Having only recently 'discovered' this group as a result of an
article in the UK CPS journal, I was delighted to find that CP'ers
have a presence on the Internet - long may it continue to
flourish:-) I have been actively growing CP's for well over ten
years (I think my first was a D. rotundifolia when I was about 14.
Unfortunately it didn't last very long as it got fertilised to
encourage it!) and have been a member of the UK CPS for about 6
years, having rejoined this year after a break of 5 years whilst I
was working in Ghana. Unfortunately, my collection suffered
somewhat while I was away and I now have to restock, so I'm on the
lookout for cuttings, seeds etc., particularly Utricularias and
Droseras.
While I was in Ghana I did try growing some CP's since I reasoned
they would like the light and humidity (and insects!). Dionea did
very well indeed, quickly changing to their short petiole, very dark
red trap form. Interestingly, they hardly ever showed any
inclination to flower but did reproduce vegetatively quite
readily. Darlingtonia and Cephalotus failed miserably - not
surprising retrospectively, but disappointing none-the-less. My
most serious problem was peat. I cheated somewhat by importing
enough for my limited experiments but a colleague was having some
success with fibre from rotting palm leaf fronds (sterilised).
As part of my job, I had to refurbish a series of controlled
environment growing rooms, used to grow quite large plants. The
lighting system used in each room was 60 eight foot 215W fluorescent
tubes on approx. 3 inch centres plus a number of IR lamps. Needless
to say, the biggest problem was getting rid of the waste heat:-)
The light level obtained, if I remember correctly, was still
rather less than full tropical daylight even though the rooms
seemed blindingly bright.
I would therefore agree that you can't really give too much light
to most indoor-grown plants, bearing in mind that some do not
require full sun conditions as they grow in the shade of other
plants/trees. Certainly, well lit plants are much more resistant to
disease than those that are poorly lit. Also, a minor point, but if
you want to increase the number of fluorescent tubes over your
plants but don't want to risk overheating them, insert a sheet of
Perspex (sorry, I can't remember the US name for this acrylic sheet
(Plexiglass?)) between the tubes and the plants. It will cut out
almost all the heat, though you have to remember to support it
adequately or it may sag:-)
Good growing,
Regards, Adrian Arnold.