FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hi everyone! So I feel like a kid at a candy store, I have my first ever indoor grow area setup (still a work in progress)! I have one Yescom 225 on the top rack and I bought another one for the bottom shelf, arriving soon. I saw the Yescom’s come highly recommended by many here and around CP communities, plus they fit my budget and size for my apartment. All of my plants are currently outside on my south facing balcony.

My question(s):
-Would these yescom’s be sufficient lighting to grow some flytraps under them? I want to try my hand at seedlings and propagation.
-I want to try some more unique Nepenthes & CP’s, maybe the dome would help. Any advice/thoughts are appreciated!
-Lastly, should I put two lights per shelf? There is enough room to slide the lights over and have two per shelf.

Here’s a photo!

I've never used yescom but reading up on them they don't put out a huge amount of lumens so I would say if you can afford to double them up then go for it the more light the better. I've heard people say "too much light" I don't believe there is such a thing for fly traps it's more like "too much heat". No growlight is stronger than sunlight. Also cool little set up and its not ugly good job.

I think setups get a bad rap.. in a tank, with nice lighting, they can be very visually pleasing.

Propag8 wrote: ↑Mon Jul 20, 2020 5:45 pm I've never used yescom but reading up on them they don't put out a huge amount of lumens so I would say if you can afford to double them up then go for it the more light the better. I've heard people say "too much light" I don't believe there is such a thing for fly traps it's more like "too much heat". No growlight is stronger than sunlight. Also cool little set up and its not ugly good job.

Hi Propag8! You bring up a good point with sunlight vs growlights. I just might add another light side by side on each shelf, or maybe just the top shelf and keep Nepenthes on the bottom. I am no expert at all, just hoping to get a setup that will keep CP's alive

hungry carnivores wrote: ↑Mon Jul 20, 2020 6:09 pm I think setups get a bad rap.. in a tank, with nice lighting, they can be very visually pleasing.

Agreed! Do you have any thoughts or suggestions with my setup in particular? Thanks!

I think you will have enough light to satisfy your plants and keep them alive with just the 2 yescom one on each shelf. it's just more light would be optimal. Maybe add the secondary lights when you expand your collection. I know how your feeling when you first get plants you want to do everything right but you will gain the experience as you go. Luckily plants aren't like hamsters they won't just drop dead they instead will tell you through their appearance that something is wrong so you can try and correct it. Good luck.

I don’t think it’s enough at all. I had an indoor set up with 3 extremely bright led panels that used 150 true watts and in an inclosed area. Flytraps are very photoperiod oriented too so they will get really confused and not know the seasons. They also need a lot of airflow. For reference, the lights where so strong that one panel was “too much” for Nepenthes.

A dome would be good for plant's that don't gain a lot of height, like Sundews or for seed germination. I have some Nepenthes under a dome currently but it's not going to be long before they outgrow it. I used a 1020 "dome" and they don't have a lot of options over 6" tall. Possibly do something with plexiglass or use an aquarium so you can gain more humidity for your Nepenthes if you'd like. I saw someone use a simple setup that looked great for humidity. They used a 10 or 20 gallon tank and put eggcrate down and rested their nepenthes on top of it. They'd water and allowed it to drain to the bottom of the tank. Then they filled it up like a half inch or so (eggcrate kept the plants from absorbing the water). Two birds with one stone there. I'm kind of in the same boat. I need to have some kind of enclosure for my highland hybrid. Thinking of doing plexiglass for custom size. Your setup looks clean man, nice job!

Yescomm always seems to come up when people discuss lights, thinking of buying one myself to replace a T5 and drop the temp down some.

Adrien I agree with you that more light is better and airflow is crucial in an enclosed environment but on this very small scale in an open shelf with a couple of plants i personally think they should survive (not do amazing) but survive. As for photoperiod i think that is one of indoor growing downsides especially in an open environment where living room lights and tv etc may upset the photoperiod even more. Awesome set up by the way I'm building similar on a smaller scale using cfl not leds. Regarding "too much light" I was only specifying fly traps as for other species I wouldn't know the light requirements.