Question
Bonjour Jeff, Jacob,

have you heard about LED Growlamps?

http://www.amazon.com/TaoTronics%C2%AE-Lights-Plants-Greenhouse-TT-GL20/dp/B00GN

They have blue and red LED, apparently the wavelength of plants to grow and flower properly...

Have you had any experience with these? I am thinking to get one to grow seedlings over the winter and to bring up more light to the highland Nepenthes I just brought back indoor due to colder temperatures.

What I wonder about is that the lamps are "only" about 12W. Does it matter? Is the Lux value more important or the length of waves?

If these lamps are not good enough, how about T8 "Grolux" tubes from Sylvana? I own a 150W HPS for my lowland terrarium, however these get very hot and consumption is quite high. I was looking for something "cooler" and less demanding in watts.

Thank you for your comments.

Have a nice weekend,

Jean-Paul

Answer
Hi Jean-Paul,

We haven't used LED lighting enough yet to give any useful information.  We are just starting, and by the end of next year we should be able to talk more about what is working for us.  LED is a much more complicated affair currently because of so many different spectral outputs and power outputs.  Many of the full sun growers such as sundews are likely to do well as long as they are bright enough.  For most cp lux intensity are way more important than specific spectrum.  Nepenthes, however, are much more tricky since they seem to exhibit some sensitivity to spectrum and day length.  They often won't pitcher if things are not to their liking.

If you're wanting to use traditional plant lighting such as fluorescents or HID, that is tried and true.  With fluorescent lighting T-5 high output fixtures will give you the best "bang for the buck" (or Euro :), but regular T-8 and T-12 fixtures work just fine.  If you have some T-8 fixtures use standard Cool-White, which I think are 5200K.  "Daylight" tubes are fine also.  I've used Gro-lux in the past along with many other plant spectrum tubes, but didn't find them to be of any advantage.  They cost more, and in many cases have a lower lumen or lux output.  Carnivorous plants need it bright, so you want intensity.  T-5 lights need to be roughly 31 cm and T-8 about 10 cm.  You have to watch plants and make adjustments accordingly.

Good Growing!

Jeff Dallas
Sarracenia Northwest
http://www.growcarnivorousplants.com