How many lumens to grow CPs? (and do lumens matter?)

[Dante1709]

I have a few questions regarding lighting..I was thinking about possibly buying a 2 pk of 23W, 1600 lumen daylight CFLs to grow nepenthes and sundews (I only have my N.vent..going to purchase more CPs along with the lights)

I'm pretty confused...here are my questions ;
1.Do two 1600 lumen bulbs together result in 3,200 lumens? Or are lumens not cumulative
2. Do lumens even matter? And if they do , would these lights be sufficient by themselves?
3. If not, what (cheaper) lights would you recommend? These are for a single terrarium filled with a few potted plants..approx. 2' x 1.5' x 1' (very inaccurate guess..I'll mesure later)

 

[Not a Number]

http://www.carnivorousplants.org/howto/SoilsWater/Lighting.php

 

[Lil Stinkpot]

Lumens are a measure of how bright a light is. yes, they matter, a lot. I have had very, very bad results with CFLs. I'd try for something stronger. Here is where I let the experts come in with the hard numbers.


ETA: Ninja'd by Not a Number. Hah!

 

[Wire Man]

With CFLs I never go below 1800 lumens.

 

[cpbobby]

yes they are cumulative.....you are asking for a simple answer to a complicated question. it all depends on your setup......if you have good reflectors then you need less lumens also you need to consider the distance between your lights and your plants aka the closer the lights are the more lumens the plants actually get. need to look at color too. Just a general guess but start off with around 6-7000 lumens and go from there. but i would encourage you to read a little more.

im assuming your measurements are in feet.......a couple cfl's are good for like a 10 gallon aquarium that is surrounded with reflective material but not much else beyond that.

 

[Gigantea]

I've been using twin 26w 6500k cfls for my cephalotus and Nep for over a year now.

 

[Dante1709]

Would a single 6500 K, 2 000 lumen T5-HO be good enough?
Should I just buy two? Or four?

 

[PolishJeff]

Hi Dante,

It really depends on what you're trying to grow and where you setup will be housed. For example, you won't need as much artificial light output if your plants a sitting next a window compared to growing them in a basement.

I'll try to answer your questions below and give you a few examples of how I grow some of the plants you mentioned.


1.Do two 1600 lumen bulbs together result in 3,200 lumens? Or are lumens not cumulative

Yes, lumens are cumulative.

2. Do lumens even matter? And if they do , would these lights be sufficient by themselves?

Lumens do matter. And the example you gave above would be sufficient, say for a small plant. CFLs are very good for small starter plants in my experience. They're great for targeting light in one direction or small area. It's when you have tall plants or larger specimens when it's good to have some tubular lights that can spread across a larger surface.

3. If not, what (cheaper) lights would you recommend? These are for a single terrarium filled with a few potted plants..approx. 2' x 1.5' x 1' (very inaccurate guess..I'll mesure later)

For your small terrarium CFLs may be a good choice if they're the only light available. I wouldn't recommend putting a small terrarium like that next to a window. You'll end up with baked goods

Here is what I use and received good results. My 'grow rack' is next to a west facing window with a thin curtain draped to defend against the scorching heat rays. Since the window only gets the hottest sun in the late afternoon I supplement with two 32W 6500 K T8s. How do you like all those numbers ??

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sovetskjeff/9658100178/" title="Untitled by sovetsk.jeff, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2841/9658100178_2528693551_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="Untitled"></a> Bought these as Wal-Mart

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sovetskjeff/9658098460/" title="Untitled by sovetsk.jeff, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5500/9658098460_b556fd35c1_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="Untitled"></a> You can see I grown Nepenthes, Cephalotus, Heliamphora, and Sarracenia seedlings with this setup.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sovetskjeff/9654872539/" title="Untitled by sovetsk.jeff, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3665/9654872539_15ce0e04bc_z.jpg" width="480" height="640" alt="Untitled"></a> A primary example of when a CFL is perfect is for targeted light like this micro terrarium with my Nepenthes Veitchii

 

[pmatil]

Lumens matter yes with white light (daylight tubes etc.). With red and blue (grow lights, eg. leds or plant tubes) they don't compare as lumen is defined through white light.

 

[mobile]

I've used CFL for years for growing CPs. I tend to use them as spot lighting, for feature plants etc, such as the 'Petite Dragon' below, which grew under an normal 15W CFL:

I also use them horizontally for illuminating larger areas, such as the picture below.

 

[mikewilder]

Beautiful terrarium Mobile Dante you can definitely grow plants in the small terrarium with two 23w cfls. The key is to keep the distance between the bulbs and the plants as short as you can. This plant has been grown under 2 23w cfl's for many years, the top is kept just a few inches below the lights:

 

[EntHerptology]

That Heliamphora...

 

[mobile]

Impressive Heliamphora

 

[carbonetc]

What species is that? I'm just staring at it trying to convince myself it's real. I didn't know helis got anywhere near that big.

 

[mikewilder]

Hello carbontc: It is tatei. Some plants in habitat will form tall (one or more meters) erect stems, though the pitchers will not get much bigger than this afaik. I can say that photo is straight out of the camera (except I cropped it), the woman is 5' 10" tall, no tricks. I can also say with sadness that after fruiting for several months in reduced light, that plant divided in 2 and is not producing pitchers that big at present. But she'll be back.