Yossu

He did say earlier "In my view plants are more important than animals" which doesn't count out the possibility of eating meat. Sounds like he doesn't eat vegetables though

By the way, what does SMD mean?

OK, thanks for the reply. Maybe if you don't mind sending me his email, I'll see what he says.

When you say they are garbage, what do you mean? Is the spectrum that isn't wide enough, or the quality of the units, or something else? I know very little about these things, and just want to get myself some decent lighting without spending a fortune. As you say, it's all generally way overpriced. I would like to move to LEDs, but don't know enough about them to know what I'm doing. Thanks for the offer of your friend, but as you (and presumably he) are in Poland, I think the P+P would make it too expensive. Do you have any tips for how to make your own? I have a friend who is good with that sort of stuff, who could probably do it for me, but I'd need to know what to ask.

Thanks for the answers and the extra pics. Looking really good. I'm looking to set up a much bigger indoor area than I have now, and was looking at some LEDs. I found some really cheap ones on eBay, which would enable me to cover a decent area, but given that they are so cheap, I'm a little nervous. I know little about LEDs, and wondered if you had any comments... 2X 14W 225 LEDs Grow Light Full Spectrum Hydroponic Plants Veg Flower Lamp Panel £3.99 and free P+P for two units 45W 225 LED Grow Light Full Spectrum Hydroponic Plants Veg Flower Lamp Panel Kit Only one unit, but 45W for £10.80 and free P+P I currently use 30W 6400K CFLs, and wondered how these compare to them. If these are growlights, do they compare to 6400K bulbs? Also, is there any advantage of red/blue over daylight white? I found a couple of pages (here and here) that compare LEDs to CFLs, and it looks like my 30W CFLs are the rough equivalent of 20W of LEDs. This means that the 42W unit I linked above is about twice as powerful as my CFLs, for less than the price of two bulbs. Any comments? Thanks again.

Good point, and well presented! To quote Mark Twain... "I was pleased to be able to answer quickly... I said I didn't know!"

I'm glad you replied to this before i did Tony, your reply was much better than mine would have been!

What an excellent use of the space! Given me some ideas. First though, some questions... What kind of lights are you using, and what level? What is the reflective stuff you have have around the shelves? Looks pretty shiny. Also, do you have any problem with the plants on the shelves being lit from the side, rather than above? I would have expected them to grow towards the light, resulting in oddly proportioned plants. Yours all look pretty well balanced. Please keep us posted.

Well cut off both my legs and call me Shorty, I never knew that! Explains quite a lot. Presumably places like B&Q get a special dispensation as garden centres, 'cos if they weren't allowed to water their plants, they'd be in trouble quickly! Mind you, having seen what B&Q do to the few carnis that end up there, you might be tempted to believe they aren't allowed to water them either!

Glad you got it out. Don't worry too much about the hole. That pitcher may die off, but your plant looks healthy enough.

Ah, that explains it! Lucky you to go there :) Thanks for the reply

The problem is that by "saving" them, you are actually encouraging the shops to buy more. If you're really interested in doing good, you would be better off lobbying Asda's (or whoever's) buying people, and trying to convince them either to stop, or to look after the plants better. But when all's said and done, these are only plants. We aren't talking about people or animals. Whilst it makes me sad to see poorly cared for plants, I can't say it seems important enough to base a charity on.

Sarracenias don't generally have liquid in the pitchers (or at least, none of mine do, and I have a hundred or so!), so you don't need to worry about that. Even if they did, like Nepenthes, you could just top them up with rain water after turning the plant the right way up. i would put it gently on one side, and see if you can squeeze the pitcher a little below the pebble that might dislodge it. If you can't, then I would just leave it. That pitcher may die, but have plenty more on the plant. Hope that helps

Looks amazing! Pardon my ignorance, but whereabouts is it? thanks for posting

Hi Andy, thanks for the advice. Like many others here, I wasn't aware of that feature, it certainly helps, but is still flawed in one significant way. The old style "New content" listed topics just once, irrespective of how many new posts were in it. The new style lists each new reply separately, cluttering up the display. Is there a way to show topics just once? I couldn't see any, but maybe I missed something. You can mitigate the problem a little by clicking the "Condensed" button at the top right of the list, which just shows the topic title and number of posts, so it's usable, but still a step backwards for most of us. I don't think people are complaining, so much as expressing frustration at change, especially when it seems to lose functionality. I think we all appreciate how much effort is put in to making this such a great community. Maybe changes like this could be accompanied by a post from the mods explaining the changes, what's new, and where to find things that have moved. I think that would reduce the frustration. thanks again for your explanation. Any more tips would be welcome!

Just a follow-up in case you're interested. I posted a question about those lights, as I'd like some as well, but want to hear from the experts what they think. You might want to keep an eye on that thread, see if it helps.

