Thank you thank you ewwmayo I am rather excited about this especially because one of my lithops seems to be developing new leaves or something (the other ones look rather poorly..hmph) but this happened after a week of the light (okay maybe not related but it is one of the closest to the light)

Ok I give up.

Thanks for answering my questions, I was really confused by the coverage! I went and measured everything again and looks like I am in dire need of a refresh in basic math. Looks like my plants actually occupy 4 sq ft, which sort of explains why the LED light is only covering roughly half of the area..when hanging 11" away though. I think another light is in order. (Gah the purple!)

I think that's a really good point about how much light bottom leaves are getting depending on the shape/structure/leafiness of the plant. I didn't know lower leaves will grow bigger to try to get more light, bigger/fatter is definitely what I want in my plants. I would have been afraid bottom leaves would shrivel but I guess that's more due to "natural" shriveling and lack of water.

So that's the purpose of reflectors..! Literally it just clicked in my head. To bounce more light towards the bottom/sides. Huh, this is similar to the whole water from bottom or top argument. It's true they get their water/condensed moisture from top in nature but in artificial environment we can lack in a lot of other areas...airflow/dryness I suppose...which makes water from bottom a lot safer..

Okay I will wait and see!! Couple of weeks eh! Haha vertical height..definitely don't mind limiting that for some of my etiolated plants..

Guess vertical height might be an issue with jades? Hmm..

So the whole cycle thing doesn't matter..? But obviously still water with caution...don't just jump straight back to some summer water schedule. That's really good to hear because it's so cheap to run this light (almost typed "these lights" but realized I don't have two yet).

I know everyone says this, so you must be tired of hearing this, but wow always great indoors setup. I just noticed you grouped your plants in terms of..lighting needs/type. Very cool.

My setup is crude to say the least, involves a newly installed curtain rod with extendable brackets, a long extension cord with a switch...and an alligator clip. I think the maintenance people doing their hedge trimming or whatever they do out there when they're walking by are totally weirded out by it.

Anyways, THANKS! I'm glad my approach is not completely wrong, whew. Will see if adjustments are needed.

Ealdwood - Did your Lithops start flowering yet?

For day/light cycle it's all your preference. I chose to keep altering my lighting schedule to match sunrise/sunset at home, seems to be working alright so far?

Thanks! Organizing them according to needs really makes them easier to grow. It's still not exactly the perfect arrangement that I want but I'll get there eventually.

Oh noo not close at all, but those little leaves are still growing so that's a good sign. Those are leaves right? Not those..flower inflorescence things that mean a flower stalk is about to grow...

The only succulent that's flowered under my case was a h. attenuata, little delicate white flowers. I will be crazy happy if a lithops flowers, cross fingers.

Pretty sure they are flowers. If you take a closer look, is it similar to this emerging bud on the left? Hopefully you have done it!

It does look like that! Ohhh, I was thinking of pleiospillos nelii and how they renew with leaves from the middle.

Anticipation....

Awesome!!

I don't really know how Pleiospillos behave (other than photos and seeing them at the store)... mine is still sitting like a lump since I got it in June. Some days the leaves are a little closer together, other times a bit further apart. I soak it in water once a week and it hasn't exploded yet? *no idea*.

Edit: added a photo comparison. Perhaps it's a little bigger?

ealdwood

It's probably too early to tell, but how do you like the LED bulb so far?
Rina

ewwmayo- Nice pictures!! Well it definitely looks really good. I didn't know the leaves would do that through time, I wonder if they're preparing to grow the next set in the middle when they grow closer like that. Do you remember what you used in that mix and/or top dressing? if you don't mind me asking (hope I didn't ask this before).

hey rina!

I've been using it 2, maybe 3 weeks, it's not doing any harm so far, and seems to be doing some good with one of my bigger lithops putting forth bud-things. But that was only after 1 week of the light, might have been due more to the right season, me changing it to a bigger pot (the one it was in originally was tiiiinnnyy), with better soil suited for the taproots.

