What indoor light for VTF? I'm going crazy ...

[Eugene]

Winter is coming here and it's getting really dark and I'm going crazy here. My previous plant died some time ago and i bought a new one. I'm trying not to kill this one. My previous plant was in a bowl under a "grow" bulb. I think that it killed it !

I've searched ebay for a descent light setup, but since VTF are so picky i could decide !

My question is, what type of light/brand/bulb/spectrum or whatever is the best for a VTF, what would you recommend

Please provide me with some information. Or what's better just point me to where I can buy a good solution!

Thanks in advance !

 

[scottychaos]

My previous plant was in a bowl under a "grow" bulb. I think that it killed it !

it probably did..

So why are you trying to repeat the mistake??

your plant should be under NO light indoors ..because it should not be growing indoors..ever..

where do you live?

depending on your winter climate, your plant should just stay outdoors all winter, or you need to find it a suitable indoor winter dormancy location..

Indoors under a grow light is *not* a suitable indoor dormancy location!
that will lead to certain death..
let us know where you live, city and state, and we can take it from there..

sounds like your plant has been outdoors all summer up until now?
thats a good start!

Scot

---------- Post added at 06:38 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:31 AM ----------

I see we have already been over this..in great depth:

http://www.terraforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=111498

you KNOW what you need to do..so why are you still asking about grow lights indoors??
all the advice on that old thread is what you need to do for winter dormancy..
you have been told, in great detail, how to handle winter dormancy..

indoors under a grow light in the winter is NOT an option..
you must find something else..where it is cool, (35-50 degrees) but not freezing..

(edit)
reading that old post further..I forgot about your special arctic conditions!
so..how did you end up growing the VFT this summer?
was it outdoors?
for how long?

if it was outdoors all summer..even if its a very cool summer..
you STILL need to try to replicate the "winter of south carolina" as best you can..
35-50 degrees F (+2 to 10 Celsius)..if its cool enough, you dont need any light at all, because the plant should be fully dormant and not growing..

So let us know how the plant spent its spring and summer..



Scot

 

[Eugene]

Hey, thanks for the reply, seems that we have already discussed something similar a while back .

I bought my VTF in a shop, small traps were blood red already. I think that it was grown under artificial lights.

For a month it was sitting on my windowsill. It was not sunny, it is raining all the time here now. The temperature outside is 3 degrees Celsius. For that time about 4-5 new traps developed pretty nicely, although lacking reddish coloring.

Now it is getting colder, soon it will be -15C outside. The temperature in my room is also drooping, especially near the windowsill. Soon it will be like 6 hours of light per day.

You think that I should still keep it near the windowsill with +2 degrees Celsius, and not worry about the lights?

Edit: well, maybe not +2 but really, really chilly.

 

[Nepfreak]

"really, really chilly" sounds about right. If it's not freezing out, you should always keep your VFTs outside, but when it is freezing out, "really really chilly" should do well for dormancy. Light doesn't matter. A lot of people chop off all the plant's leaves when they go dormant so they don't worry about photosynthesizing and just hunker down for the winter instead of slowly letting all the leaves become etoliated and die off because of low light.

 

[Capensis]

Seeing that you're measuring in Celsius, I'ma guess you're in Canada or some other country besides the U.S.?

 

[carnivoure12]

Maybe its best to let go dormant, maybe you could put it in a cold basement, or in the fridge. I live in canada and winters are too cold for VFT's, So I usually use the fridge method. Come growing season OUTSIDE is Always BEST

 

[scottychaos]

(Eugene says he lives in Estonia)

Eugene,
Estonia isnt THAT cold all summer is it?
cant you keep it outside?

a quick google search for "estonia climate" brings up things like:

Estonia has a temperate climate, with warm summers and severe winters. Temperatures range from a summer average of 70°F (30°C) to a winter average of 18°F (-8°C). Being on the Baltic Sea, the country is subjected to sea breezes and humidity and its northern latitude means long summer daylight hours (the longest summer day stretches to 19 hours), and dark winters when daylight sometimes lasts only six hours. The cold winter does not necessarily mean constant snow; in fact snowfalls are few and far between. When it falls it stays though, and there tends to be a layer of snow constantly on the ground between December and March. Summertime brings unexpected rain showers, so an umbrella and light raincoat are recommended.

