Lighting Question

[Nbarger75]

So I got a 36x18x24 terrarium and plan to have a 110 watt 10000 lumen 6400k light about 15 inches away from the plants in it. Ill have some tropical sundews, highland nepenthes, pinguiculas, and some VFTs anf sarracenia. the VFT and Sarracenia are only in the from after valentines to thanksgiving after that they go in dormancy.
But anyway, ive asked this before and people have said many different things. Ive heard the light is overkill, its not nearly enough, its the wrong color temp etc. So could someone tell me if its enough or too much or too little.

Even if the light is fine. I was looking at some different ones that I would me getting in a year. So the light mentioned above is temperary. It would be 2 CFL fixtures each CFL is 105 watts, 6300 lumens, 6400k. They are each a 400 watt equivelant so I was wondering if the CFLs would fry my plants.

Thanks everyone! i know light questions come up a lot but I can never find consistant info. Thanks

 

[Exo]

The light you currently have is penty powerful enough for the plants you mentioned...it may even be too much for the HL neps...so yeah, it's enough light.

 

[Tony Paroubek]

110 watts of Fluorescent light is not very much. That's less than 3 4' 40w T12 tubes would provide. I would suggest increasing it if you really want to grow all those plants well. Especially at 15" from the plants which will greatly reduce the intensity.

 

[31drew31]

It was never mentioned the type of light. At the bottom it was mentioned he was looking at buying some cfl's.

10000 lumen is a good amount of light and should be fine from 15" away. Give it a shot and if the plants are losing color you know you need more light.

 

[Taliesin-DS]

Yeah, plant coloration is the best indicator imho.

 

[Tony Paroubek]

Plant coloration and growth is certainly the best indicator but I stand by my statement that 10000lumens is far from sufficient to grow many of the sun loving plants indicated. A single T12 40w 4' fluorescent tube puts out over 3000 lumens. Put 3 of them together and tell me it's " a good amount of light". Fact is it doesn't matter what type of light, 10000 lumens at 6400k is the same irregardless of light type.

Many of the best plants I have seen have been grown under 4' T5ho fixtures, which produce 5000 lumens/bulb. Growers are using fixtures with 4-8 tubes. So you are talking 20,000-40,000 lumens and 216-432 watts.

 

[zlookup]

the VFT and Sarracenia are only in the from after valentines to thanksgiving after that they go in dormancy.

Are you saying you are going to put these plants under the lights when they go dormant Not sure it's all that necessary if I'm reading it correctly.

Not saying you have to, and I'll defer you to the more experienced growers like Tony, but I like to mix my light tubes with high and low color temps to get better coverage of the light color spectrum. It's done well for my plants and their growth/color, though what works for me doesn't necessary make it a necessity or the optimal setup.

Tubes will also get you larger and more evenly distributed coverage with the lights versus CFLs in my opinion (unless you are growing it in a very confined space). The light intensity for plants directly under the CFL versus radially distanced ones would vary.

good luck and hope to see some pictures