Question
QUESTION: HI, i have asked you guys several questions and have always gotten a clear kind answer so thank you!  I recently saw a 75W 24' grow light set up.  it has a single tube and a textured covering,  wil this work for my indoor tropicals?  i have 2 nepenthese 4 sundews and a mexican butterwort.  also i witerized about a month or so ago and i was wondering if i did it right?  i dug a hole a foot deep i put my plants in and because i didnt have any mulch i put some dry grass clipings on them to fill the hole.  what do i do if i did it wrong?  thanks for all your help!

ANSWER: Hi Hayden,

I'm not sure about the light.  Do you have a web link to it or a similar unit?  Is it fluorescent?  It may be a great light, but I need to know a bit more about it.

Your winter protection sounds good.  Just make sure you have covering on top of the plants too.  When the temperatures begin warming up this spring remove the grass clippings as soon as you can.  Green clippings will begin to decompose, and release quite a bit of nitrogen.  In the future, if you can get them, dried leaves or evergreen needles would be better.

Good Growing!

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

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: It is a florescent. It has one 24 inches long 75 watt out put but 17 watt use tube, with a textured covering.  Is that enough info?  Thanks for all your help!

Answer
Hi Hayden,

Ahh, this makes a bit more sense now.  The reason it was confusing to me is that several manufactures make a 75 watt incandescent spot "grow light" which is nearly useless except for decorative lighting.  So, in reality what you have is a 17 watt fluorescent tube.  It a typical fixture used for under counter lighting.  The "textured" covering is a plastic diffuser.

This light will be good supplemental lighting if you already have the plants in a window where they are getting some natural light.  It's not enough on its own.  If you have two of these lights close together, and keep the plants very close to them it should be adequate.  Even better is to find a twin-tube unit with a reflector.

Now, having said all that, and considering it sounds like you haven't purchased this unit yet, let me talk you out of it.  I've found over the years that most grow-lights like this are way over priced, and rarely are they bright enough.  http://www.charleysgreenhouse.com/5458-24--34-Instant-Under-Counter-Light.htm  This unit sounds very similar to the one your looking at.  It's $30.00.  For roughly $15.00 you can go to Lowe's or Home Depot, get a standard shoplight fixture, and two 40 watt cool-white tubes.(Be sure to get the 40 watt tubes; energy saver types are not bright enough.)  You'll have almost triple the light output, half the price, and double the growing space.  The cool-white tubes work just as well, if not better, than some of the plant spectrum tubes because they are brighter.  This way this kind of light can be a stand-alone light.  We've used these for years with great results.


Good Growing!

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