Question
Hello Jeff,

I took your advice and went and bought some high output florescent lights, since the sodium ones were too expesnive.

My question is do these lights need to be the same distance from the plant as the regular florescent lights?


Answer
Hi John,

The distance is dependent on the wattage or lumen output.  If the total lumen output is about 3000 lumens, then the lights should be about 4-6 inches above the plants.  You can increase the distance to 6-8 inches if the total lumen output is 6000 lumens.  The only trouble is that only the correct intensity will reach the upper portions of the Nepenthes, while the hanging portions will have substantially less light.

In this case, I'd suggest sticking with more compact Nepenthes.  The miranda hybrid, though very eye-catching, grows too large and too quickly to grow properly under strictly artificial lights.  Nepenthes truncata and Nepenthes mikei are fairly compact and slow growing, so they make good candidates.

Good growing!
Jacob Farin