Halogen lights?

[Dimka]

OK, here is what happened.
I broke my striplight, so today I took it to the store to replace, and in its absence decided to put my 20W halogen table lamp on top of the terrarium to give it some light (plants only get about 3 hours of sun in morning from 7-10, because more of it just dries the dew up, and for the rest of the day they get 2x25W CFL (I know its not enough, I'm trying to get more but can get to Home Depot lol).
So anyway, with this setup, the plant (D. Adelae) finally started growing up a bit, and make decent amounts of dew.
I left at 8am, came home at 10pm (been a looooooong day), and what do I see? The halogen lamp was not that close, but close enough to keep the inside temp at 22C, and the amounds of dew were INNORMOUS. I mean Adelae was practically dripping with dew, the new leaf that unfolded yesterday became as wide as any other 2 leaves, along with the one that opened 2 day before it. The plant that sprouted from its roots (baby adelae) doubled in leafs... unless im insane, and the baby binatas also showed a nice sight of growing. And all this at just 20W? I noticed that plants tended to bend toward the light when my table lamp was on, but i never tried putting it directly on top... well now I have.
So I was wondering, do halogen bulbs really work nice or am I simply crazy?
Im gonna try combining 2 25W CFL and 20W halogen for a few days to see what gonna happen...

 

[Jason Wong]

Maybe your plants aren't warm enough? Noting that these are tropicals. That is the reason why ppl throw caution at halogens - they put out oo much heat.

Although what may work for someone could well be the death sentence for another guy's plants. People too often take the 'norm' as the law.

Jason

 

[chloroplast]

I think Jason summed it up nicely--what doesn't work for others may work for you, and vice-versa.

Most people avoid halogens (unless lighting a big area) because they produce too much heat, but this may work to your advantage. You'll just have to make that decision based on how the plants react long-term.

Good luck.