What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

VFT darkness requirements? (light pollution)

I want to set up a VFT window shelf (and perhaps a shadier Drosera shelf under it...) outside a third story bedroom window. The shelf would be mounted on the side of a brick chimney facing south-by-southwest, and would be shaded until mid-day by the house, then would receive full sun the rest of the day.

The potential problem I'm wondering about is a streetlight that's mounted on a pole in the back yard. It sits at the same height and is only about 40 feet (~13 meters) west from the shelf's spot and shines directly on it. It isn't a stunning amount of light, but it's FAR brighter than a full moon and lights that wall from dusk to dawn.

So, I see a lot of discussions about photoperiods and adequate amounts of light, but I can't find anything about an adequate amount of *dark*. Do VFT's need a nice dark night period or can they do ok in a "white nights" situation - like, say, 40 feet from a 150-watt High Pressure Sodium streetlight?

I'm guessing the answer is "no," and I'm going to need to find a new spot or rig up something to give them a dark night. But I don't know, and I'm guessing someone here does. :-D
 
I'm not too sure about the "dark requirements," but is there any way you could put some kind of wall up between the light and the plant shelf?
 
I'd have to do some exact checking on the angles of the streetlight vs. the sun. Off the top of my head, I'd say the light sits at about the same height as the setting sun coming through the far trees. So it would probably require blocking the last hour or two of sunlight as well to make it a permanent shade.

I could always rig up a cover to put on them at night, but I'd like to avoid having to tend them twice a day every day like that. Also, even blocking the direct beams of light would still leave a lot of ambient light falling on the plants.

In wondering about this, I notice the surrounding trees very clearly stop their growth around 20 feet from the light. It's obvious when you look for it - the trees are asymmetrically concave in a shape that almost exactly fits a 20-foot-radius sphere around the bulb.

Maybe since I'm twice that distance away I'd be ok, but I have no idea. Those are oak trees, not VFTs. ;D


P.S. Heh, yellowdart, regarding your sig... I just rescued two small VFTs in 2-inch pots from Lowe's today. I removed them from deathcubes and am going to try to harden them slowly for a week or so before going outside. You know, so they can get used to having crazy things like water, air and light... lol.
 
Yeah, you don't really want to lose that extra hour or two of full sun in addition to no morning sun, and I wouldn't want to tend to them twice a day either.

The only way to really find out is to try it with one plant and see how it works. I honestly don't think it will be much of a problem though, especially at that distance.
 
Personally, I wouldn't worry too much about a street light. At 40 feet away its intensity compared to the sun will be much much less. That being said, I have no real proof to back up this claim other than the observation of plants and street lights coexisting in many areas.

-cb
 
Personally, I wouldn't worry too much about a street light. At 40 feet away its intensity compared to the sun will be much much less. That being said, I have no real proof to back up this claim other than the observation of plants and street lights coexisting in many areas.

-cb

Well said. I would have written the same thing if I could figure out a way to transfer my thoughts onto paper a little better. lol
 
I want to set up a VFT window shelf (and perhaps a shadier Drosera shelf under it...) outside a third story bedroom window. The shelf would be mounted on the side of a brick chimney facing south-by-southwest, and would be shaded until mid-day by the house, then would receive full sun the rest of the day.

The potential problem I'm wondering about is a streetlight that's mounted on a pole in the back yard. It sits at the same height and is only about 40 feet (~13 meters) west from the shelf's spot and shines directly on it. It isn't a stunning amount of light, but it's FAR brighter than a full moon and lights that wall from dusk to dawn.

So, I see a lot of discussions about photoperiods and adequate amounts of light, but I can't find anything about an adequate amount of *dark*. Do VFT's need a nice dark night period or can they do ok in a "white nights" situation - like, say, 40 feet from a 150-watt High Pressure Sodium streetlight?

I'm guessing the answer is "no," and I'm going to need to find a new spot or rig up something to give them a dark night. But I don't know, and I'm guessing someone here does. :-D

I wouldn't give it a second thought. Those poor plants are usually light-starved and a neighboring streetlight should be the least of your concerns. The same or similar circumstances occur in almost every urban setting and my plants are all fine -- even with "light pollution."
 
Ok, I'll give it a whirl. If they don't do well I can always move them.

I'm not really worried so much about killing the plants as I am curious about their circadian rhythms. I'm pretty sure the streetlight is bright enough to give them a 24-hour photoperiod; I just don't know if that's a problem for Dionaea, and since you guys seem unconcerned this must not come up as a common problem - or a problem at all.

So let's find out... heh.

Thanks for the fast replies. ;D
 
Ok, I'll give it a whirl. If they don't do well I can always move them.

I'm not really worried so much about killing the plants as I am curious about their circadian rhythms. I'm pretty sure the streetlight is bright enough to give them a 24-hour photoperiod; I just don't know if that's a problem for Dionaea, and since you guys seem unconcerned this must not come up as a common problem - or a problem at all.

So let's find out... heh.

Thanks for the fast replies. ;D

The plant's circannual rhythm depends not only upon the length of day, but also of temperature changes, which contribute to everything from flowering to the onset or end of dormancy. You should be just fine . . .
 
  • #10
Its significantly less light than you think it is! :)

our eyes adjust to light levels..
indoors at night, with light bulbs burning, it looks just about the same as outdoors in sunlight
during the day..because our eyes adjust to bright or dim light, "even-ing out" the levels so things always look "normal" to us...but in reality its many many many times darker indoors at night..

For the VFT on the balcony, lacking eyes, daylight in the sun is perhaps hundreds of times brighter than night..even with that streetlight..for the plant, the streetlight is really no light at all.
it is SOOO incredibly dim (compared to the sun) the plant wont even know its there..

the VFT would need to be about 2 feet under the bulb of the streetlight for it to be a real concern..

Scot
 
  • #11
Streetlight will be wrong colour temperature. Your VFT won't be able to use its light and it will be as if it didn't exist.
 
  • #12
Streetlight will be wrong colour temperature. Your VFT won't be able to use its light and it will be as if it didn't exist.

Yes, I was curious about this, too. I know those sodium streetlights run toward the red end of the spectrum, but had no idea how their light fits in with what VFT uses. My concern was that it would be acting like a really wimpy "grow light," giving the plants just enough light to mess them up at night.

I'm glad you're all telling me it doesn't matter, because it saves me a major headache trying to plan spots for my plants to live. Newbie overthinking strikes again. :-D

Thanks to all, as always. I'll try to post a pic of the shelf (and evil light) in action soon.


Edit: Ok, just to show what all the fuss was about, here's a shot out the window taken about 30 minutes ago, just after sunset:

149pes6.jpg
 
  • #13
Scott said pretty much was I was going to. Don't worry 'bout it, it's far to weak to affect your VFT in the slightest.
 
Back
Top