lamps as they was on clearance from B&Q, so my question is will this be ok for my plants, currently running 2 lamps with 1 LED in each lamp 75W - 1060lm as i said im new to grow lighting, picture below any help would be great! (UK)

P.s ignore the Makeshift cat bed, he doesn’t like fancy beds so boxes are his thing!




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The light requirements for carnivorous plants is directly dependent on the type. Some require loads of light while others require less. What types of plants are you thinking of growing?

-twillyranger- wrote:The light requirements for carnivorous plants is directly dependent on the type. Some require loads of light while others require less. What types of plants are you thinking of growing?

Mainly VFT's, butterworts, 'sundew seeds not yet planted' and I do have 1 Nepenthes. Also non carnivorous plants such as cacti and succulents.

The color temperature you have are 2,700 K and those are for promoting plants to flower not so much as vegetative growth that's where you would want to pick up bulbs with atleast 5,000K color temp. You can probably make them just adequate to grow with 1,050 lumens if you have the bulb very close to the plants, but you might want to consider purchasing bulbs with a 1,500-1,650 lumen rating. There are also specific plant growing bulbs that are a blurple color to them and they are designed to provide the plants with the exact light requirements to allow plants to flourish. You don't need to get plant grow lights 5,000 K color temps work just fine too.

Two bulbs for that entire shelf is definitely not a lot. VFT's especially need a high amount of light. It would be better to mount some LED strips or get fluorescent tubes.
There's a few ways to measure the light output... some recommend higher wattage, some say that PAR measurements are the only good way to evaluate a light source...from my experience (for what it's worth) as long as you go with lights on the cooler K spectrum (6500 K being the best) and above 2000 lumens you should be good. You can search around to try and find something 100w or above but honestly I don't think it matters too much. I have quite a few low-wattage lights and i've been growing high light loving plants like D. regia under them for a few months and they seem ok. Obviously the higher watt lights are probably better but if you get something 6500K and above 2000 lumens you should be good...I would just stay away from those bulbs since you would need about 10 -12 of those at least for your grow space. I guess if you are ok with that it's not a big deal.