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Opinions on Standing Water for Droseras

  • #21
Your lights seem to be enough to keep the plants in reasonably good health, but if you want to grow them to their full potential you'll need more lighting. Waiting a few weeks won't change anything, the newer green foliage on the (presumably) red-form capensis speaks for itself. If increasing the lighting is inconvenient or isn't worth the investment to you, don't worry about it too much, capensis and spatulata are still unstoppable and will grow well even in lower lighting, they just won't get as much color or dew as they could.

I would like to max out the plants potential so I will look into higher wattage cfls.. If I'm using two 40w (150w eq) what size do you think would be a good bump up? 45w or 50w?
 
  • #22
I would like to max out the plants potential so I will look into higher wattage cfls.. If I'm using two 40w (150w eq) what size do you think would be a good bump up? 45w or 50w?

Sorry, I'm no lighting expert, and I'm not sure what wattage is the safety max for your fixture. I only employ one 150W equivalent 3500K CFL, but that's used in tandem with my T5 setup. If using CFLs gets too convoluted, it might be a good idea to consider the T5 strip you talked about on the first page.
 
  • #23
Sorry, I'm no lighting expert, and I'm not sure what wattage is the safety max for your fixture. I only employ one 150W equivalent 3500K CFL, but that's used in tandem with my T5 setup. If using CFLs gets too convoluted, it might be a good idea to consider the T5 strip you talked about on the first page.

Only issue with the t5 strip I found was that the max wattage it could handle was 23w... and I really don't want a 48" strip. I'll check out online on what the next wattage bulbs that have. As for my fixture, it can handle up to 100w bulbs in each socket.

I found a 55 watt 5000k and a 65 watt 6500k
 
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  • #24
How big is your tank? Could you obtain a 2 foot t5 fixture if 4' is too much. Determining how powerful your lights are isn't just a matter of watts. Spiral cfls waste a lot of light due to their shape. A reflector can help with that. A t5ho fixture with reflector would be better. It directs more of its light down towards the plants.
 
  • #25
Hello: I just got done reading this thread and thought I would offer my thoughts. The thoughts & advice that follow are not necessarily the "right thing to do" but merely what I would do if in your situation.

1.) I would wrap 3 of the 4 exterior walls of the terrarium with a highly reflective surface (mylar, panda film, orca film, etc.). I might consider wrapping all 4 sides, but making one (or more) of them removable so that I could view it from different angles.
2.) I would just purchase a fluorescent bulb of some variety to rest on top (or hang above) the terrarium. Given that you want to grow the plants to their fullest potential, I'd recommend T5-HO's. Seems to me like you would only need a 1 or 2 bulb fixture w/ a reflector.
3.) I would NOT include so many different varieties of plants in there right away. I'd start with moisture loving plants such as Drosera and Utricularia...keep them alive for a while...and then slowly make changes. Treat this as though you're setting up a beautiful aquarium- set it up, let it stabilize, monitor results, and slowly make changes/additions.
4.) I would NOT include plants that require seasonal changes such as mexican pinguicula, VFT's, Sarracenia, pygmy sundews, etc.
5.) Don't completely cover the top of the terrarium, allow space for air to move. I'm concerned that you're going to develop a mold situation. If I allow my air around the plants to get stagnant, even if they catch a TINY fungus gnat, it sometimes can get moldy. Even just a small oscillating fan blowing around the room works wonders.
6.) Regarding the design and types of plants...I would probably try to grow D. capensis varieties in the back because they'll get the tallest...then in the front half I would grow all sorts of shorter sub-tropical Drosera, mixed among terrestrial Utricularia. I grow lots of sundews here in New York and my humidity in the winter hovers between 20-50%, and the plants are full of dew. Get the lighting and water needs right first. Just remember that these plants go through shock, and don't always look like they're improving right away. It can take some time to see whether what you're doing is helping or hurting. Which again is why I suggest working solely with easily obtainable and forgiving plants first before making the terrarium more complex. Honestly I'd probably plant Capensis in the background, other shorter varieties in the foreground, and then maybe even get a bunch of different types of seed, throw it in there and see what happens!
 
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  • #26
How big is your tank? Could you obtain a 2 foot t5 fixture if 4' is too much. Determining how powerful your lights are isn't just a matter of watts. Spiral cfls waste a lot of light due to their shape. A reflector can help with that. A t5ho fixture with reflector would be better. It directs more of its light down towards the plants.
2' would be perfect... it would overhang a tad but not much. The fixture the cfls are in is a reflector, could you link me to a 2' t5?

Hello: I just got done reading this thread and thought I would offer my thoughts. The thoughts & advice that follow are not necessarily the "right thing to do" but merely what I would do if in your situation.