I'm looking for some lighting, as I want to expand my indoors growing space, but don't have any windowsills spare. I currently use 30W 6400K CFLs, but have been looking at LEDs, as apparently they last longer and are cheaper to run. Most of the full-spectrum LED growlights I've seen have been silly prices, which puts me off (can't afford it). However, I've just seen someone selling what looks like extremely cheap ones on eBay... 2X 14W 225 LEDs Grow Light Full Spectrum Hydroponic Plants Veg Flower Lamp Panel £3.99 and free P+P for two units! 45W 225 LED Grow Light Full Spectrum Hydroponic Plants Veg Flower Lamp Panel Kit Only one unit, but 45W for £10.80 and free P+P The same seller has others, but these look the best value from what I've seen. Anyone any comments? Are these lights likely to be any good, and if so, how do they compare to what I currently use? If these are growlights, do they compare to 6400K bulbs? Also, is there any advantage of red/blue over daylight white? Edit: I found a couple of pages (here and here) that compare LEDs to CFLs, and it looks like my 30W CFLs are the rough equivalent of 20W of LEDs. This means that the 42W unit I linked above is about twice as powerful as my CFLs, for less than the price of two bulbs. Thanks

Don't know about regulating, but the bits they can't digest get left there. In the case of VFTs, you'll see the dried carcasses when the trap reopens. Either they stay there, and are often bait for other insects looking for a free meal, ending up as the VFT's next meal, or they get washed out by the rain. In the case of Droseras, the bits are left stuck on the leaves, and with pitchers (Nepenthes and Sarracenia) they are left in the pitchers. The Sarracenias in my greenhouse get so full of insects that the pitchers turn brown in the middle and wilt. Unfortunately, this doesn't look very nice, as compared to the Sarracenias I keep in the house that catch less insects, and so have clean healthy looking pitchers. Haven't seen that much difference in growth either. Hope that helps.

Hello again, You don't need them in the glass, but it does help keep the humidity up. On the other hand, it prevents a flow of fresh air, leaving you more susceptible to mould growing. I keep all of the types of plants you showed, and the ones that I keep in the house aren't under glass, just sitting out on top of a chest of drawers under the lights you saw. They stand in a water tray (well, four of them actually), which helps keep up the humidity, and I mist them each morning. That isn't actually necessary, but it makes me feel I'm helping them! Actually, it probably helps the Nepenthes (#5 in your pictures) as they like higher humidity, but I have another one hanging in our morning room, and it's fine without being misted. Having said all that, your Droseras and VFT look in pretty poor shape. In particular, the Droseras look like they have been kept too dry, as they don't look to have much dew on the tentacles. I have plenty of Droseras sitting out in the house, and they are fine, so I'm not sure your tank is even helping. I'd get a water tray and forget the tank. If you can be bothered, mist them once a day. As for the lighting, I've never managed to work out how to compare LEDs with fluorescents for light output. The one you showed looks a pretty good price compared to what I've seen before, and if you look at some of the related links (this one in particular) there are even cheaper ones. For those prices, it's worth a try! Feel free to ask as many questions as you like. That's how we all started. There are some very helpful and friendly people here who will be happy to help you get going.

Thanks everyone for the reply. The ironic thing is that one of the first CPs I bought was a U. Longifolia, which has been sitting in a pot next to all these other indoors ones, and has never done anything. It didn't die, but never had more than one or two moderate sized leaves. I was half expecting someone to tell me that these new plants were actually U. Longifolia that had jumped across form the other pot! I'm not going to worry about them for the moment. They've been there a while and never caused any problems. I actually quite like them! If they start to get out of hand I'll do some repotting, but if they are that invasive, it's unlikely I'd ever clear them out completely. Thanks again.

No, if you have an 8700K light, that's fine. The main thing is to have a wide enough spectrum to give it the parts it needs that are lacking in ordinary light bulbs. Anything over about 6000K is fine. If/when you replace the bulb, you can use ordinary daylight bulbs. You don't need such a wide spectrum, which was probably bought for the reptile. These are expensive (i know, I keep turtles!), and not necessary for CPs. You do need to make sure you have enough light though. Quite what is "enough" is an interesting question. I have 4x30W CFLs lighting up four trays, which is a width of around 3ft wide and about 14"deep. This seems to be working well, although I don't think more light would harm. You can see the original setup here. That only has two bulbs. I've since doubled the width and have four bulbs over four trays (rotated 90 degs from what you see in the pics), which is the same amount of light per tray. Hope that helps.

Most of the plants I have indoors (as opposed to the ones in the greenhouse that don't have them) have something growing in the pot. Here are some growing in a Drosera Spatulata pot... I never took much notice of them before, as they don't seem to be doing any harm. However, they have started to flower, and I'm now intrigued as to what they are. Here is a flower... The flowers are only tiny, maybe 2-3mm across. Anyone any idea what they are? Thanks

If you are going to grow them under lights (which is perfectly possible), then get yourself some full-spectrum CFLs. I got some from Amazon for £7.49 each, and the plants have done really well under them. Welcome to the hobby, you'll be hooked like the rest of us in no time at all!