Sunday, June 10, 2012

LED Light Update



The LED experiment continues! When we left our wardian case in March, the sundew and pothos were certainly alive, but I felt the sundew looked kinda rangey and droopish. The stems seemed to be reaching for something and it didn't look overly happy. Pothos needs to be potted up in real dirt, and still no germination from the nepenthes seeds.



Looks a tad crowded for two crowns as well, maybe a separation and re-potting will help.


There! I put the larger sundew on the right back into the LED case, and the other in bright sheet-filtered southern exposure with the rest of the carnivorous plants.


That seemed okay for awhile, but the sundew still looked unhappy to me, so I put it out with the other carns. Still no germination of the nepenthes seeds....



...either in the case under the LED's......



....nor in the filtered sun. I have algae here though, guess LED's don't promote that kind of growth.


The previously divided sundews had one fare well and the other died off. I left it sit for about a month and presto-it's back! Awesome!


Meanwhile I've had these rooting Christmas cactus leaves in a violet pot under the LED lights for a month or so. Looks like at least two will take hold, so perhaps LED's are satisfactory for these plants as well...



...pothos sure seems happy enough!



I'd still like to attempt some vegetable seed starting under the LED's, and perhaps a cactus. Part of the deal is to have the same type of plant in normal light as well to compare, and I don't really have much for duplicate cacti right now. Perhaps a shopping trip is in order, I have yet to explore any local nurseries. That will change soon!

4 comments:

MrBrownThumb said...

I think duplicating the experiment with natural lighting too would be really cool. And then comparing the differences between the two plants growing.

Garden Broad said...

Thank you-that's what I'm definately striving for. Although the plants being used aren't both the exact same size at the outset, I can definately tell how the different light is affecting them in the long run.

Anonymous said...

I think I have some cactus seeds, if so, I'll send them your way.
I'd be interested in how they do under the LED's.

v.

Garden Broad said...

Thank you! I accept the challenge, though cacti are sometimes a "mission impossible" for me :)