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Lumens....

How manu lumens should lowland neps get?
I got one flouroscent tube that has 3000 Lumens and one that has 2500 Lumens over my greenhouse...the plants are 7'' under the lights??? is this enough??
 
1300 is pretty much the minimum
 
You can't put a lumen count on it. Plants react differently to diffuse lumens vs point source lumens vs the color temperature of those lumens etc etc etc.

I have a shelf I root cuttings under that has a 2 tube fixture. The tops of the plants are a couple inches from the tubes at most. I think if your going to use straight fluorescent tubes you should have at least 4 tubes. Or you could go with one of those 65w+ 6500k spiral compact fluorescent fixtures.

Tony
 
I read that someone just used ordanary shop bulbs.
Can I use 3 18 watt flouroscent light tubes to a Villosa and a rajah?
If the plants are lets say 10 cm under...
I know that they reguire good light...
 
Ordinary fluorescent tubes work fine but because of their low intensity they need to be fairly close. I think your fine with 3 18w, 10cm above a few plants.
Tony
 
There's a good treatment of lights in the greenhouse forum. Lumens are a misleading measurement because what's actually measured is light percieved by the typical human eye. Our eyes pick up a different spectrum of light than that which is used by plants for photosynthesis, so a bulb could have a very high lumen rating and still provide little useful light to plants. If Tony says you're good, I'd believe it. I grew my first Nep on a single 18 watt bulb and supplemental sunlight for a little more than a year. It didn't kill the plant, but it wasn't growing very fast either. When I switched to forty watt bulbs, I got much more satisfying results. Faster growth, better coloration, etc. But I also went from one small bulb to four big bulbs, so that probably played a big role as well.
Good luck,
~Joe
 
Tony the cool box is 30 cm deep and 50 cm long..(30 hight)
Can I use only 2 18 watt tubes to one N.villosa and one N.rajah???
 
I'm just using the word "bulbs" in a vernacular sense - I've used fluorescents the entire time (short tubes like yours, then compacts, then big shop light tubes.) A friend of mine tried raising a D. capensis under an incandescent plant light and failed miserably - stay away from incandescents.
~Joe
 
  • #10
OK thx ....would very much like an answer from u to Tony...
biggrin.gif
can i use 2 18 watts?
 
  • #11
Hmm not alot of light there but you would be hard pressed to fit more than a single fixture with 2 bulbs on a terrarium only 30cm deep. If the plants get some supplimental indirect light from a window that would help. Perhaps a couple 35w spiral compact fluorescent in some reflectors?

Tony
 
  • #12
But if I can put it in a west facing window...can it live with just the lightning from that? it will get sunlight from 6am to 1pm can. My friend here in sweden had put his villosa outside for a couple of days ago..but I dont think it get direct sunlight...
 
  • #13
The biggest problem is that my father always complains about the electricity bills...Cuz electricity os more expensive than in the US...MUCH MORE! To have a 18 watt cost me about a dollan a month...and i already have 2 40 watt and one 100 watt light bulb...
 
  • #14
Natural light would be great. Should be fine with a couple 18w and the sunlight from the window. Just need to watch that the terrarium doesn't bake like an oven!

T
 
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