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Lighting and redness

Hi I know there have been alot of different posts on this so sorry if I am repeating a question but I have a single 100W equivalant compact flourescent light bulb (The curly kind) that is about 3 inches away from my VFTs. I have it on for 16 hrs a day and it doesn't seem like it is helping my plants at all. I mean they have new growth and everything but the traps seem to be getting smaller than the trap that came before. Also there is absolutely no red in them so I'm wondering if there is anything that I am doing wrong. I have check and double checked and I am using the right type of soil and RO water so that isn't the problem.

Thanks
 
They need full sun I would gradually acclimate it outdoors into full sun.
 
OK full sun...got it. But up here in Minnesota we've been having an extremely cold spring. The high temperatures only get to around mid 60s to mid 70s and the low temperatures are anywhere from mdi 40s to mid 50s. Is that too cold to put my flytraps outside??
 
they can definitely handle those temperatures. Just move them gradually, moving them directly to new conditions doesn't work well in my experiences.
 
Some plants' genetics don't allow for them to produce a red color in the traps no matter how bright the light is, I'm pretty sure.
 
yeah it depends on the clone, I have one that's in full sun and it's traps only turn light pink-orange. And then look at the one in my avatar.
 
Hi,
Our temps in NE are very similar to yours. I have some outside and some under lights. So far the lights are winning easily. I use a shoplight with T12s, though and cheap 40 Watt CW(4100 K). I am going to work myself up to 6500K and start going for some mylar, but in the past I have had nearly black inside the traps with this. On the flipside though..I did not get Akai Ryu to get nearly as red as it should get. I have not had those in a while, shockingly enough.
Also, Minnesota is more humid overall than Nebraska. You have more water, and some native CP, where we have no cp, lol.

Cheers,

Joe
 
Compact Flours can do you some good if your only going to have a small collection, I wouldnt advise it however becuase you will greatly outpay for your CFL's than if you'd just go buy the 4' flour fixtures... in the long run.
However I started my collection on CFLS and have had really good luck with them... mine are more like 150W however...

seems to me you just need more light. simple as that. but you dont have to put them outside in order to redden those traps and keep healthy VFT.

also the comments on the different types and their reactiveness towards turning red is definitely true. I have about 7 or 8 different potted groups of VFT's under my lights and each one of them has a different shade going from dark maroon to absolutely no red whatsoever...

your trap size will be your main indication of whether your getting enough light...the plant is going to have to be healthy for a while before it'll produce nice red traps for you ( if it can)

More Light!

Good luck
 
Thanks for all of the advice and I'll definently try a few different ideas to see which one works best for my setup :-D
 
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