Hi Nicolae, as long as the pellets or bloodworms aren’t too large relative to the size of the pitchers and what they would be able to reasonably digest, feeding young pitcher plants is ok too.

Thank you! We do not currently have an article about LED vs HPS specifically. Our goal with this series was to provide an overview of how to measure light for plants in general with some examples of the various technologies available to help growers make more informed decisions when looking into options for their specific needs. Some more in depth comparisons of the different technologies would be a good place to explore in future articles though!

Do you have any article about LED vs HPS?

I think LED is good but it needs a huge initial investment for the commercial grower. So it will helpfull if you publish a comparison table between LED & HPS light.

Hi Derek, I’m glad you found the guide helpful! LED technologies have been improving rapidly and it is wonderful to have many high quality options now at affordable pricing.

If both lights have a reasonably robust spectrum, they should both do well for plants. For estimating amount of light, I would recommend using the PPFD calculator in our Part 2 section to plug in the PPFD (µMol/M^2/S) provided by the light manufacturer and then make adjustments from there based on needs of the different types of plants. https://curiousplant.com/light-carnivorous-plants-part-2/
Thorough grow light specs will provide multiple PPFD values at different distances.

I appreciate the thorough guide. I think technology and pricing has improved a bit since the writing of this guide.

I’m wondering about these lights: APLANT Grow Light, 20W Ultra-Thin LED Grow Lights for Indoor Plants Full Spectrum, 6/10/12H Timer Plant Light, 132 LEDs Under Cabinet Plant Growing Lamp Strip for Seedlings, Veg, Flowers (2pcs) https://a.co/ham7HTi . There is also an option that has red, white and blue LEDs https://a.co/eXldrKZ . They both say “full spectrum,” though the 2nd one has less in the green and yellow wavelength.

I have dionea and drosera capensis for now (and also want to put some jade and ficus bonsai under the lights as well). My plan is to attach to the underside of the shelves of a metal stand, with a distance between shelves of 11″, so the plants would be 5-8″ away from the lights, and I assume 14-16 hours a day. Would you recommend either of these two options, and would one be better than the other (aside from just the purple color distortion on the 2nd one due to the red and blue LEDs.) Thanks for your time!

Hi Naomi, natural light is a great option if your grow space allows for it! Grow lights are usually only necessary if natural lighting is poor, unavailable, or to help facilitate other plant needs such as temperature requirements.

Thank you for sharing, Josh! I’m glad to hear the light has helped improve the health of your plants. It sounds like they are all doing well and developing nice color, especially the flytraps. Take care and happy growing!

thank you for the response! i already added a fan to cool off the grow light. it read to be about 200 degrees F, but i added a fan and thee temp on the thermostat reads 20 degrees Celsius which is 68 degrees F but yes the plants arent drooping only one plant which is 1 years old from a rhizome cutting! the nepenthes ventrata and the sundew seem to be responding well, i fed my b52 cultivar some blood worms not too long ago and it closed quicker than it did before under the red blue yescom panels, a typical i rescued started growing cilia on the newest trap it formed, it was extremely light deprived when i got it out of the mail now it is coming in with tons of red instead of a pale green like when it came out of the mail box, my jaws started growing red traps and upright stems once i got it under proper lighting, a typical i received from a neighbor actually started growing super low to the ground and with beautiful red traps, i have gotten 3 divisions from all my typicals and they are all deep red so are my jaws divisions! just sharing how happy and the success i have gotten to through these 13 years, hopefully your plants are well! stay warm and keep your plants warm