FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I have about 20 plants in my terrarium (10 gal fish tank) and about 10 unique types of CP's. I have 2x26 watt, 6500K, 3220 lumens total, and its not enough. Non of my VFT's have color even though I have like a variety of them. The new traps on my red pirhanna and red dragon are actually half green half red. My plants are definitely growing, but I would say they are only about 50% of what they should be. They are not dying but they are weak. Some of the traps are nice and pretty big, but they are slow to get out and most traps upon opening are opening from one side first and then the other side separately instead of like a normal mouth.

At first I was worried about watering because everyone said not to over water and that you would get mold. Right now the top is only 50% covered, so mold has not showed up yet. I started by spraying each day about 4 sprays towards the base of each plant so that I wasn't pouring water and over watering (based on what I read). That did not work out and I could tell my plants were not getting enough water. So now I am pouring water from a bottle which is about the quantity of 3 or 4 pop (aka soda) caps. This has been working good and also no mold has shown. I think people that complain about mold maybe need to just not cover the top of the terrarium and let air get around.

I just got another 2x27 watt, 5000K, 3500 lumens total, which brings my lumen output to 6720. I will update the thread based on what I see. But definitely my last light setup was not working for anyone trying to compare. And don't be afraid to water. As long as the soil is not mush you should be fine.

why not put the north american plants outside?

man everyone keeps saying that. There is a whole section about terrariums. Some people have them. Do you hang paintings and photos on walls outside your house? I have them cuz it looks nice on display.

bigred wrote:man everyone keeps saying that. There is a whole section about terrariums. Some people have them. Do you hang paintings and photos on walls outside your house? I have them cuz it looks nice on display.

That's a valid point. However you also don't hang them outside because they would get ruined. The paintings would get dirty and just not be at their best. The opposite is true for the plants. Keep them inside and they don't get what they need to look the best. (Generally) The end result is that its personal preference as to whether or not you keep them inside or out. Just do the research and keep them as healthy as possible.

Well its for design, is the idea. It looks nice, they are growing, and people/I can see them.

Well Bigred,
As I have said to past growers. I grow my plants inside because the weather conditions out do not meet any sort of standard for my plants. (As it is way to hot and the drying winds will kill them in a matter of days). Ive been growing sarrs,nephs,vfts,ceph. all underlighting for the last year or so now. I can provide some great tips to help you get the coloring your looking for.

Assuming that you are using the standard t5 bulb, might I suggest a light setup like this:
http://htgsupply.com/Product-HTG-Supply ... ixture.asp

I dont quite have that same light fixture but I use CFL's which do about the same work. (Which I plan on moving to 4foot lighting here soon)
My light setup currently consists of one 105 watt cfl (5000 lumens 6500k)
and one 42 watt cfl (3200 lumens 6500k).
I use a reptile exoterra setup that is enclosed with a door that allows me easy access to the plants.

• Heres some tips:
  
  
  When you are picking a light make sure you are picking one that is intense(more lumens the better)
  
  When you purchase the light also look for how much heat it will produce, it can turn your terr. into a oven.
  
  Place your plants as close to the light that you can get without the plants actually touching. The reason is, each time you move the light one inch away from the plants, it decreases the lumen over all concentration of the light by half.
  
  If you have a enclosed setup, try completely wrapping your setup in mylar or reflective sheet of medal. This way it bounces any light that might escape back into the setup.

Here is my setup and plant pictures I hope this helps, let me know if I can help!

Plant Setup:



My Plants

I have mine more for display, so they are all un-potted and together in a glass aquarium, so mylar doesn't make sense in my setup. I just coated the top of my cover with foil so that it bounces the upward light back down. Right now I have a self made light cover from a cardboard box.

Mine are doing REALLY well now and I will post an update in a week or so. Since I upped my lighting to:

2x27 watt, 5000K, 3500 lumens total
+
2x26 watt, 6500K, 3220 lumens total = 6720 lumens

All the new growth coming out has color. Even the typicals are sprouting up with red-ish color. The heat is not that bad, and I have the lights covered so they don't blind me, but they don't span the whole aquarium, so the top has good ventilation and have not seen any fungus or mold.

