FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hi guys I recently got into growing carnivorous plants. I got my plants in a 20 litres container. At the moment there are only 2 red greens, 1 cupped trap and 3 sarracenias. I’m getting 4 more plants by post next week. All of the ones coming next week are 5cms max. Do you guys think it will be a problem fitting 4 more plants in the container? (Pictures below) I noticed the red green is pretty slow at the moment when the traps are closing. Is this due to transplant shock? I have a 80watt led and 50 watt led at the moment running, although they have been getting a lot of sun on the balcony.I will be receiving another 80 watt led next week too. Will i be needing stronger lights or is it enough? If you guys noticed my cupped traps are pretty small will it be a problem for dormancy? The will be staying on the balcony during their dormancy. Any suggestions will be appreciated , Have a great Sunday guys!

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210w when you receive your new light sounds about right for the grow area you have. I think the fly traps will love that and do very well under that amount of light. I don't know about your other plants one of the other guys can advise you on those. Seems like it might be a squeeze to get more plants in there though but thats just my opinion. I would also agree that transplanting would shock your plant a little and cause the slow closing they will just need time to adjust. I assume you have made some good drainage holes in the container to avoid waterlogging. I think your cupped traps will be fine for a dormancy. Welcome to the hobby and the forum

I ended up getting a 216W led that emits 6000 lumens. I thinks it’s better since i will be getting a new container for the other fly traps and will be adding more plants to that + the nepenthes. I did poke a good amount of holes under the container as I water using a bit of both the tray and top method. I did have a question about dormancy since it is going to be indoors on the balcony. What temps should I keep my vft at as I don’t want it coming out of dormancy early. Thanks for the help man!

Sounds good with the new led. Your collection is growing already with 2 separate containers. Depending on where you live and living circumstances the best way to achieve dormancy is naturally outside. If this isn't possible and you grow indoors only, like myself you can achieve a light dormancy by shortening the photoperiod of your lights to mimick short winter days. I run 16hrs march till august, Sept 14hrs,Oct 12hrs,Nov 10hrs,Dec 7-8hrs,Jan 10 hrs, feb 12 hrs and back to 16 hrs in march. Really for this to work well you don't want any other light sources during the dark/lights off phase or this will upset the photoperiod. Try to keep your plants no warmer than 10 centigrade if you possibly can.

Just to add if you are using natural daylight and supplementing with the leds i would switch your lights off and on during winter to match the daylight outside. My plants are in an enclosed space with only artificial light so I have to use the photoperiod I previously mentioned.

Yeah I even got another 160watt led that emits 3200 lumens just in case. That way I can cover the whole grow area and fill it up with different plants. Regarding dormancy my balcony isn’t outdoors but all of the windows open and you get sunshine from 8-12:00pm. Temp will be pretty cold in november probably around 8C. Would you recommend that I keep them there for dormancy or an unheated room with leds? As they won’t be getting much sun after 12:00 and its pretty cloudy here in the winter.

I think the balcony would be ideal they don't require much light during dormancy and at 8 degrees you won't have to worry about freezing. During the growing season the more light the better. I currently am using about 12000 lumens but will soon be adding another light giving me 32000 lumens in total which i will use more to increase my grow area size rather than directly increase lumens in one place.

The photoperiod is more of a factor when starting dormancy as long as the photoperiod is short and you don't live somewhere with very warm winters they should go dormant naturally.

Propag8 wrote: ↑Mon Aug 10, 2020 3:40 pm The photoperiod is more of a factor when starting dormancy as long as the photoperiod is short and you don't live somewhere with very warm winters they should go dormant naturally.

it is going to be cold on the balcony for sure. I guess I’ll just hook up my led lights on the balcony as an extra supplement as the they won’t be getting much direct sunlight.

Joshuamarshall792 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 11, 2020 8:39 pm

Pfs wrote:Hi guys I recently got into growing carnivorous plants. I got my plants in a 20 litres container. At the moment there are only 2 red greens, 1 cupped trap and 3 sarracenias. I’m getting 4 more plants by post next week. All of the ones coming next week are 5cms max. Do you guys think it will be a problem fitting 4 more plants in the container? (Pictures below) I noticed the red green is pretty slow at the moment when the traps are closing. Is this due to transplant shock? I have a 80watt led and 50 watt led at the moment running, although they have been getting a lot of sun on the balcony.I will be receiving another 80 watt led next week too. Will i be needing stronger lights or is it enough? If you guys noticed my cupped traps are pretty small will it be a problem for dormancy? The will be staying on the balcony during their dormancy. Any suggestions will be appreciated , Have a great Sunday guys!

https://ibb.co/rbvjZb8


https://ibb.co/xj67SKM

https://ibb.co/px1fZqv

WHERE DID YOU GET THAT BULB?!?!? IVE BEEN LOOKING FOR ONE OF THOSE WITH MULTIPLE IR AND UV LEDS!!!

snap em up!!!

I got it from an online Polish store. Amazon and ebay has a lot of them though. Just search E27 grow light bulb and those are the ones that will pop up. I ended up getting a 216 watt one that emits 6000 lumens that bulb is amazing, i placed 2 over the container.

Joshuamarshall792 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 12, 2020 7:37 pm Damn okay thanks!!! That is a really nice bulb tho

dragons are red, scams are blue! but green is true!

You should check the Gianor UFO 216watts if you're looking for a red/blue bulb. it's really good and emits 6000 lumens. Much better than the 80watt bulb in the picture above. I think that bulb would be anough for a succulent not vft.