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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

Hi, I have a single small pot (cephalotus) in a south facing room but only in direct sunlight briefly each day (1 hour, in summer!) I'd rather keep it there if i can so i'm wondering about low profile lighting solutions and whether they will make a worthwhile difference. I had some g4 LED bulbs so mocked up and 3d printed a holder of the kind of scale i'd ideally like. This bulb is 4w, 3200k, claimed 310 lumens, ra80 - it's dual sided and my low quality tin foil reflector and proximity probably wastes a lot of light from that side. could be mounted 10-15cm from the plant i imagine. heat seems negligable from my few hours test. I know nothing about lighting for plants - would one, two, three of these be of any benefit at all? if not, any changes i could make without going up in size? thanks!

Hi All :) It has been a long while since my last post on here so hello everyone :) I had to give away my collection when I moved to the UK but have slowly started to accumulate plants again. It took me a while to get used to the different growing conditions here but fingers crossed, I seem to have cracked it. I have always used T5's for lighting and had good success with these in the past but I am wondering what everyone is using these days since I have been out of the loop for so long. LED's were still really expensive then but they seem to have come down in price considerably. I am just not too keen on the red light. I currently have a supplemental strip by the window over my D. regia and was recently asked by a concerned block associate just what am I growing there? I really do like T5's but they generate a lot of heat. I have a small 6 tube fitting over my 3ft tank and it gets quite hot, even with cooling. I have read that CFL run cooler but not sure how effective those are? I am expanding my growing area and would be interested to know what everyone uses for their setups. Looking forward to get stuck in again!

Hi all, I’m looking for a good led illumination for my terrarium, the measures are 100x45x35 cm (140 liters). I would be interested to know which brands, which colors and wattage; will be placed various species of plants, nepenthes, cephalotus, drosera but also sarracenia seedlings. The terrarium will be only used as winter shelter or for debilitated plants, but if I see that the light is good, I could keep tropical plants all year. I saw a solution like this: http://www.hydroponics.eu/sonlight-apollo-led-4-130w~10022.html but I would prefer lower cost and a lower wattage, 130 Watt for that little terrarium seem too many imho Thank you -Dan