What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

What strength fluorescents do you use to grow seedlings?

Drosera, specifically.

How close and what kind/wattage/etc. do you use to germinate and grow drosera into young adult plants?

Have you had experience with light being too strong and causing seedlings to grow slowly?
 
Grow Lites seem to work.
 
I always use normal warm and cool T-8 or T-12 bulbs since they are pretty much the cheapest you can find when you're using a fluorescent fixture. You don't need a ton of light before the seeds have germinated, but there isn't as high of a germination rate for me if I have very minimal lighting.

When they start germinating, you'll want them to be closer to the lights for the fastest growth- depending on the lights you use, maybe around 6 inches away will be good - just make sure they don't burn up.
Then when you feed the seedlings, they will be able to grow faster since they will be able to synthesize more sugars through photosynthesis.
When adult size, you shouldn't be afraid about putting them within 2-3 inches of fluorescent lights. I know I was worried at first, but sundews can use a ton of light. I've been reminded several times by experienced growers that "light intensity works by inverse square relationship" so the further away you have the lights, you will be losing more light intensity than you might expect.
 
Good to know, thanks. I'm using a 125W 6500K CFL and had to back some of my drosera seedlings/plantlets off because they were getting too much light; specifically drosera adelae doesn't seem to like being too close. The first one I backed off finally produced dew; so I just moved the rest of them around the same distance away.
 
good to hear that it has dew again. One interesting thing to try might be to gradually raise the level up and see how close you can acclimate them to the lights. It's interesting to experiment because you can see how fast the plants can change from green to red after they get an increase in growth from feeding. When my lights were 6-7" away, it took about 5-6 weeks for my D. tokaiensis to turn bright red after they shot out new green growth after feeding them. When I moved the lights to 3" away from the plants, it only took 3-4 weeks for them to color back up again. The only issue then, as I mentioned to you before, is when the flower stalks shoot up into the lights when the bulbs are that close to them, and then they end up becoming crispy... oh well :p.
 
i grow mine in a germination tank though there are some extra things too help them along....i use 2 i think they are like 26 watt compact florescent lights over the tank, syran wrap to keep humidity up, and a heat matt, seems to give them a great start, works with seed and works awesome with gemmae. i also do nep cuttings in the tank too.
 
Back
Top