TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk
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Hmm... I could definitely stick a few Neps in and see what they think, and the D. capensis should be able to take it if anything else can. This is great info; thanks guys.
~Joe
Quote[/b] (kirkwmartin @ Feb. 14 2005,12:14)]No real scientific reason but wish I were a techie geek who could adjust my lighting with the seasons and automatically adjust photoperiod accordingly. Anybody design an "easy way of doing that?"
This sounds vaguely like a jab in my direction. If you haven't been convinced instead to go 24/7, emulating the natural daylength is really not difficult. The easiest way is to buy the basic HAL kit from automatedliving.com or Ebay (not sure what the going price is-probably not more than $50), along with an appliance module (X-10) from Radio Shack (about $12) for each gadget you want t0 control. Hook the included CM11a adapter to your computer, install the software, plug your lights into the appliance modules, and you're all set.
Alternatively you can just buy the CM11a (<$30 if you're patient) or even a cheap "Firecracker" (CM15?) and appliance modules on Ebay and install Mister House, which is trickier to set up than HAL, but free, more stable, and can run in linux or windows.
Now that i know Wild Bill's secret photoperiod formula, i'm going to be the one bring endless beautiful plants for the NECPS auction! Mwahahaha!
I suppose that I'll ad that I have no idea if there are any long term affects from 24hr lighting. Maybe advanced aging and premature death? I don't know and haven't seen anything about this for perrenials in general. Also I would make an educated guess that timing your lighting to daylength is most likely the healthiest for a plant. Veg and flower cycles are healthy and normal. Then again adaption is seen easily in plants.
Joe
I rotate the photoperiod between 16 hours in summer, 12 in winter. Halfway between seasons I add or subract an hour.
I used to place some of my Australian Drosera/Utrics on a 15-9 hour photoperiod, but since changed that because I really don't care anymore and they do just fine on the 16-12 hour daylength.
Hi All! Well, since I live in Chicago and have an apartment, I have no choice but to place my plants in a terrarium. I have a timer in which I adjust to mimic the photo periods of nature's seasons. Most timers have increments of 30 minutes in which you can adjust the times. For the months with an extra week, I just skip it and follow through with the tables. I modfied the dates from last year. It is as follows:
I can't use a timer, since, to do that, we'd have to move the stupid bookshelf out six inches.. anyway, my fluorescent stays on usually from approximately 9AM to approximately midnight (whenever my grandfather goes to bed, I dunno.. he turns it off, since he goes to bed way after I do, so that way the plants can get as much light as possible).
I don't use any light cycle. My plants are in a south facing window in my computer room. They get light from sometime in the morning to whenever I turn the light off and go to bed. That can be anywhere from 10:00 pm to 1:00am and sometimes later.
That works great for some plants, but here in the frozen north, Neps don't take those dark winters very well. The first year i had them thought my ventricosa, sanguinea, and alata (Luzon) in my windowsill were all sick. Now after a couple boom/bust cycles coinciding with the seasons, i've seen how big a difference that photoperiod and intensity can make.
The neps explode into new growth in the summer, but lose all their pitchers and don't do much of anything in the winter. It makes for rather weird fluctuations in pitcher size when looking at the plants.
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