Lighting?

[RifeHeretic]

Hey all,

Just a quick Q: How many watts are needed by a cactus? Are grow lights totally worth it? Im wondering if I can just hook up a bunch of flourecents(sp) under a table.

Thanks,

Rife

[Green2Herman]

They need to be very close. About 4 - 5 cm.

[RifeHeretic]

What would be? 40W flourecents?

[VajraPirate]

It depends completely on what kind of cactus you are talking about and how large they are. For young cacti 4ft 40w flouro's will work well. For mature trich's you would need to basically stand them up surrounding the plant.

If you want to see much healthy growth from mature trich's I'd suggest cfl's or HID's.

[RifeHeretic]

Hmm, seems like I'm going to go with the HID

Rife

[Bushpig]

I live in the UK were Peyote is legal to grow, lighting in regards to Peyote I first tried a 600w beast of a light full spectrum bulb and i frazzled a number of my peyote.  I now use an 'envirolite' which I think is a giant multi floro ..they do fine under this although im not sure ifits optimum.  My Caapi cuttings love it under there aswell.


Booosh

[johncactus]

Hey all,

Just a quick Q: How many watts are needed by a cactus? Are grow lights totally worth it? Im wondering if I can just hook up a bunch of flourecents(sp) under a table.

Thanks,

Rife

Hey Rife, I always use 2 25 watt bulbs all winter  for seedlings, but I don't want much growth. I deliberately send them into hibernation by cooling them off and drying them out. The lights are used only to keep them alive. I'm in northern Ohio (zone 5 or 6).

Johncactus

[RifeHeretic]

Hey John,

We live in about the same zone. I'm just a spec north of Chicago. I'm keeping my cactii in a strong south window for now, havent noticed much growth though. I'm hoping to get some good growth out of them with a light though.

If a cactus is too small, will it live hibernation?

Rife

[johncactus]

Hey John,

We live in about the same zone. I'm just a spec north of Chicago. I'm keeping my cactii in a strong south window for now, havent noticed much growth though. I'm hoping to get some good growth out of them with a light though.

If a cactus is too small, will it live hibernation?

Rife

If you keep them warm and well lit, they will probably grow. If the light is not sufficient, the new growth will be ugly (etoliation). Small cactus do need some water, but they are very succeptible to bacterial infection (rot). You must let them dry out completely between waterings.

[Cyano]

I am growing cacti under flourescents at the moment. They are growing quite fast (1 inch a month) but stay skinny. I think one should not give them more than 4 inches growing space, for optimal yield on a given growing surface.

http://img384.imageshack.us/my.php?image=00001540gy.jpg
tray with seedlings 1 small peyote on the upper left side

http://img384.imageshack.us/my.php?image=00001555yq.jpg
http://img384.imageshack.us/my.php?image=00001567wl.jpg

another tray with seedlings
http://img468.imageshack.us/my.php?image=00001586xa.jpg

[Cyano]

2 more cacti, which I forgot. Besides only the cacti from the stumbs grow 1 inch a month. The seedlings grow slower.
http://img512.imageshack.us/my.php?image=00001574qd.jpg
http://img512.imageshack.us/my.php?imag ... 0017aw.jpg

[Cyano]

Yes, I read a lot about growing cacti under artificial light. But at the moment the cacti, including the seedlings, are quite small. Therefore I think using MH or HPS lamps would be wasting my money. When the cacti get larger these lamps are definetely an option.