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Too Much Lumens?

Hiya Fellow Nepers-

About 6 weeks ago, I acquired a 10" bical. It is being grown in a 50 gal hex terror-ium (yes, I have a greenhouse, just wanna keep it in the living room where I can see it daily :-D) with a humidity and temp about 90. It is set very near to a southern window which currently gets whatever sun comes out here in the NW (which is about 8 hours a day).

I believe its acclimating well, it is almost done throwing out its first leaf for me. But here is the weird thing, so I'm thinking, to supplement its photoperiod with a some artificial light. So I hit it with a 250w CFL grow light bulb at 12" away early in the morning. I go back to check on it 3 hours later, the new leaf went limp :0o: Looked like it needed a shot of viagra. So I turned the light off and just let the natural light from the window come through. An hour later, the leaf looked liked the blue pill kicked in.

Should I just do without the supplemental light, or just increase the light distance? I really don't want to stress it out. What say ye ???

Comments, advice, info, experience to pass on?

Any help woud be greatly appreiated.

Thanks and good growing :banana2:
E
 
In my experience, my bical is not too fond of strong light. I have 2 T12s about 8-12 inches above it and a T5 about the same distance to the side. It's coloring up nicely but the leaves took a while to adjust to the light.
I would let it acclimate first by the window and in a few weeks play with the light & distance.
 
I grew my lowlanders (N. bical, amp, truncata, etc.) under a 400W metal halide. They like light but they have to be humid. The soil also has to have enough water to keep up with rapid transpiration when getting strong lighting.

Like any change in conditions you'll have to build up to it if you don't wanna shock the plant, if like me you don't care about it keeping it's old leaves and just want the new ones to start growing as fast as possible, just put it in there and let the plant sort itself out. It'll acclimate itself it just may look a little ugly for a few months while it goes through it's paces, dumping old leaves and growing newer stronger ones. Usually they start out smaller first (but thicker and more succulent) then they get bigger and bigger. More light & feeder crickets = faster/sturdier plant growth. The leaves on my bicals were like leather, with pitchers hard and woody, you couldn't hardly tear the leaves by the time they were huge plants and I had to sell them off. Whereas when I got them they were all soft and floppy.
 
Hmmmmm . . .

Kinda like how I treat my newly arrived VFT's. Just repot them, throw them out into the full glory of the sun, let the old leaves burn and die back, let the plant adjust and let the regrowth begin . . . kinda thing.

I don't mind doing that to my VFT's but my bical, I felt so sad to see it go limp :-( I will keep your suggestion in mind.

Thanks for chiming in FReNcH3z and swords :hail:

E
 
Yeah that's way too much light. I honestly wouldn't give a single Bical much more than a hundred watts especially if it has adequate natural lighting.
 
Hiya Dexenthes-

So your suggesting that I put my bical on a light diet? :-))

Awwwl Rightee Then, I shall look for a lower wattage grow bulb :-D

Thanks for your input.

Good Growing, :boogie:
E
 
I would see what the temp is at the plant level after the light is on for an hour or 2...it might be too much heat to sudden.
 
I would see what the temp is at the plant level after the light is on for an hour or 2...it might be too much heat to sudden.

Roger, roger their Mark.ca.

Although I do have a hydrometer already in the tank, I will move it directly next to the plant and see if there are any changes in the temp and humidity.

Thanks for the suggestion :hail:

Good Growing and Happy Holidays.
E
 
Okay Marius, aka marc.ca,

After an hour of the light being on, my current reading in the bical terror-rium is 94 degrees temp and 90% humidity. At the hour mark, the edges of the new leaf start to go droopy, I believe at the 2 hour point the main rib of the new leaft starts to droop down and the 3 hour mark (as seen two days ago) the entire leaf is 3/4 limp. But again, after I turn off the light, in about an hour, the leaf is almost completely erect.

The planting media (pure New Zealand spagnum moss) is damp, and none of the other leaves are affected by this supplemental lighting.

I guess the answers are:

1) go slow with introducing this new supplemental lighting. Start with shorter artificial light
times, then gradually increase it.

2) go with a lower wattage. But would increasing the distance be just as good?

3) go full bore, let the leaves die back and adapt to the new conditions, and become stronger
for it.

I like number 3, but I'm afraid that if the plant dies back, with my luck, it won't recover :-( So I will probably go with door number 1.

I know bicals in the wilds are mostly found in hot, steamy, swampy, shady area, but many also thrive in brightly lit areas. Hence the long leaf swamp version and the short broad sunny versions.

I guess if the plant is healthy, providied with the right temp and humidity, it will adapt to almost any lighting situations.

Just thought this limp leaf thing was kinda weird and was wondering if anyone had experieced this before or had an explanation to what was happening and if their was anyting I should worry about or change.

But comments and suggestions are still welcome :hail:

Good Growing and Happy Holidays,
E
 
  • #11
It's not a flytrap, so I agree with you, option 1 is probably best, with some option 2. Sudden environment changes will shock just about any plant.

Increasing the distance would have the same effect as getting a lesser bulb since the light intensity will be lessened, but keep in mind you're paying the same amount for the electrical output even if most of the light is going to waste, and without measuring it, there's no way of knowing exactly how much X light is lost by increasing Y distance:
Yes, just remember the drop in lumens to distance is exponential rather than linear.

A 250W CFL is a LOT of light for a terrarium that size; the thing is probably pushing out close to 20K lumens. Imo a 125-150W CFL would be a good size/output strength for your terrarium and your nep. I'm guessing, but I'd say 12-18 inches is probably a good height above the plants for that CFL once they're used to it.

If it's getting direct sunlight every day, it would be easy to overdue the lighting with that CFL, as you've already seen. I'm no expert on this, but I think you'd do better if you take the route where you start with the same hours (light cycle) you'll always have but at a larger distance, say 20" to start (?), and slowly decrease the distance to the plant while never modifying its light cycle - it'll more closely emulate natural sunlight intensity increases...
as opposed to keeping the CFL at the same distance from the plant and playing with how many hours you run it; you're more likely to shock your nep this way.
 
  • #12
and without measuring it, there's no way of knowing exactly how much X light is lost by increasing Y distance:

I believe attenuation has been measured, the law which applies to it is called the inverse square law (if my College physics classes serve me right). Or were you referring to this specific case?
In either case the cheapest electrical cost would be a T5 setup though your initial investment in the structure would also be the most expensive (in comparison to T8 & T12).
 
  • #13
  • #14
Hiya Veronis-

I really liked that Rice "light" article . . . thanks :hail:

E
 
  • #15
As I continued my research regarding light stress on my new bical, I came across this article:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080722105048.htm

It mentions how some plants turn red to compensate for being stressed under intense lighting, and I know many CP plants turn red when given long, intense photoperiods, so I'm wondering if they are under stress and just adapt to the situation ???

Hmmmm . . .

E
 
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