FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

So my drosera plants seem to produce very little dew these days despite the soltech giving 14 hours of light and humidifier keeping things at 55% humidity. And yes STILL my babies are barely red and struggling to make dew. One of them I barely managed to bring back from being strangled with moss and now it just doesn't make any dew at all! My flowering boy is sprawling out (though I assume it's cause it's flowering) but the mini-me has glass hairs instead of red. And my big fern fella use to be a gorgeous shade of red, but only it's hairs are red these days. I've done everything that's been suggested online and I still can't get my babies to thrive. Is the light not close enough? Is it not humid enough??

That is not near enough light. You would need that light no more than 12 inches over 1 pot and it wouldn't give any light to the other plants. That is assuming the heat with it isn't too high. You need to check out some of the threads on indoor lighting.

Ok, the pictures finally showed up. I agree with Panman....light is *way* too inadequate. If you grouped the plants tighter together you could probably get away with a generic off-the-shelf floodlight bulbs from Walmart. I've grow some plants satisfactorily with them. They're lightweight, bright, color temperature around 5000k: 15-Watt (120W Equiv.) PAR38 Floodlight Bulb 5000k.

You would need a different fixture to use them in, though. Something with a wide hood. I wasn't worried about aesthetics when I used them so just plopped them into a clamp-on worklight like this... Clamp-on Light Fixture. This one has a plastic socket which should handle the heat fine from the previous mentioned light bulb. Another light fixture that resembles this one incorporates a ceramic socket to handle high-watt heat lamps. If you think that one day you might need a heat lamp for something then you might want to spend the extra and get the ceramic socketed one...most of the time they're called "brooder lamp fixtures" for raising baby chickens...Tractor Supply should have them is Wallyworld doesn't.

Of course, if you want something more refined then the sky's the limit...just make sure the hood is large enough *and* deep enough to cover the light bulb. And, if you'd rather go with a dedicated plant light there are plenty to pick from...do what Panman said and search the forum.

And, btw, welcome to the forum. Be sure to check out the seed bank...seeds for the cost of two stamps and two envelopes.

When I got my first Capensis Gifberg, mine also lost colour, but I recently acquired 110w Samsung Growlights, and they really make a difference, and the plus side is they dont make it ultra hot, and they don't have to be on top of the plant.
Mine are about 50cm to 60cm away from the plants, or about 24".