LED Update

Well the LED experiment has sort of fizzled. My Christmas cactus rotted (I mistakenly put water inside the soil of a moisture-wicking african violet pot, creating cactus soup), and the carnivorous plant seeds never did germinate. (Of course the ones in regular light didn't either, but I'm hanging onto hope with them). In here I was just over it.

 

 

Now the lonely pothos has the wardian case all to himself.

Still growing nicely, though not exactly huge.

For now this is all I'll grow under the LED's. Later I'd like to buy two of another type of plant at the same time and equal in size to do a more "scientific" comparison. I would try with my two cattleya orchids who are similar in stature, but I'm terrified not willing to sacrifice any orchids at this point. My orchid-growing "success" is tenuous at best, and I just can't mess around with it. Bad mojo. I need all the good orchid mojo I can get, people.

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!

LED Grow Lights

Okay, I'm back! With any luck, my posting frequency will drastically increase from here :)

Anyhow, I recently discovered LED grow lights while shopping for grow lights on Ebay. Have you ever tried these? The red and blue variety I'm trialing are said to emit no heat and use 80% less energy than MH/HPS bulbs, and the red + blue combo stimulate a comprehensive range of plant growth processes.
     
I purchased this stick light on Ebay, and decided to use it in this wardian case. It's located away from the bright natural light coming through my southern bedroom window, but I won't cover it to keep all extraneous light out as a truly scientific method may require. I run a very informal garden hobby here.

Using a couple twist-ties at each end, the light is suspended from the peak of the case. No heat concerns make this part a breeze!

I chose two plants for which I have comparables in the natural light as well, this way I can determine the difference in lighting benefit: a sundew plant and a pothos cutting rooted in water. The peaks of the case have no glass, but the other panels will maintain decent humidity.

The more vigorous pothos is in the LED experiment, and his smaller cousin is in the window. The natural light here is filtered through a white bed sheet but no curtains.

Looks pretty cool! I may try some seed-starting in here as well, but for now it should be interesting to see how these plants respond to the LED's.

I'll keep you posted!