artificial light/indoors growing Vs. nartural light/outdoor gronwing
 

I though it would be interesting to start a thread that discusses the pros and cons of growing neps under artificial lights/indoor growing Vs. growing neps outside under natural light. I know this has probably been discussed on many occasions but I have never seen a side by side comparison. For example:

Artificial light/indoor growing
Pros:
more control of parameters (temp, humidity, etc.)
intense coloration
light is assured and constant (unless power goes out)
cons:
costs money
heat emission
imitating the sun can be even more expensive

outdoors/natural light
Pros:
high quiality light
good coloration in bright light
induces better flowering
free
cons:
may cause leaf burn
more exposure to outdoor pests
dpendance on climate/weather (i.e. cloudy/rainy day, no bright light)

Are there any intense differences??? Size? Health? Growing behavior? Antyhing else worth noting?

I know these are probably just vague examples, but that is why I want to make of this a topic of conversation. I would really love to hear from others who have had far more experience with both methods, or well, far more experience with one of the two. I know there are probably many more reasons, both from personal experience, as well as from hard facts. I also have always wanted to see a side by side comparison, as well as a pros and cons list for both these methods. I have tried many resources to find such a th

Re: artificial light/indoors growing Vs. nartural light/outdoor gronwing
 

Hi Panenep,

For indoor growing u might have more control of the surrounding for the whole time but there's a lot of maintenence to run if u build a terrarium or something.And also if u grow them indoors in a grow chamber or terrarium u can't leave them there for long sooner or later it will have to grow outdoors because of nepenthes sheer size which is can achieve after several months or years.If you're using artificial lights which produce some heat when the plant reaches anywhere near the lights or even touching it,the plant might also get slightly burned.

For outdoor growing,the sun to me is the best light for everything so the plants like it to.Growing outdoors does not really mean it will be affected by pest it'll just have a higher chances of being attacked by bugs and stuff but all this happens to nepenthes in the wild and they don't seem to really care if its just a little scratch.For most people growing their plants outdoors they provide more or less a little shade maybe 10% so neps won't be burned by the sun.Nepenthes in the wild do experience days which are dark rainy and no sun so it won't affect much.

To me, outdoor growing is the best because i already live in a place where neps can easily thrive and live because of my natural conditions but as for people which don't live in hot humid places like mine its definitly better to grow their plants indoor so that their plants won't get to cold or too hot outside and the best for them is indoors where they can control the temp,humdity etc etc.

Ken

Re: artificial light/indoors growing Vs. nartural light/outdoor gronwing
 

Hi Pananep,

I have a plant rack with lights at my balcony where I grow my CPs. Since I have both types of light sources under the same conditons i.e. temperature and humidity, I'll list the pros and cons as follows.

Artificial light/indoor growing (T5 lights)
Pros:
constant light levels each minute
slightly more constant humidity i.e. less fluctuation, although not necessary higher on the average
useful for germination of seeds, rooting cuttings, ICU for weak plants where too much or too little light can cause a problem
lowland Neps appreciate the constant light level, looking all uniformly green with no blemishes (sunspots)
Cons:
costs money
heat emission (not a problem with lowland species)
plants outgrow the area too soon

Natural light at the balcony
Pros:
sunlight brings out certain colouration which T5 cannot
induces flowering as Neps have the space to vine
UV rays kills off certain fungus/bacteria
free
Cons:
may cause leaf burn in the beginning but plants harden to that very quickly
north-west facing so certain times of the year there is no direct sunlight shining into the balcony; even N. ampullaria stops producing pitchers

Re: artificial light/indoors growing Vs. nartural light/outdoor gronwing
 

Thanks guys for your input. Cindy, thanks once again for a great answer. I also have a rack with T5 lights. I just moved to a new house, and most of my neps have been placed under artificial lights until I finish their outdoor setup. I have sort of noticed that under T5 lights the plants seem to be growing a lot faster. Does this happen with your plants as well or is it just my imagination?
Also, I had a question regarding shade coth. I have an east facing backyard, and it recieves direct sunlight in the morning from about 7:30 - 8:00 AM all the way through until the late afternooon around 4:00 PM on sunny days. The sun gets pretty intense here. I have shade cloth that I believe is of 70-75% shade. I was wondering if this would be suitable for growing neps. Besides direct sunlight (under shade cloth) they would also benefit from very bright light. I have some neps like N. ampullaria and rafflesiana that enjoy partly shaded conditions, would this setup be appropiate for them as well?
Ok, thanks again for your answers. Hope to some more feedback soon. Later!

