MTechOver9000

Hi Mark, I realise this was about 3 years ago. I'm in Oxfordshire too and I'm looking to source Melcourt GrowBark, where do you reckon is best to pick some up?

Also, VFT is a temperate plant, it needs to stay outside in the sun and needs cold to go dormant in the winter

You should only really mix plants that require the same living conditions, light, humidity, winter dormancy etc.

Hello everyone, As somebody who would like to take on the fascinating world of Terraria for keeping carnivorous plants, I lurked the forums for a while to absorb as much as I could from such a great knowledge base. In terms of lighting, while there are definitely great products out there which deliver impressive PPFD numbers, for me, it is important to keep my hobby sustainable and as cheap as I can. I had so many questions about cheap lighting for my plants: are they garbage, could I actually grow with them...? Being a scientist by profession, I thought I would like to try and perform some experiments to answer some of these questions. In the video I compare the results of growing lentils in a sunny window vs. under 80W of artificial light to see how they stack up. I used a photoperiod of 12hrs. 80W will cost you about a fiver per month to run in the UK (national average). The lights were: 100W Citizen CLU048 3500K (£13.24 on eBay) driven at 50W using 1500mah driver (£5.24 AliExpress) and 30W YXO Yuxinou driverless Blurple COB running BridgeLux chips (£1.66 on AliExpress, lol) They were cobbled together using some thermal paste (£0.64 AliExpress) and scrap CPU heatsinks. So all in, around £20. Interesting results indeed. I'm also currently performing comparisons between the Citizen and an equally powered AliExpress blurple and some "300W" led light panel that a company has sent me as a tester. Will report those results too if anyone finds them of interest. Cheers, MTech

My gosh, that terrarium looks dope!

Interested in this also... I've read previously that CP enjoy cooler white lights, in the 6000k range but I'm hoping someone with more experience can chime in

Thanks again, forgot to mention that I would take my babies out to feed on some weekends or I would find victims in my garden and feed them to the plants once in a while.

Thanks for your reply Rogier. Unfortunately I have no South facing Windows. I only have East or West facing, both of which receive only about 3 or so hours of direct light due to obstruction by other buildings, do you reckon these are enough light even with the cloudy weather, at least for now during the summer season? So my understanding is the cool shed should be ok for the Sarracenia and VFTs and perhaps even the Pinguicula under the lights while the Neps need to be kept warm in the house on the window sill? I think the Sundews wouldn't mind either? Should I maybe construct a terrarium for them? Was thinking once I get my LEDs to channel the heat from the heat sinks back into the grow space with fans to keep them warm; anyone have experience with this? Cheers, MTech

Hello comrades, I have rescued a mix of plants from the garden centre recently, varieties listed later. I would like my new babies to grow to their best potential. I understand from the forums and experience that outdoor natural light is the best in terms of light delivery and plant health. This was definitely true when I was growing massive Sarracenias , Cape sundews and VFTs in South Africa despite exclusively giving them (relatively soft) tap water. I now live in Oxfordshire with a West facing garden. I worry about them getting too cold (spring nights dropping to freezing, 10 during the day), not getting enough light (cloudy for most of the day), and getting picked apart by the hordes of birds frequenting my garden. I was thinking of growing them in the shed. Impulsively I bought a cheap second hand 300W dual spectrum CFL with deflector. I measured it at 17k lumen. I'm convinced this should be sufficient light intensity to grow all of my plants. Is this overkill? I'm also mindful that 300W is costing me £20 a month to run so I have some cheap leds on order 60W blurple 20w 6500k white and a 100W citizen clu048 3500K that I plan to drive at 50W (130W total.) Do you think this would be enough to replace the CFL? I've checked the temperature in the shed overnight and it gets to say 5 degC and peaks at 24 degC during the day under the lights. Is this too cold for my plants? I'm fortunate enough to work in a lab so I have unlimited supply of de ionised water that I give them. Pictures of the set up attached, note how dark it is outside during midday. Any advice from UK growers is much appreciated. Plants: VFT, Nepenthes hookeriana, Nepenthes sanguinea, Sarracenia, Pinguicula Tina, Drosera capenis, Drosera paradoxa. Cheers, MTech