1.) I would wrap 3 of the 4 exterior walls of the terrarium with a highly reflective surface (mylar, panda film, orca film, etc.). I might consider wrapping all 4 sides, but making one (or more) of them removable so that I could view it from different angles.
2.) I would just purchase a fluorescent bulb of some variety to rest on top (or hang above) the terrarium. Given that you want to grow the plants to their fullest potential, I'd recommend T5-HO's. Seems to me like you would only need a 1 or 2 bulb fixture w/ a reflector.
3.) I would NOT include so many different varieties of plants in there right away. I'd start with moisture loving plants such as Drosera and Utricularia...keep them alive for a while...and then slowly make changes. Treat this as though you're setting up a beautiful aquarium- set it up, let it stabilize, monitor results, and slowly make changes/additions.
4.) I would NOT include plants that require seasonal changes such as mexican pinguicula, VFT's, Sarracenia, pygmy sundews, etc.
5.) Don't completely cover the top of the terrarium, allow space for air to move. I'm concerned that you're going to develop a mold situation. If I allow my air around the plants to get stagnant, even if they catch a TINY fungus gnat, it sometimes can get moldy. Even just a small oscillating fan blowing around the room works wonders.
6.) Regarding the design and types of plants...I would probably try to grow D. capensis varieties in the back because they'll get the tallest...then in the front half I would grow all sorts of shorter sub-tropical Drosera, mixed among terrestrial Utricularia. I grow lots of sundews here in New York and my humidity in the winter hovers between 20-50%, and the plants are full of dew. Get the lighting and water needs right first. Just remember that these plants go through shock, and don't always look like they're improving right away. It can take some time to see whether what you're doing is helping or hurting. Which again is why I suggest working solely with easily obtainable and forgiving plants first before making the terrarium more complex. Honestly I'd probably plant Capensis in the background, other shorter varieties in the foreground, and then maybe even get a bunch of different types of seed, throw it in there and see what happens!

1.) I planned on it but I've been putting it off since I don't think I'll find it appealing to look at but it seems like a highly recommended thing so I'll get on it.
3.) I'll take note of this and won't add the seeds and gemmae I ordered right off the bat.
4.) As for the Pings that's another pro for having them on the lava rock, I can easily remove them if needed.
5.) One of the capensis caught a housefly and it's starting to get fuzzy... I'll open up some holes on the lid and stop misting to hold my humidity back to the 50% area.
6.) I actually like the idea for the capensis, I'll be doing that!
 
  • #27
I'll take note of this and won't add the seeds and gemmae I ordered right off the bat.

Seeds can be refrigerated easily enough, but you'll need a place for those gemmae quick, they don't sit long...and once they're planted, they're planted. If you break the taproot while transplanting a pygmy Drosera it almost certainly kills the plant.
 
  • #28
Seeds can be refrigerated easily enough, but you'll need a place for those gemmae quick, they don't sit long...and once they're planted, they're planted. If you break the taproot while transplanting a pygmy Drosera it almost certainly kills the plant.

Thanks for the info I'll see if there's some stickies on that, looks like the gemmae will have to go in ASAP then which I really don't have a problem with since the lights show enough power to sustained growth. As for the lights I'm in need of some opinions, I've found plenty of 2' 6500k 54 watt fixtures but my tank is only 18" across... I've even found 2' 4 bulb 6500k 24 watt bulb fixtures, or even a single t5 6500k 39 watt strip. Would 39 watts be enough? I think I wanna try a higher wattage cfl, room wise I really don't have the space for a strip. With anyone's best guess how much of a wattage bump should I try? (using two 40 watts atm)

Thinking of this lamp
2' 4 bulb lamp
2' 2 bulb lamp
 
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  • #29
Update; Picked up a two tube 2' t5ho from Agrobrite, oddly enough it doesn't seem nearly as bright compared to the two cfls. I also received another Ping and some gemmae, the lid was also removed and the humidity it back down to 50%. I guess at this point it's just a matter of waiting to see if everything starts to get some color.

 
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  • #30
Another small update, I was advised by another member that my 2' 2 tube really wasn't enough so I went and picked up the 2' 4 tube and jeeze that's one heck of a light... Should I look into mixing some bulbs or just use 4 6400k? Everything is doing just fine expect the Pirouette, it's having a rough time after being planted. I have the humidity sitting up in the 70s until it starts to show some signs of health.

Thanks for everyone's help,
Justin


 
  • #31
I've come to the conclusion that shelf growing is more appropriate for me. Luckily enough everything has transitioned from the tank to their pots perfectly, all the plants are as of now still in the tank since some Drosera seeds were knocked in and I'd want to try some search and rescue once they sprout. The Pirouette looks like it's starting some new growth in the center but has almost lost the four leafs it had when I received it. The Aphrodite's flower opened up and I checked to see if it was sterile, barely any pollen if any but I still brushed it around with a toothpick. The Spatulata is still flowering consistently and is getting some color with the new 96w, 8000 lumen t5 although it seems to be lacking some dew. As for the Cape it's shooting new growth left and right and is covered in dew. Gemmae wise D. roseana and D. sargentii are sprouting. My main question now is, without the tank and a space issue how many plants are capable of being grown under my lighting's ratings?

Thanks,
Justin

Still lacking color greatly but growth wise it's speeding up.








 
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