H. minor almost whitout spoons

[asis]

Hello!
Yes my problem is about the nectar spoons over my H.minor pitchers. The remaining one from the nursery (czplants) has a nicely formed spoon, but by the time i've been growint it, the new pitchers form them smaller and paler.

I would like to know which factor is more directly related with the growth of this feature.

The environment is not so high-tech as some of yours, but I thing it's not bad. During sumer I'm growing it inside near a window, with direct sunlight at morning and good clarity rest of the day. I put ice planks inside the terrarium to maintain temperature 20-30ºC at day, and 13-18ºC at night. I rarery water it, but I spray water over it often.

Than you.

[tonyp]

Sept 6, 2009 11:34:02 GMT asis said:

I would like to know which factor is more directly related with the growth of this feature..

Light intensity

[asis]

Thaks a lot.

[asis]

Hello again.
After being looking for a solution, I've found a sort of LED based growing lamps which I think are interesting for the lack of heat, you can have a glance of them here www.luces-led.com/Category/Cultivo-y-jardines
They offer two tipes of lamps: 8 red leds per 1 blue or the inverse rate (630-640 nm y 450-455 nm frequences).

In the case of buying those, my idea is to turn on, with time controling devices, the majority blue one for about 14 hours a day, and a red one maybe the 6 hours in the middle, at a 50 cm over the terrarium.
What do you experts comment on this kind of lighting? Would it meet the heli's requirements or could it suffer any kind of deficiency?

Thaks for the patience and interest.

[prmills]

There is much required research with them. I know some guys that are using them with great success, but they made their own. As long as the LED's are within proper wave lengths and you have the proper ratio of blue:red, you'll probably be good to go. There is some arguments out there though stating that plants benifit from a full range of spectrum, like they would get from the sun. Just because they photosynthasis at certain wave lengths doesn't mean those are the only ones they will benifit from.

Before you commit, do some research on the latest LED technology and their effects on plants in general.

[tonyp]

I would probably just stick to a nice 40w or more CFL bulb in a reflector. Much cheaper, lots of light and little heat.

[unstuckintime]

Sept 9, 2009 15:25:22 GMT tonyp said:

I would probably just stick to a nice 40w or more CFL bulb in a reflector. Much cheaper, lots of light and little heat.

Do they make more than fourty watt CFLs? Those are the "100 Watt equivalents," right? I have never seen one for sale before anywhere. I have two of the 100 watt equivalents in my terrarium, and looking at my ping, which is green and should be pink, i might need to invest in some higher wattage...

[Dave Evans]

Sept 8, 2009 15:05:49 GMT prmills said:

Before you commit, do some research on the latest LED technology and their effects on plants in general.

I would say if you want to LED's, mix them into a cool-white or Sun-stick (full spectrum) fluorescent setup. Since they only make one wavelength per LED and the plants eat the wavelengths, the plants appear to be growing in the dark when just using LED's!

Also, all the CP's I've seen growing under only LED's were growing, some healthily, they looked rather odd... Not saying the technology is crap, but it needs some work before we start making LED only systems.

[tonyp]

40w CFL is hmm 150w incandescent equivalent if I recall.

They make upwards of 250w CFL now. You can get 65w and 100w CFL in those outdoor floodlight fixtures available at home depot and lowes. 6500k too.. they need to be wired though and they are not the prettiest fixtures. The only problem with them is the ballast is in the fixture not the bulb. So if the ballast burns out you need to buy a new fixture.