Re: artificial light/indoors growing Vs. nartural light/outdoor gronwing
 

Hi there Pananep,

SHADE CLOTH GROWING

I used to grow my neps under shade cloth for a couple of years and my observation tells me that it is better (in my tropical climate) to use 50% shade cloth instead of 70%-75% shade cloth for neps.

When I use more shade (70%-75%), the plants are more prone to fungus attack botrytris and rust-spot-fungus. Growth is also slower. At 50% shade the plants are more vigorous and healthy. However, I also cover 3 sides of the shadehouse with the same shade cloth leaving only the entrance wide open.

I realised that if I cover the shadehouse with shade cloth on the sides as well instead of just the top, my neps were seldom attacked by pest. Only once or twice did a locust find its way in and chewed on the leaves.


I will not repeat what everyone says about the pros and cons of growing neps under artificial lights and outdoor, but to me the main difference is light. Nothing beats natural sunlight. Also temperatures at night in my grow chamber and terrarium is warmer compared to plants grown outdoors. I noticed even lowland plants like cooler nights. They seem to be healthier for me. Of course this is just my observation on my plants. It might be due to other factors as well like better air flow for plants grown outdoors.

Re: artificial light/indoors growing Vs. nartural light/outdoor gronwing
 

David,
I agree with you, there is no question that when it comes to light quality nothing is superior to the sun. I have also noticed that my plants enjoy cooler nights growing outdoors as I used to have a few of them in a terrarium. Basically I think that all of the environmental factors that plants are exposed to when grown outside is what really makes a healthy strong and robust plant. I'm not saying that plants under lights are not, but I think you know what I mean.
Anyways, I have a small dilemma here. I simply do not know what grade my shade cloth is. It was stored in a under a bunch of boxes in a warehouse at work. None of my co-workers know with certainty what grade it is. How in the world can I figure out what grade this thing is? Picture maybe? for some shade cloth pros around here? If that would help I would post one right away. My plants grow just fine and look healthy, however I did notice that they grow much faster under lights. Maybe my shade cloth is too dense, I dont know. Any help with this subject would be great.
Later!

Re: artificial light/indoors growing Vs. nartural light/outdoor gronwing
 

Threw away the 75% shade cloth and I am now using 50%, the difference is quite noticeable. I recently moved to a new house, and now have all of my plants growing outdoors. Before, some were windowsill plants and the smaller ones were under artificial light. I used to live in an apartment. Now that I have a back yard I built a makeshift shade house. This I covered with a piece of shade cloth of unknown grade from work. I noticed that my plants slowed down growth and some showed signs of smaller emerging leaves, this is what lead me to being concerned about the grade of the shade cloth I was using. After figuring it out I got hold of 50% shade cloth as fast as I could. Now to let time go by... I'm sure I'll start seeing some good results soon. Thanks David for all the advice.
Later!

Re: artificial light/indoors growing Vs. nartural light/outdoor gronwing
 

Oops, I realised I miss the questions in your post. I am not sure if the plants grow faster but they sure do better under T5 i.e. pitcher on every leaf and have better pitcher:leaf ratio. The light intensity is consistent for 12 hours and that helps.

As for shade cloth, it depends on how you want to grow your plants. Now that you are using 50% shade, you might want to leave it as such or change to a lower percentage. The species you have will decide what you use. I had 50% at first, then changed to 20% and now is using 10%. As the plants harden to the intensity of light, there are times when I feel like not using the shade cloth at all. But because it helps to cut back on the winds and maintain humidity, I am keeping it.

Is there a 5% shade cloth? :laugh:

Re: artificial light/indoors growing Vs. nartural light/outdoor gronwing
 

Cindy,
I would leave the plants outside with no cover at all. The problem is that it can get well over 100+ in direct sunlight. I have had several plants (not cp's) that have easily been cooked. I am afraid that it is too intense for the plants, then again, i might be wrong. Could they possibly adapt to that sort of scenario? Most of them are relatively young plants still in the rossette stage. I have mature plants that grew well for me in the intense sun (couple of hours of direct sunlight a day), but they showed a lot of sunburn, even on newer growth. It looked kinda unsightly, but they grew well and pitchered. I will try to find lower grade shade cloth in a while... Expose them more and more each time..... Sounds like a good thing to do. Any opinions on this? Thanks, later...