TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk
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Too much light?
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It is, but light tolerance/requirement is variable based on species. For instance, Drosera adelae doesn't seem to tolerate super bright light, but others prefer it. I've never had issues with VFTs and light though. They like bright light as long as they are properly acclimated to it. Your safest bet is to just make sure the light is high enough above the plants if you're unsure, then adjust as necessary. Also research the light tolerance of Drosera species that you intend to put under the light.
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Dionaea grow in full sun, so unless you lay the lights on them so that the heat itself burns them, they will be fine so long as they are acclimated. And the vast majority of Drosera also want as much light as you can possibly give them, the only real exceptions being prolifera and schizandra (even certain locales of adelae grow in nearly full sun).
Yes, it is possible to give them too much light. I don't have much experience with this and VFTs under those kind of LEDs but my general experience with VFTs is that they're pretty bulletproof when it comes to stuff like heat stress and lots of light. Drosera on the other hand... I've tried growing a cape sundew under a 300w LED and what I got (with the light about a foot above the crown of the plant) was weirdly deformed growth. Short petioles, leaves with no tentacles, leaves with tentacles that were bright red but refused to produce dew. The plant grew profusely but grew into a weirdly tight cluster of leaves with traps that weren't functional. The light also stunted a D.adelae to the point of near death. A D. binata did pretty well under it though. I've since switched to T5s.
My advice...Those kind of LEDs are pretty powerful. I'm not sure what a 180 watt would be like but I'd recommend finding out the distance that the "tomato" farmers keep those light from their plants for vegetative growth and start from there. Those kind of LEDs need to be further from a plant than typical fluorescent lights because they radiate light much more intensely than fluorescent lights.
If you see weirdly deformed non-functional growth but your plants are coloring up (ie pink/red tentacles, yellow or red leaves, the inside of the flytrap is red) then the lights are too close.
If you see weirdly deformed or non-functional traps but the plants are all green (especially if they're darker green, no coloration inside the flytrap, white tentacles) with wide leaves or leggy growth then the plants are too far from the lights.
Id argue that those lights really aren't ideal for growing plants in general. LED technology is kind of new and emerging and it seems to be the case that plants use more wavelengths than just blue and red. It's just that those wavelengths seem to be the most important for growth and flowering, respectively. That being said, I'd still be interested to see how well those lights work for you because I have read of other growers having success with them when it comes to carnivorous plants
My advice...Those kind of LEDs are pretty powerful. I'm not sure what a 180 watt would be like but I'd recommend finding out the distance that the "tomato" farmers keep those light from their plants for vegetative growth and start from there. Those kind of LEDs need to be further from a plant than typical fluorescent lights because they radiate light much more intensely than fluorescent lights.
If you see weirdly deformed non-functional growth but your plants are coloring up (ie pink/red tentacles, yellow or red leaves, the inside of the flytrap is red) then the lights are too close.
If you see weirdly deformed or non-functional traps but the plants are all green (especially if they're darker green, no coloration inside the flytrap, white tentacles) with wide leaves or leggy growth then the plants are too far from the lights.
Id argue that those lights really aren't ideal for growing plants in general. LED technology is kind of new and emerging and it seems to be the case that plants use more wavelengths than just blue and red. It's just that those wavelengths seem to be the most important for growth and flowering, respectively. That being said, I'd still be interested to see how well those lights work for you because I have read of other growers having success with them when it comes to carnivorous plants
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