I am absolutely no expert on artificial lighting and have had a few critter problems with placing some plants outside. Now I just put outside: Darlingtonia californica, Sarracenias, VFT's (once I get replacement), D. rotundifolia, intermedia, binata, and filiformis. The majority of my plants are inside, however, right at window sills - E->W. They do pretty well at window sills, with many sundews, a few bladderworts, and a few butterworts in various stages of flowering. I realize not everybody has that option, but I thought I would mention that as an effective approach. This was one of the window sills from the lab:

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I am using much the same setup except that my compact fluoro is a 25watt bulb. You need to have the bulb fairly close to the plants though. Mins is sitting about 5" above the pots. They get good coloration and seem to be growing fine.

Cheers,
Ravn

Nice bogs Petio! It ALL looks great. I have moved my 23 watt CF closer to my plants now Ravnking. Thanks for the tip. Our house has awnings over the windows and there isn't anyplace that gets full sun in the house, which is nice during a Texas summer but not nice for plants. My plants are putting out LOTS of traps but the more mature traps aren't coloring up, so maybe this will help. Thanks again!

I don't have good windows for plants, either. I have dog problems outsidewhich is why all my outside plants are in hanging baskets. That still probably won't stop a squirrel, though. I have two 40 watt CF bulbs, and still my sundews don't have much dew and there is no red coloration, even though they and the butterworts keep growing and putting out new leaves. I don't think they are getting enough light, and I don't have room for any more bulbs, and can't put any more lamps because there just ins't room. So no, I think natural sunlight is still going to be better. I have been in the process of taking my CPs out of terrariums and placing them all in hanging baskets outside. What I will do in the winter again, I have no idea. :)

B28: Is an attic, with windows available? Mine happens to have lots of windows and I had my minibogs / dormancy plants up there and by them. But I live in a much colder climate than do you. Still, light is the biggest factor, or the lack thereof. Most CP's can handle (not Neps!) 40->60, if that is what you would be getting.

To all: We can only work with what we have! If it isn't temperature, it's light and if it isn't light, it's money, and if....

Linda: Go Cowboys!

Back2eight, where did you get a 40 watt CF? And is it a standard screw-in bulb?

Here is a link that might be useful: mar 06

Linda, Photobucket says that the link is no longer available.

Yeah, I know. I posted the photo the wrong way. Here I go again. I know this isn't a great picture and my plants look spindly but they look better now than when I found them. This is just to figure out how to do this thang!
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Trust me, I have struggling with how to use thsi forum for pics myself! I needed a teenager and another to help me through this pc stuff. Hey, as long as they are improving under your care, that's a good sign. You grow, girl!

Plants like VFT's and Sarracenias, of all the CP's, do their best when outdoors and if there were a way to put a mesh screen around them for protection against predation, that would be great.

I got them at Wal-Mart, and they are screw in type bulbs.

No, there is no attic with windows. It wouldn't matter if there were, I am surrounded by pine trees. The house is in shade all day long just about. There are also eaves hanging over the house in all but one area. That window is the one that I keep my neps in during the winter. It gets a few hours of sun before the trees shadow it. I put some shepherd's hooks in the ground out smack in the middle of the yard where it gets sun for about 6-7 hours straight to put my sarracenias and VFTs. I also just put my darlingtonia seedlings there, but they got sunburned. I think I did it too fast, so I put them with my neps for now so they can adjust a little better. I hope I didn't kill them. my husband is going to get me an arbor or some sort of arch so I can hang more plants, and I have an old swingset that I can use. I have to use hanging baskets so the dogs won't get the plants.

I have 2 of those last along time compacts, and a like Long florecent light bulb over my terrium, i have almost red D. adalea and i get some red pigment in VFT... so im guessing its about right? Well thats what i use.

Cheers

IMO, 23 watt aint enough. I use a 45 Watt CF bulb which sits about 6-8 inches above around four square feet of growing room and produces plants like this:

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I find big CF bulbs very hard to come across and the only place I know of that sells them this big is eurobatteries

Hope this helps.

