Is the lighting good?

[kwende]

I wanted to poll the collective intelligence of the group to make sure I'm giving these guys the proper lighting. No reason to suspect I'm not other than the lights being a bit higher above the plants than I hear advised (the plants themselves are doing great).

I recently got a 37 gallon tall from my Father (it was a fishtank that he didn't need anymore). What was originally in several smaller tanks I've now condensed into this tank (to open up the smaller tanks to new plants). But I'm not convinced I'm giving everyone the proper lighting.

Here is a snapshot: .

What's in this tank are the following:

D. Capensis "Typical"
D. Capensis "Alba"
D. Capensis "Red"
D. Capensis "Narrow"
D. Capensis "Wide"
D. aliciae
D. spatulata
D. binata
D. Intermedia "Cuba"
D. natelensis
D. Multifida v. extreme
D. Hamiltonii
D. Venusta
U. bisquamata
P. primuliflora

About 3/4 have young ones sprouting in the same container.

Humidity is typically around 60-70%, and temperature is around 85 during the day; when the lights go off at night, it typically gets to around 70.

There are four of these lights genet.gelighting.com/LightProducts/Dispatcher?REQUEST=COMMERCIALSPECPAGE&PRODUCTCODE=49893&BreadCrumbValues=%5EPlant&SearchFieldCode=null seated directly atop the tank as you can see in the picture.

Any input?

[coldcoffee]

Alright, my input:
1) Question, are you seeing a good deal of dew on the droseras and pings. If so, I would say they are probably at least comfortable. Droseras stop producing dew or at least cut back when the light levels drop.

Humidity sounds like it could make those guys happy, just make sure you have good ventilation and airflow in there to discourage mold and other fungii. 60-70% RH is nice for plants but also nice to the stuff that aint nice to plants. (I am actually growing every plant on your list right now, except 3, in non-terrarium conditions and they are doing pretty well.)

4 lights is probably the min I would use. I noticed you are using T-12's. This can work fine but the light output is not as good as T-8's or T-5's. If you can move to at least T-8's down the road you can boost the light output. T5's are even better but rather expensive and IMO/E not really necessary.

[coldcoffee]

Oh, I almost forgot. If you feel they are not getting enough light (which 4 T12 tubes should do it), try raising the plants up closer to the light. Personally, I would do this either way. The amount of light that hits your plants increases dramatically as you move them closer to the light source.

[kwende]

Hey. Thanks a bunch for the response.

Yes, all of the plants are dewy and slobbery. The only one of the plants that concerns me is the D Capensis Red. Its dark, maroon color changed to green and it stopped producing new leaves. I moved it closer to the light, thinking it wasn't getting enough. Everybody else is awesome. Most have tried flowering several times (most I clip the stalks).

I think I will move them up about four inches and see what that does for them. I will invest in the brighter bulbs next time around.

Thanks again.

[Not a Number]

The lighting should be fine for the species you have in there.

I would raise the pots up to about the halfway level.

Or turn the tank on its side and rest the lights on the glass. You might even be able to add another pair of lights that way.

Since none of the plants you have need high humidity there is no need to close off the tank. You'll probably find it easier to water and feed your plants without having to move the cover/lights all the time.

You do have to feed them when grown indoors.

[kwende]

Hey there NaN (by the way, I'm a software engineer and hobbiest mathematician, so NaN has a special meaning for me). So, divide something by zero lately?

Anyway, thanks for your input.

I feed them regularly. I typically get a bunch of ants or other insects in there and they all wind up glued to the plants. It's actually a bit weird (impressive, even) to see how quickly the plants gobble the insects up. Each one of the plants in there currently have several insects stuck to them.

Your idea of putting the tank on its side is an interesting one. Unfortunately with this particular arrangement, I'm sort of limited to the stand and where my wife will allow me to place it ;D. So since the stand is there and I've already budgeted space, I don't think moving it on its side is going to work.

My current idea at the moment is to figure out a clever way to raise them up a bit. I'm kind of kicking around some thoughts.

Also, thanks for correcting me with regards to the humidity. I might bring it down a bit and open up the tank; it is kind of annoying having to remove the entire top to water them.

I'm glad I asked about this stuff. Traditionally I've just raised Neps, but now I'm branching out a bit and starting to explore the rest of the major plants out there; and I'm finding myself falling in love with these little sundews.

The sarracenia and flytraps in the backyard are simple: set them outside, water them, and they eat all they need. I've had great luck the past couple of years with those guys. The flytraps are turning into weeds.

[kwende]

Just for those who are curious, this is what the terrarium looks like after I re-arranged it to move the plants higher. I was actually able to layer the plants more intelligently and opened up space for one of my many young Nepenthes.

Moving it up like this makes it A LOT easier to see too.

The binatas are just too big, and the one Cape I'm letting flower wouldn't fit on the glass. So I made a plastic base for them. It raised them up some, but allowed them to grow upwards more.

So, thanks all for their input.

[coldcoffee]

Well, if it helps. I have had trouble with D. capensis 'red form' as well. Its a weird one. I have tried several different placements and environmental conditions but seem to have a hard time getting them happy. All my other D. capensis are great. The ones I have at home seem to be coming around though. The ones at the green house are eh...

That set up looks really cool. I suspect they will do great.

"I'm a software engineer and hobbiest mathematician"

I can relate. Nice avatar by the way, Feynman is a hero of mine. Brilliant man. Some of the professors I had went to Cal Tech when Feynman was teaching there and had great stories to tell about him. Mostly about his practical jokes or jokes played on him in one case.

[kwende]

Coffea:

Then this ought to be a good experiment, then (moving the plants up). I'm curious what it does to a the red form because, quite frankly, I'm rather dissapointed thus far. There doesn't seem to be any mention of it being a problem-child online, so I'm glad to hear others are having similar issues.

The weird thing is the plant is dewy - I mean the two leaves that it has are covered in dew, but it's just spindly looking and not red and seemingly stopped producing new leaves (which is most worrisome). This guy is what started me questioning whether I was giving them the proper lighting.

We'll see....I'll post updates in the drosera forum when/if a change occurs and I'll also PM you my results.

[coldcoffee]

My suspicion is you were giving it enough light to produce dew ok, but not enough to encourage the red pigmentation.

How is the D. Multifida v. extreme doing? The ones I have tend to get bright red.

I see you have some kind of binata over there with nice red pigmentation.

[Not a Number]

D. capensis red form gets very red under my lights. The lights are just 4 Philips cool white T12 24" tubes about 5-6 inches from the tops of the pots. I moved them outdoors as I have much more interesting things to grow under the lights.

[kwende]

Coffea -

Yes, that's what was a bit weird. The multifada and binata are doing just fine. Colored nicely, and producing a lot of nice leaves. I'm going to let the new arrangement take hold for a couple weeks and just see how they all come out. I'm hoping the Red just didn't like where it was and that it'll enjoy being closer to the lights a bit more.

...interestingly (unless I'm completely seeing things), having moved the plants up closer, I did notice this morning the red seems to be more propped up; meaning the leaves that were on the ground seem a bit more "off the ground".

I dunno. Not a very scientific observation. I'll keep my eyes on the terrarium over the next couple weeks.