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Growing cactus under Sodium/metal halide lighting |
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For a few years here at Cactusheaven we have been growing our plants including Lophophora (peyote) through the winter months under lights so they continue to grow, flower and produce seeds. Also, the method used here can be used by anyone at any time of the year without the right light levels, or no light at all (basements, grow rooms) to grow the plants successfully.
As a result we can now pass on to you the successful methods and equipment used.
Before I go on please let me offer you this advice: buy the best equipment you can afford as it is going to be used in an area with water around and also in your home, so you need to be safe. Buy properly constructed equipment that is tested, not knocked up in some Far East sweat shop just to be cheap. We have seen cheap ballasts being sold on eBay with exposed wiring and no proper outer casings (there are reasons why this crap is cheap).
Water and electricity together can kill you so buy the best. It will cost more because proper manufacturers build to a recognised standard, they don't cut corners and their equipment is safe to use. Buy known brands from reputable dealers, as your life is worth the extra few pounds and hey, we want you around as a customer for as long as possible!!
250 watt son-t-plus bulb
Shade
Ballast
Contact
Timer
Mylar film
I have read many views on how this should be achieved and seen lights up to 1000 watts recommended. This is our account and as I said before it works well for us with all cacti, Lophophora (peyote) in particular, it is also very good if you are growing seedlings grafted on Pereskiopsis, as the Pereskiopsis should be kept warm and watered throughout the winter.
A 1000 watt light is not necessary and is wasteful for growing cactus. Lights this large are fine for growing tall leafy plants that need light to penetrate all the layers of leaves, but as a cactus is only one set of leaves we reduced the bulbs by 75% (this saves a lot on the electricity bill as well). After testing lights of different power and spectrums the best results were achieved with 250 watt sodiums.
For 1 square metre of floor space (approx 1sq yard or 100 x 10cm/4inch pots) we use one maxi bright reflector and one 250 son-t-plus bulb (this bulb offers a good spectrum with excellent results for both growth and flowering). The shade is hung approx 60cm (2 ft) above the plants. If, as in this case the plants are being grown out in the green house through the winter (October to February) they are placed in heated propagators (heat mats). The propagating trays are unnecessary if grown inside the home or in the greenhouse for the summer months. The whole area is lined with mirror reflective Mylar film to make use of all the available light. The timers set to give a day length of 18 hours; the plants are watered every few days and fed every few weeks.
In the spring and summer I remove the reflective film from the greenhouse, but still supplement the sun light from March to September, with the lights on in the morning 6 to 8 am and in the evening 8 to 10 pm.
A bonus is that in the winter months the greenhouse will need very little extra heat as the heat from the lights will be sufficient, apart from the coldest days.
The plants have flowered and grown well, in fact it appears that the flowers are bigger and last longer. We are also really impressed with the spines on the fero cactus that in the UK tend to be rather weak. We have all seen the Spanish imports that have nice large spines and over the years get smaller, well after 4 years with the supplemented light they have maintained nice strong spines. It's nice to see the late summer autumn flowering plants (Latispinus, acanthodes etc) in full flower, as normally in the UK they abort their buds. We will continue growing the lophs and a good range of plants this way. We are at the moment testing the new envirolights to see what results we can achieve with these. These will be a god send for those of you growing in the home as heat output of these are very low and now available with cool blue (vegative growth) and warm red lights (flowering) that can be fitted in a shade together.
© Divine Cactus 2006
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