Indoor CP Lighting Options (Drosera)

[sundewmatt]

Hi everyone.
Apologies as usual to my friends who haven't heard from me recently, work has been keeping me way too busy so my CP activity has been limited.
My old 40w fluorescent light fixtures have been dying and I'd like to buy new light fixtures before the end of the year. I realize there are newer, more efficient types of lighting available and I wanted to explore my options for fixtures and bulb types ASAP. Halogen or high powered are out of the question due to safety issues, heat buildup and energy consumption concerns.
If you're growing CP indoors under lights and have excellent results, please let me know what fixtures and bulbs you're using and post or send a couple pics of the happy Drosera you're growing under them.
Thanks!!
Matt

[Clint]

You can go with T5 or PC lighting. VHO is also an option but it's "oldschool" and I didn't particularly care for VHO compared to PC when I had it before I went into metal halide lighting (not a real safety hazard but it is very hot)

I don't use any of the above; I use MH, but I know enough about lighting from my experience with plants and the reefing hobby to go ahead and recommend T5 or PC if you're against HID (understandable.) LED is also an option. It's super efficient but it's so new that I can't recommend it over one of the "tried and true" options. If you want to retrofit PC's, I recommend the last option on this page:

www.ahsupply.com/96watt.htm

If you want T5's, these are very highly recommended. An 8 lamp, 40,000 initial lumen producing setup will please anyone If you want to save some money, I'm sure there are retrofit kits somewhere online.

homeharvest.com/teklighthighoutputfluorescents.htm


Hope that helps a little bit.

[av8tor1]

There are many good options..

For my requirements I still use/prefer the old school 4' T12's from Walmart. I coat the reflectors with mylar and use a bulb combination that uses proprietary rare earth phosphors (the Sylvania). IMHO focusing more energy into the right spectra giving me more bang for the buck

bluegrasscarnivores.com/utils/Light_and_Plants.pdf

www.gelighting.com/na/business_lighting/education_resources/learn_about_light/pop_curves.htm?5

2-40w GE Chroma 50

2-40w Sylvania Tri-Phosphor Gro-Lux F40/GRO/AQ/RP (Note: Not their wide spectrum Gro-Lux, look for the exact number, wide spectrum has WS in with it)



(Look familar Matt )








butch

[marcel]

I use 2 x 54 watt T5 for my heliamphora's D.felix, D. meristocaulis, Genlisea's, U. steyermarckii, U. quelchii, etc.

They work very well and give a lot of light for the amount of power they consume.

recommended!

[vraev]

Thanks for the pdf Bro. its really useful stuff. I am planning for a new light fixture as well this christmas. I will keep ya posted.

[Brian Barnes]

I've been using the "Ott-lite" bulbs for my indoor chamber. They usually run around ten bucks or so each at Home Depot and I've had wonderful results with them. I get good coloration on all my plants, including D. falconeri and D. keneallyi, and all of my Dionaea, with the plants being about 5 inches from the bulbs. All of my D. petiolaris-complex thrives under these also... The bulbs are fairly cool burning as well. I have two- two bulb fixtures equaling four bulbs of course, at 40 watts each. Brian.

[sundewmatt]

thanks guys. more opinions would be appreciated.
matt

[sundewmatt]

OK, so I'm going for T5 fixtures.
Charley's Greenhouse has these 4 bulb fixtures:


www.charleysgreenhouse.com/index.cfm?page=_productdetails&productid=5054&cid1=176&cid2=729&cid3=-99

My only concern is that they're only 13" wide but I grow my plants in 10 gallon terraria that go about 18", and I think the sides of these fixtures are closed.

Does anyone know of other 4 bulb fixtures that are around 18" wide? Or will there be enough reflection off to the side with these fixtures?

Then there are the following bulbs:

Day for growth:

www.charleysgreenhouse.com/index.cfm?page=_productdetails&productid=5535&cid1=176&cid2=729&cid3=-99

Warm for flowering:

www.charleysgreenhouse.com/index.cfm?page=_productdetails&productid=5537&cid1=176&cid2=729&cid3=-99

I'd rather have my plants grow than flower, so I'm thinking about using only day bulbs. Anyone have any opinions on this?

Thanks!
Matt

[Michael Catalani]

sundewmatt said:

Or will there be enough reflection off to the side with these fixtures?

My experience is that the light falloff from the edge of the fixtures is rather dramatic, as in night and day dramatic.

I'm currently using the 2-4' 40W light assemblies. These have simply worked out great, and are very inexpensive. I currently use the Lithonia Lighting brand, which is carried by Lowes. The "Lights Of America" brand (carried by Walmart) has a better reflector, but has had a high initial failture rate. I still have 24 of the Light of America setups, but am changing them out with the Lithonia Lighting version as soon as they fail. Both of these fixtures are about $8, and the bulbs are about $4 for 2 bulbs.

I use these setups for Nepenthes and tropical Drosera. The Neps seem to color up the same as if they are grown using sunlight, so the spectrum must be acceptable to the plants.

[av8tor1]

I definitely agree with the high failure rate of the LOA brand, I keep my receipts for at least 3 months, at least walmart will let me exchange them with no questions

but recently I have ordered new ballast from ballastwise.com, they have a 4 bulb electronic ballast with a 0.92 ballast factor rating for less then $20.00USD

www.ballastwise.com/images/upload/Documents/DXE4H12.pdf

they do have a 2 bulb version, but its less expensive for me to do it using the 4 bulb ballasts

(Ballast factor = Standardized ballast industry performance rating by comparing actual bulb output to a lab standard, scale is 0.0-1.0)

Av

[RL7836]

sundewmatt said:

OK, so I'm going for T5 fixtures.
Charley's Greenhouse has these 4 bulb fixtures:

Matt,
I recommend caution when switching over to these fixtures. I suspect the difference in the amount of light will be dramatic (& possibly the heat buildup w/in the tank).

I'll be interested in your feedback on both the T-5's and the specific fixture after you've used them for a while. A few years ago, I went the AH Supply route. While I like the light output, I found the lamp failure rate to be a pain (significantly higher than T-8's). The vendor was good at replacing the lamps but periodically finding a burned-out lamp - especially if I was gone for a few days, was dis-heartening. I also like the AHS mirror parabolic reflectors - they put the light where you want it vs scattered about the room.

[sundewmatt]

thanks guys.

ron, i hear what youre saying about heat and output, thanks for the concern. you may be right.

here's my latest post to the cp listserv and cpuk:

it seems ive found a more attractive package here (though i need to find out shipping costs):

www.wormsway.com/detail.asp?sku=SPG104

my last concern however is that perhaps 4 bulbs at around 10" from the tops of my pots may provide lighting thats too intense with these t5 bulbs any opinions on this?

thanks!
matt

[av8tor1]

I'm definitely way out of my field of expertise but plants do have some mechanisms to protect themselves....to a point, but if this condition is present, then at best its a waste of energy, and at worst it's damaging to your plants

probably too many variables for anyone to give a definitive "yes it will" or "no it wont" answer

PAR levels
plant type
acclimation to light source
duration/severity of photoinhibitive conditions

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photoinhibition

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xanthophyll#Xanthophyll_cycle


Av