3220 L wasn''t doing it, huh? I was hoping that'd be plenty in what sounds like a similar set up.

I was reading on reflecting light on indoor plants and the other types of folks who grow plants indoors with bright lights have debates going about if silver (different types of foil and film) or white (paper or paint) reflects more light. A good many go for white. They say it reflects more light, more usable light and you can put up paper or roll on paint much smoother than foil or film goes on and that smoothness gives back more light than crinkled or wavy silver stuff. They also say white may be cooler. Either way, it's bonus.

And they all go for Ae9803 method of all sides, top and bottom.

Ae9803, i don't relly undrestand this :

it decreases the lumen over all concentration of the light by half

bigred, the lumens i don't think they add (is my personal idea, 35w + 35w don't add for example). Some they say yes, others no. But you want, like others said, a high lumen output. And i think many light bulbs or what you have will concentrate better the light. In my country, like Ae9803 says on his country, temperatures are bad, but mine is vice versa. In the winter whe got in my country -10 to -25 cellsius, and i don't think will be other way ever, so my plants cannot stay in winter outside, to do their dormancy.

Re: Terrarium experience so far (3 weeks)

Unread postby roarke » Wed Jun 29, 2011 6:36 am
Ae9803, i don't relly undrestand this :

it decreases the lumen over all concentration of the light by half

Imagine holding a lightbulb in your hand. 100% of its light will hit the surface of your hand. Now move your hand 1 foot away from the light bulb, a small portion will hit your hand, most will hit your shirt and face, and continue radially hitting your walls. Same reason a flashlight points in one direction and not to the sides, it is focused light.

is my personal idea, 35w + 35w don't add for example). Some they say yes, others no.

First watts is energy and if you run 2 light bulbs instead of 1, you pay a higher energy bill because your using 70watts (duh). Lumens is the same, its the amount of light divided by area.

3220 L wasn''t doing it, huh?

Nope. You can try it like I did, your plants will just grow slow and my traps never even formed, they just stopped growing at all and never opened up. I will note that I'm not setup with mylar on all the sides, I just have foil on the top light fixture and the sides are all glass.

At 6700 I'm doing really well though. I had some sundew spathulata frasiers and they were literally not growing at all and starting to die back. I switched the lights and they started growing 2x the size leaves from what was left of them and they started to get dew drops. I'm not going to buy any more lights etc, but I'm thinking 7500+ would be optimal. I'm not seeing the most color yet (which is why I posted on another topic), so I'm not sure if its just that I need to wait for the VFT's to get color or if it is not enough lumens. Thats why I say shoot for 7500+.

And a week later?

Fortyninecents wrote:And they all go for Ae9803 method of all sides, top and bottom.

Because it works, Its very simple to grow plants indoors in a setup like mine. Only if you know exactly what to expect and what to overcome. I also suggest a setup for mylar because it reflects more light than any other known material, its simple fact. You can tell just from the lighting that being out putted on my plants give amazing deep color and its only a 105 watt cfl

roarke wrote:Ae9803, i don't relly undrestand this :

it decreases the lumen over all concentration of the light by half

bigred, the lumens i don't think they add (is my personal idea, 35w + 35w don't add for example). Some they say yes, others no. But you want, like others said, a high lumen output. And i think many light bulbs or what you have will concentrate better the light. In my country, like Ae9803 says on his country, temperatures are bad, but mine is vice versa. In the winter whe got in my country -10 to -25 cellsius, and i don't think will be other way ever, so my plants cannot stay in winter outside, to do their dormancy.

As explained, its simple. Its just as if you put your hand on a flash light, its really bright and more focused on your hand. The further u move the light away from your hand, the less bright and less concentrated it is. I hope that helps, as far as the temperature, keep in mind that temperature is everything. If you decrease or increase the temp dramatically, not only you risk your plants going into shock, you risk your plants dieing. Thats why, in my area in the semi arid desert, it is dry hot wind. I have found that my plants when I tried to have them outside for a month, it was unsuccessful with no matter how much water I added, it was dried out by the end of the day. And with us hitting record highs to 110F it just isnt feasible to grow them outside without some kind of greenhouse and cooling unit.