WEATHER AND CLIMATE IN ESTONIA

Estonia Climate: In general, the best time to visit is May through September, when daytime temperatures average in the 70s F/20-25 C, with nights ranging 40-60 F/4-15 C. Despite its northern latitude, Estonia's climate is relatively mild because of its proximity to water. The coldest months are January and February, when temperatures are in the 20s F/-7 to -1 C, although they can drop to -20 F/-29 C. Even in summer, you should take along at least a sweater for the cool evenings.

that doesnt sound much different than here!
maybe slightly cooler overall, but its not the Artic..

why cant you leave you plants out April-October like those of us in the Northern US and Canada do?your conditions dont really sound much different than what many us have..

I dont see any reason why you cant do a standard "fridge method"..
Plants outdoors April-October, then in the fridge or another cool location for winter dormancy..

According to the USDA zones on my page:
http://gold.mylargescale.com/scottychaos/CP/page2.html

you are zone 5 or 6..thats not bad at all!

Scot

 

[Baylorguy]

Refer to the following link for tips on dormancy:

http://www.sarracenia.com/faq/faq2380.html

From your description it sounds like the best bet is using the fridge method (NOT the freezer). Follow the instructions and after 3-4 months you should be ok. Since the plants enter a deep dormancy when put in the refrigerator, you will not have any issues with light.

There is a wealth of information on carnivorous plants to be found. Do some searches on the internet and you should easily find the answers to your questions. Good luck, and send me a PM if you have any other questions.

One more thing... the absolute best way to grow carnivorous plants is to first research what their native environment is like. Try to emulate the environment.

Phil

 

[Not a Number]

If you're are going to grow them indoors the typical setup is a growing shelf with at the bare minimum four tubes of 48 inch (122 cm) fluorescent (neon) lamps. The fixtures for these are commonly sold in the US as "shoplights" with two tubes per fixture. T12 tubes are sufficient, T8 better and T5s being the best of all because of higher light output and smaller tubes so you can get an 8 tube fixture in the same amount of space. The drawback is higher price, higher heat output and energy consumption. 122 cm T12 tubes consume around 40 watts and lumen output is listed from 1500-3000 lumens depending on the manufacturer and the color temperature of the lamp. I wouldn't put too much stock in lumen specifications since it will vary depending on how it is measured and there doesn't seem to be any standards as to how this is determined. Cool or Warm White temperature bulbs will work.

Some people here will toss out statements like "99.99% of the time growing VFTs under lights turns out bad". I'd like to know where they get that number from. Show me the studies. Show me the empirical data to back this number up.

Barry Rice, Ivan Snyder and TerraForums member Laura all grow their Dionaea under fixtures as described above (Barry uses 6 tubes). Dormancy is handled by moving the plants outdoors mid autumn, moving them to a windowsill and/or keeping the room unheated.

Here's one (or more?) of Ivan Snyders' indoor grown Dionaea muscipula, photo taking mid August:

Here are links to Barry Rice's FAQs concerning light. The second link includes a method using the light meter on a camera to match the light levels that Barry grows his plants under.
http://www.sarracenia.com/faq/faq3020.html
http://www.sarracenia.com/faq/faq3400.html
http://www.sarracenia.com/faq/faq3410.html

If you are using a desklamp on one plant on the windowsill try going to the highest wattage compact fluorescent light you can find. Keep it as close to the plant as possible without cooking the plant - heat output increases with the rated wattage.

After having my Venus Flytraps ravaged this year outdoors by mites, aphids and mealybugs I'm seriously considering growing them indoors from now on.

 

[nightsky]

I also grow a majority of mine inside, have for several years. I do grow some outside. I've noticed no difference between them, although I get better color on the indoor plants. I just make sure to give them a dormancy, inside a dark, cold garage.

Mine have done fine under t-8's, 16 hours on in summer, slowly decrease until Oct to 10 hours, then I place them outside until they've gotten a few hard frosts, then to the garage. NAN broke it down well for you, check out the links.