Question
Greetings Jeff and Jacob:

As you already know I plant to grow my VFTs outside with 6+ hrs of full sun.  My question today is: "If I supplement the natural sunlight with artificial full-spectrum fluorescent grow lights for the nighttime (and cloudy, overcast days) will my plants grow stronger, larger, faster, or will I be doing harm to them?"  Have you guys ever tried such a scheme with your CPs?  I guess what I'm asking is, "Do plants (like VFTs) need to 'rest' at night to remain healthy?"  Thank you for your time in this matter, and I look forward to your reply!  =)

Best Regards,

Jennifer

Answer
Hi Jennifer,

Don't worry about cloudy days.  Remember full sun plants, like roses, still grow fine on cloudy days.  Trees and shrubs also continue to grow well.  

But the real question is whether or not 24/7 lighting is beneficial to flytraps.  Yes and no.

We haven't tried it ourselves, but we have customers who have done so, and they reported that they end up with a bigger plant.  Of course, they're doing it indoors, so they're plants are not experiencing any changes in temperature or humidity.

On the other hand, is the growth significant enough to justify the extra expense in electricity and light fixture?  I don't believe so.  Flytraps are small plants to begin with.  Even if the plants are 50% bigger under 24/7 lighting, they're still small plants.  

This type of lighting also increases the nutritional needs of a plant, so you'll have to make sure its getting lots of insects.  Otherwise, your large plant will revert back to a small one.  Sooner or later, you'll also need to acclimate your plant to lower light conditions to prepare it for dormancy.  This too can be a bit tricky.

Frankly, it's seems like a lot of work and expense with very little payoff.  But that's the businessman in me.  I also prefer more natural methods of growing plants.  Remember, flytraps are native to North Carolina.  Let them experience the the seasons, starry nights and cloudy days.

Good growing!
Jacob Farin