Fluro's whats your pick

what fluorescent tubes do you use, and for what purpose?

I have a growlux above a tank with several cacti of varying sizes... it's an experiment to see if they can be successfully grown and reach flowering capacity indoors under a growlux tube.

From what I hear the red spectrum in the tube wears out in about a year - therefore flowering may not be possible after one year using the same tube.

However vegetative growth seems much quicker under the tube than outside.

Tank temperatures drop to 17'C over night and raise to 33'C during the day - very hot and dry conditions. Suits them just fine I think!

Don't forget UV emitted from these tubes is ineffective past 15cm - so the distance to cacti is very important.. my closest is around 8cm and furthest around 13cm... both seem to be doing well.

cool... I got a cool white and a aqua glow over my seedlings, just curious of what others are using...

Cheers

Going to sound a bit bizzare, but...
I have a quartz halogen lamp from BIG W and have it over my seed tray at about 4 inches. In 3 days I had two punnets of ariocarpus and lithops (optica rubra) germinate.

Wasn't expecting that sort of result - but not going to complain.

i use two cool whites. works fine. can grow small trichocereus (10cms), pereskiopsis and subulata under there with no etiolation. no need to get fancy.

I think my aqua glow could be burning my seedlings (slightly) I was recommended this by a hydro shop... I had the light's sitting 15 cm up from soil level and on a timer for 13 hours, I raised the lights to 20 cm and backed the timer off by an hour.

sweet?

How many watts is the aqua glow?

Are you checking the temperature?

My growlux is 18W and the temperature is measured every second of the day

Max temperature reached was 34'C and minimum has been 17.4'C.

All plants are healthy and all range in size from pup to semi adult.

I am even considering doubling the growlux and putting an extra tube on.

temp is around 25'C to 28'C during day and 10'C to 15'C during the evening, the aqua glow is 20W

calycium wrote:

Going to sound a bit bizzare, but...
I have a quartz halogen lamp from BIG W and have it over my seed tray at about 4 inches. In 3 days I had two punnets of ariocarpus and lithops (optica rubra) germinate.

Wasn't expecting that sort of result - but not going to complain.

nice work calycium! DIY at its best...

San Rainbow wrote:

I think my aqua glow could be burning my seedlings (slightly) I was recommended this by a hydro shop... I had the light's sitting 15 cm up from soil level and on a timer for 13 hours, I raised the lights to 20 cm and backed the timer off by an hour.

sweet?

i was advised against using a aqua glo tube when i was setting up my propagator, reason being that it produces almost entirely blue light, it is expensive, not very bright, and it doesn't last very long. i have one on a tropical fish aquarium and it results in really great aquarium plant growth. but not for cactus seedlings. rather than reducing light hours, i would replace it with a basic cool white or even better a daylight. both can be found easily, particularly by businesses throwing them out. after this i would increase the daylight hours to something like 15 hours. seedlings like these long hours conditions.

my entire propagator did not cost a cent to set up. i am using an old fish aquarium with foil covering the inside walls to reflect light, 2 cool white tubes and a light holder which fits perfectly over the top which i found being thrown out (score, never been used before). the lights are on for 15 hours daily (16 is also supposed to be fine) and a heat mat which is an old reptile one. it is not on a thermostat, instead it is under the bottom glass and the seedlings are about 5cms above the inside floor in individual 2in pots on a tray suspended by two pieces of polystyrene. nice 'n cheap.

should the heat mat be turned off with the light? or is it best to keep it on all the time?

Heat mat on all the time for me

I have on aqua fluro 37W and one normal fluro. Will see of there is any difference in a couple of months.

cheers Lewis

on it tomorrow...

heat mat 24/7 for me too.
can't really live without one in Mel at this time of year, 2C nights do little for seedling growth and germination.

cheers, just took mine off the light cycle now 24/7 for bottom heat.
thanks for that guys

i'm going to do the same, i just assumed it would be best to fluctuate the bottom heat.

also how old should trich seedlings be before you take the heat off all together?

i'm pretty new to this, but i think betty has a post saying that she hardens hers of at the 3 or 4 month mark, so depending on how old they are wait util melbs warms up a bit and slowly start to harden them off.
but hey i'm new to all this too, have about 500 seeds down but its my first go, lucky theres so much good advise from the experienced guys on this forum.
good luck

Got that right SP I gradually open the bags and as soon as its warm enough I turn off the mat and get them outside in the hothouse of somewhere where they will get morning sun. Gradually of course with the sun

Good luck with your seedlings

In regards to the globes I think it would be better to use a combo of cool and warm globes, ie. high and low kalven. This scale in regards to globes refers to different waves lengths of light I think. Cool light is usually 2000K, a warmer globe might be closer to 5000K (light blue like a butcher light).
What are your guys opinion on that?

In regards to the heat mats I would have thought to turn them off in the dark hours as I thought that cacti do their growing when its dark and colder, to simulate an environment like a desert with no vegetation.
I havent got into heat mats yet so I might be wrong, would you agree with that though?

If you turn off the heat mat in the dark hours many of my plants would probably freeze. With frosts the shed gets verrrrry cold in the night. I have had plants that have had their tips burnt when I did not have the lights set up correctly as it must have got below freezing. How I hate frosts, we have had 5 in the last 6 days.
The lights are on a timer giving them darkness they need for growth. Set to come on at 4.30am to help with warmth on frosty mornings.

parrotsheaven wrote:

If you turn off the heat mat in the dark hours many of my plants would probably freeze.

agree 100%. think of a propagator with lights and a heat mat as life support. turn it off during winter here and well, thats the end of your seedlings. i haven't pulled the plug on my heat mat for 4 months now