Kyle

Wow! That's awesome! I'm gonna get more light! Thanks Kyle.

I have 6 VFT'S and actually iam quite new at growing vft and there are growing very well...I brought a 13w ott full spectrum light ...to try to get seedlings to grow and as an experiment...I took one dente vft and have given it 16 to 17 hours of light for the past three days...The dente is showing some signs of burning even at a distance of 6 inches from the light and the light is not a hot burning light...seedling have not responded at all...and one surprise...a flock of 10 very small spiders set up camp at the light today...I quickly squished them...is the light no good..I will remove the dente from the light but continue with the seedlings but still appreciate your thoughts...

Hello davidle1,

A Flytrap should not burn at any distance from a florescent light. Mine is 1 inch from 12000 lumens of shop light tubes... 4-40 watt cool white 4 foot long tubes for 16 hours a day. That is actually barely sufficient for Flytraps. Full sun outside, or a bright direct sun window with supplemental florescent light over the Flytraps is best. The seedlings should be fine for now, but will need brighter light as they get larger. 13 watts of light (850 lumens) is insufficient to grow much except an ivy (full sun outside is up to 50000 lumens). In addition, those expensive lights really do not do much more than regular cool white florescent lights.

It sounds like some other factor was in play with the burning Flytrap. Was it in low light right before being bought and placed under the 13 watt light? What other environmental factors are the Flytraps experiencing?

I use 3 75 watt icandesent light. Hahah just kidding, I can literally hear every gasping to that word. I use 3 75 watt flourecent lights 8 inches away and my plants are doing just fine.

The dente did have an issue a few months back and is why I chose it to experiment using the light with. The Dente for some reason started growing at a 45 degree angle and was burying some of it's traps in the peat. I repotted it since at that point it did seem to be dying...several weeks later it recovered and sprouted some new leaves and caught a fly. Then I brought it inside from being in pretty hot humid conditions to see if the light would have a positive reaction on the plant. I woke up today and the plant actually looked more singed even though I had turned the light off before going to bed. I have since returned the dente to the outside condition where the other flytraps are actually growing like weeds and seemingly grow more traps every few days. I think the plant will recover just before dormancy.

davidle1:

What you are experiencing with the sick Flytrap is a change in environments, not light. Humidity and temperature changes that occur too quickly can have detrimental effects on plants. The fast change from high warm conditions outside to cool dry conditions inside dried the plant out. Just leave it outside and let it recover on its own. So long as it has full sun, clean water, and unfertilized sphagnum peat moss mixed with perlite or sand for drainage, it is getting everything you can provide for it.

A 23w with a low lumen rating is wholey inadequate to sustain anything. You'd have to have the light within an inch or 2 of the plant. Hardly worth it. As an indoor gower, mainly orchids and now carnivours, a 43 with a lumen rating of 5000k would be the bare minimum. For 6 plants maybe 2. (about 14$ a piece and well worth it) . I use a combo of 43's and 85's and a sheer curtained west window. My carnivours have taken off.

If you bought an 85w with a 5000k lumen rating (25$ and needs a ceramic light housing) you could literally grow anything you wanted including fly traps without a spec of natural light.

The cheapest and best place I have found is below. Nice folks too

Clara

Here is a link that might be useful: cfl's!

I am also searching for decent fluorescent lighting, particularly for the winter, and for these two plants:

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I'm open to suggestions.

Petiolaris
I am an orchid grower that cannot get enough light indoors! We talk in footcandles (fc's) not lumens. My carnivours are getting about 2000 fc's. They are thriving/flowering under 42 w 5500k bulbs. distance 3-4'. I also have some under the 85w 5500k at longer distance. 5-6' to start. Metal clamp lights make a decent size pool of light at that distance. Obviously the center is the "hot spot" but you can put several smaller plants under the light.

I used to use tubes but they really don't kick enough light and heat becomes a factor for me in the winter. I need a heat up and drop at night. CFL's work like a charm. Pings really don't stick for me with 4 t-8 tubes. When put under a 42 w they take off.

