FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Sunlight Help

So I'm located in Zone 6a (Connecticut) and have been struggling with figuring out my window situation for my Nepenthes Miranda and Lady Luck. I had them on a shelf in a North Facing window and an Amazon led to help supplement. After some research/debating and talking to others I think I agree that's probably useless to me haha
But my issue is the North Facing window is shaded heavily do to my apartment cast a shade the whole day on it. The South facing window I have is very big and bright, no trees or buildings to block any light. I'm debating moving them there, and having my grow station in general be moved there, but I'm worried about the direct sunlight?
Now my confusion comes from the fact that I've seen people state that the window filters enough sunlight out where they'd be fine to sit on the windowsill. But again it's a South facing window so it's getting constant sunshine, would it be better to move them to that window and leave them be or try and get some kind of shade cloth for it? Because I don't think my North facing window is going to be an option at all, it being shaded the whole day and having no actual sunlight shining through it is going to make it useless and I don't have any Easter west facing windows unfortunately.
Included a picture of the shelf location they current are at. Alone with some photos of the South window area, my cat is sitting in it don't mind

There's a double picture of the shelf area so ignore where it says South window for that one lol the shelf is only in the North facing window

I think it will be fine in a south window. If it is getting too much light, you will see a blush on the leaves and it won't do any permanent damage. You will likely need to change your watering schedule as it will likely dry out faster. In the past, I have had very good luck with cheap led shop lights for my Nepenthes hybrids.

Awesome thank you! I've been asking around and seems quite a few people say that Connecticut sun isn't bad and so it should be fine in direct sun in a South window so I'm thinking I'm making the switch and keeping a close eye on it. It's still acclimating in a bag as well which I know causes issues as well till it's adjusted. Some I'm willingly to try and if I have to I'll switch it back or move it a bit away from the window.

Honestly my Lady Luck has seemed to been loving the cheap LED. They're been in the same spot with the same light and my Lady Luck as opened a new leaf and seemed to overall be happy with the shaded window and little supplemented light from the led I bought it based off reviews on Amazon, and there was two of people having used to for Nepenthes with luck so IDK! haha

Both plants may be fine under that LED. They don't need a lot of light, that is why shop lights are able to work. It is just a balancing act. If the plant is still being bagged, then I would not put it into direct light in a window. That will cook it. Once it is out of the bag it can be in direct light.

I actually did not think about that! I quickly remedied that lol I moved it back to the LED for now. And possiblly, it's not crazy strong like 50W and the Lumens was only like 700, but I have them on that shelf next to window and usually open the blinds in the whole room. So I figured they just needed a bit of an extra boost.
It's been hard to be honest. Ik with it acclimating still I won't be able to tell completely, just wanna do right by then been nervous since I killed my VFT

Miranda and Lady Luck are both very hardy cultivars. Mistreating them may get them looking lousy, but isn't going to permanently harm them. I only managed to kill my Lady Luck by letting it dry out for over a week. On another note, Miranda can get very big very fast. You'll want to keep that in mind.

Yes I saw that the ptichers can get up 18" long and I've seen some people's pictures that were huge. I already have plans to get it a hanging pot for it
That's why I picked them! That way I could have the possibility of fixing any mistakes and can take time to really learn before trying something more difficult. Which makes me worry that maybe I jumped the gun and should've waited before buying a Drosera Capensis, a Martson Dragon and a Nepenthes Spectabilis x Hamata.
An obsession has quickly grown though so couldn't resist. Appreciate your help btw

My Miranda would fry in a south window. So i would be careful.

optique wrote: ↑Thu Oct 05, 2023 4:58 pm My Miranda would fry in a south window. So i would be careful.

Hmm see that's where I get confused lol again I live in CT, zone 6a and most people seem to say the Miranda can get acclimated to it pretty well. And that CT sun shouldn't too bad, "shouldn't be Florida direct sun is what they mean" was the advice given But I've also been told to keep a foot away or not at all there lol so I'm not sure what to do.
Main thing will be just keeping a close eye on it and seeing what's not working I think

You can try it and just keep an eye on it if it goes dark purple back off on the light. I keep mine is a west window and behind other large plants.

I just brutalize mine. That's probably why I only get 8 inch pitchers. BTW, does anyone else prefer the lower pitchers of Miranda to the uppers? I find the uppers to be meh.

It's better to start off with less light and increase it, than start off with more light and need to decrease it.

In lower light environments the plant will still grow, but slower, and give you signs and indications it needs more light (pale leaves). If you move it to more light at that point, it's usually happy. In higher light environments the plant can burn, stress out, deform, and it can take a while for it to recover.

The south facing window should be fine. But I'd start off a few (up to 5) feet away from the window. Then reassess on a 2 to 4 week basis. Moving it close or further away a foot at a time till you find what it likes.

As far as LEDs go, nepenthes usually don't need crazy amounts of light. So it isn't hard to find something to supplement, if you need to. You shouldn't need to in the south facing window. But probably wouldn't be a bad idea if you needed to stick to the north facing window. With price of LEDs comes strength. With strength comes distance. A super cheap LED will need to be closer to the plant. This one (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MV ... UTF8&psc=1) needs to be within 6 inches of the plant. Meanwhile, this one (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NN ... UTF8&psc=1) is a monster in power for the size and price, and needs to be at a minimum 4 feet away from the plant or it'll fry it. A good little grow bulb that fits in any socket, but you need the space for it.

I really appreciate the info and the help!! Thankfully it's been decided to turn cloudy/rainy outside when I finally moved it to the South facing window but hopefully that will just give it some time to adjust before the sunshine starts coming back. I'll continue to keep a close eye on it in case of any issues!
And I seriously appreciate you posting those links!! I have a simple gooseneck from Amazon RN and it's about 6 or 7 inches from my Bloody Mary.. and that one actually seems to be happy over there with the light verse the window.
Just moved my Miranda some others over to it to try and get them some light since it's so cloudy right now. But I worry it's not enough... gonna be looking at the links you posted!