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New VFT

I've been using a Sylvania 50 watt Spot-Gro indoor flood light between 12 and 14 hours a day for my VFTs. The first light lasted about 2 days. The replacement lasted maybe 3 days. Gonna go for another replacement tomorrow although I doubt that they'll be as cheerful replacing it this time around as they were the last time. Has anyone had any experiences with this particular brand and model of light bulb? Is what I'm experiencing the norm? - or just a fluke? Thanx.
 
I've had mine for about 3 weeks and is on for about 10 hours a day. It's a 60watt Homebase blue daylight bulb.
There is something clearly wrong with your bulbs
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Alvin - does that bulb give off much heat?
 
Yes, it does give off quite a lot of heat but it's far enough away from my plants to keep them just warm - perfect for wet Februarys. It would burn if it was too close but you have to use your common sense really.
 
I want to get some lighhting for my Vft, i though you had to have the special 'grow' bulbs, is yours ok to use
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A daylight bulb ?
 
I really only used the daylight bulb to get some VFT rhizomes through the dark winter on a windowsill. It ended up giving them the extra light to keep them alive and stop them going dormant, but not enough to grow much. Now that there's a lot more light, I don't use the growlight.

If you have VFTs indoors, a windowsill provides plenty of light now that it's April.

If you are keeping them in a terrarium though, you will need light but that's a whole different area. Then you will need flourescent bulbs etc. Other people know more about this than me!
 
Is the bulb getting the proper ventilation? Perhaps they are burning out in an enclosure that is not suitable.

That's a fire hazard!

--Steve
 
I'm using a two bulb fluorescent fixture that is 2' long. I thing the bulbs are 40 watts each. I got the fixture and two bulbs from Lowes for less than 25 bucks. I currently have two green dragons under these lights for about 18 hours a day and they are growing wildly and are a deep red in color. I have had my lights for several months now and neither has burned out. Oh yeah, one bulb is a grow light and the other is a soft white. I read somewhere that this provides a broader spectrum of light, making it better for your plants.
Buckmaster
 
I couldn't find a 2 ft. 40 watter, so I went with a 20 watter and a "long" 20 gallon tank--they will hang about 4 inches over the plants from the plexiglas top, and there is room for another fixture in the tank.

More to the point, aren't these shop lights meant to be hung on chains? I think they may vent through the top, so you want to make sure that they have clearance.

I'm not sanguine about resting them on the bulbs, either, as many growers do-- this invites shorting.

--Steve
 
  • #11
I'm still considering getting a light fitting for my Vft's. At the moment they are on the lightest window of my house in a aquarium. On sunny days i move them around my windows to follow the sun. I put them outside if it is warm enough, and i manage to keep them at 20 - 30 Dc. I live in the UK, will this light be strong enough to make the traps red ?? The plants are healthy, lots of leaves but the traps are still not opening. Is it normal for them to delay opening the first traps of the year ? The leaves are quite long (4"), and the traps are only thin, they have not started to grow the right shape yet, they are sitting inside the leaves covered up.......
I have had it for 1 year, last year I bought it when the traps were in full growth, so i don't know if it did this thing with the first traps of the year.

Advice would be appreciated.
 
  • #12
With a little window light and bulbs that are close to your plant they should turn dark pink. I would recomend buying one as I have had great success with them.
 
  • #13
On my windowsill VFTs I have a 20 watt grow bulb in a "growstick"--12 hours every day, sun or no, and the plants seem to love it. It's about half a foot away.

The original post was about an incandescent, right? I have had little luck with those, mainly because they seem very sensitive to heat--let the sun fall on them, they burn right out, and if you put them in a hooded fixture they burn themselves out.

--Steve
 
  • #14
Steveo, what is a 'growstick' ? A special kind of bulb holder or something ?
 
  • #15
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Quote: from dave2150 on 11:41 am on April 16, 2002
Steveo, what is a 'growstick' ? A special kind of bulb holder or something ?[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

Yes, you've got it. It's a domesticated shop light--just a low-profile plastic frame with a very small ballast and a 20W 12T growlight in it, plus a power switch. Very lightweight, not very bright. Two-prong plug.

I think I bought it at a Sears hardware store during that brief period when they were trying to cross-pollinate with a garden store chain. It works pretty well--the flytraps like it at a distance of about 6 inches--and if I could have found more of them they would be part of my terrarium design.

--Steve
 
  • #16
I also have a grow stick. I just picked it up a wal-mart. I will say that there is no comparison between the brightness of the grow stick and the two other 20 watt fluorescents that I have. The grow stick just doesn't compare.
Buckmaster
 
  • #17
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Quote: from Buckmaster on 7
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4 pm on April 16, 2002
I also have a grow stick.  I just picked it up a wal-mart.  I will say that there is no comparison between the brightness of the grow stick and the two other 20 watt fluorescents that I have.  The grow stick just doesn't compare.
                                                    Buckmaster [/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

Yeah--it's that miserable ballast.  Probably not super moisture-resistant, either.  However, the form factor is great and the weight is a real plus.

I tore the diffuser off the thing to get better light.

--Steve

(Edited by steveo at 8:25 pm on April 16, 2002)
 
  • #18
In reference to the original question: if the bulbs keep burning out, it's probably not the bulbs.  It's probably the fixture or the environment.  

The fixture could be shorting out or it could have some other defect.  

The environment (how you have it set up) could lend to poor ventilation and overheating or something like that...
 
  • #19
I started out with one of those round "floodlight" type of grow lights. I found out after I bought it was not really a plant light but just an incadescent light with some blue painted over it. It gets very hot! So needless to say that didnt last long. I now use only fluorescent lighting for my tanks...1 Gro-Lux and 1 cool white and they work very well. The fixtures are fairly cheap, easy to find, to put together and in most cases, to hang (although I'm fighting with a 4-foot fixture at the moment). The fluorescent tubes dont produce too much heat and last a long time AND dont cost a lot to run. And easy to connect to timers.

My 2-cents worth. :)

Suzanne
 
  • #20
Compact fluorescents (CFL's) all the way. I use eight of them to provide light for my entire CP collection, and they're doing great.
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