The 42 w is about 14$ and the 85 is about 25$. There are larger ones too at the link I gave. You can grow anything with 85w and higher. Have the VFT under an 85w and it's pinking up nicely. Has spiked twice. My drosera's are all spiking. A cermaic fixture is recommended.

You can get away with a shorter run time with cfl's and they are cheaper to run than tubes. For orchids we do 14 hours in winter. 12 if you have the 85's is sufficient. Not sure how that would translate for carnivours but the more light the better! I never knew how underlight I was until I made the switch. What a difference!

Hope that helps
Clara
Got your email been having problems... Orchid Fest is this w.e but I will respond you :-)

Clara: Much thanks for the guidance! My Home Depot dosn't seem to have anything appropriate and a visit to a Petsmart yielded Coralife bulbs (but no fixtures!). I am REALLY not sure what to do with lumens and footcandles and CFL's, in that while familiar with the terms, I can't relate them to anything I've used, other than wattage. Do they come in 24" fixtures?

24" fixture? not sure what you mean? The cfl is the spiral bulb. I use it in the 10" round disk shop light light. The ones that look like silver flying saucers
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Clara

By fixture I mean the electrical part, that accommodates the bulbs of lamps. Now I know what you mean bt a CFL. I normally associate that with the Canadian Football League! Anyways, I'll keep looking around the stores. Thanx!

She has a 10" HD (Home Depot) clamp shop light $9.99 with a cermamic socket cheaper without. The will fit the 42's and 85's.

Mike

Alright thanks guys. I think I have it now. By the way my sick Dente I did return it outside and we had like a week of 70-80 degree weather. I will get the 85 with 5000k and go to Home depot and see if i can find that clamp light....then I will try to grow something else..The dente seems ok now and the seedlings I brought them outside also and I see nothing but an empty pot.

Iam confused again. I Want to get 1 85 watt light bulb like the one claritamaria recommends. Iam being confused by the lighting fixtures. I went to lowes and brought one clamp light for $9.99 however It says maximum wattage 60 watts on the side of the lamp. I dont want to cause a fire by using a 85 watt bulb in a 60 watt socket. What fixture can i get to use that light bulb ? finding such a fixture does not seem like an easy task to accomplish even typing in ceramic light fixture in google did not provide me with anything more than a headache.

I discovered some brillant information that may have been helpful had it been shared right away. If your going to use an 85w 5000k CFL then your going to need an prewired mogul socket! yes had at least one person mention that then I would have called that a revelation! However if you spent your money on a "clamp light" like i did then you may need something called a Moguel socket adapter which you can get at ebay or here http://www.littlegreenhouse.com/accessory/lights.shtml. Actually it is conterproductive to even buy a moguel socket adapter especially if you just brought a 150watt max clamp light. The light you spend $9.99 on and the adapter is $22.00 with shipping...or you could have just brought a prewired moguel socket from the beginning and not have to deal with the adapter. Still with the clamp light heat may end up being an issue since the wattage output of the 85 watt is 400w (I think) oh and in case you didnt know a moguel adapter is:A large screw base whose diameter is approx 1.5 inches. So to repeat myself If you want to use an 85w and up CFL I would recommend saving yourself time and money and buying a prewired moguel socket. Actually it took me several hours to find figure out the above information So yeah your welcome and thanks to everyone else who knew about being so tight lipped and not mentioning any of it. you guys are fantastic!

Hi I am doing an experiment under lights with a few VFT. I have a 130 watt 2700K short fluro light. Do you think this will be enough? I know 2700k is'nt exactly full sun but the plants seem to like it and the short fluros give off very little heat which is great in my climate.
I'll try it for a few weeks and put a photo up.

http://www.hygrow.net/products.php?category_id=1&product_id=2

this is the light I am using its an old one that I used to grow chillis under.
Do you guys think this will be enough.
I have 13 Royal Red VFT in a 1 ft reflector box the light is set about 6 inches above the plants?
Any advice.
I know the 6400 K light would be better but will try this one out at least for a while. The Reds have fully coloured up after only a few days so this is a good sign Right?