I'm trying to get my cotyledon tomentosa (bear paws) plant to grow back to normal with this light. It's skinny and etiolated, and when I looked at its roots they were really short and wimpy looking (which may or may not be the reason for how it looks). I gave it mostly gritty mix with like 20% soil mixed in. I did that...a month/2 mo ago...not dying on me...I just hope it's not dying gradually on me. I think if it doesn't get better next Spring...I might give it more c&s soil. Just because I've seen fat bear paw plants in what looks like high soil content mixes.

I got over the purple too, it's not that bad. The second light is arriving this week woot.

ewwmayo, rina,

You both don't use LEDs right? I hope these arn't too weak...we'll see.

Edit: Here's a pic!

Ealdwood - Nice bud! Are you betting on what colour the flower will be? =P

My top dressing here is National Geographic Pebble Beach substrate with a little Top Fin Premium Polished gravel. The soil mix is 80% grit and 20% turface/bark. In hot temperatures I had to water every 2 days, but now things have settled down and it's just a very light watering every 4 days now.

I don't own any Cotyledon's (yet), but I do see a few types in the store frequently.

No LEDs for me, at least not for growing. Who knows!

ealdwood

Very nice! I bet you are excited - I would be too. I have only fluoros and CFL's right now, but am thinking of getting one or two LED's and experiment, see if there is any difference in growing. Still not ready with lights at all (in middle of reno!), but getting really anxious...worry about plants 'suffering'...Rina

: D I was expecting yellow, and I'm trying not to cheat by waiting for strips of color to show.

That's a nice look ewwmayo, your top dressing, and good to know I'll be sure to get my mix right next time I acquire a pleiospilos nelii.

rina- I am very thrilled, it's the most obvious sign I've gotten that I'm doing something right with them lol. CFLs sound pretty cool, I was looking into them but my S.O. insisted LEDs only. Oh well.

Did you have to move your plants around for the reno-ing?

ealdwood

LEDs are even more efficient than CFLs, so you can't loose (little more to purchase thou).

(Not only reno, but moving too...the reno is never-ending. When I think I am finished, I realize that something else could/should be improved...)

Rina

Interesting discussion. Any update on the LED lights? I have used a lot of other lights, reflectors, etc but yet try LEDs. Here are some further thoughts on it.

If light has to reach far it needs to be focussed/collimated in addition to more power. Flash lights are designed to do this with a twist of the lenses they have. But it is useless for plants since it will cast very deep shadows and light up a tiny area. A wide source of light is better for the plants. Reflector and lens designs try to optimize this. But reflected light also follows the same inverse square law. More reflections and scattering, the less intense light is. But it is better than nothing. Rotating and moving plants around every few days is a cheap way of providing light to all parts of the plant. Surrounding the plants with boards painted white also helps but reduces air flow considerably.

The purple look of the LED grow light is a bit of a concern for me. After all, the reason for growing plants is to admire and appreciate their vibrant colours. Although, I probably get to see them for an hour or less most days.

Oh yes I remembered a Q&A on amazon for this product where someone calculated out how much it would cost to turn this on for a day...it came out in cents or something. I think that's pretty cool because I don't pay enough attention to this and then who knows what could result from me turning something on without regards to the time/rate.

Lol oh no, I think the pursuit of perfection really makes all this worthwhile, sounds like a lot of big changes!

tropicofcancer-

I don't have a real update on the LEDs yet but I am planning to take some better solo 'first time' shots today so I can start building up progression shots to see if things improve. Unscientifically, just from looking I will just venture to say that maybe it's doing the top leaves of my c. tomentosa some good, and maybe it kicked a lithops into some flowering action.

My biggest pain point with this product is that this circular pool of light isn't covering enough of my plants, but I think it's really because of my own doing: My pot sizes are different from each other which creates a lot of wasted space in between plants. Currently the light is centered on a c. tomentosa, while covering a small eu. obesa, little bit of my lithops, an echeveria (No ID), maybe one or two more plants. If all my pots were squares/circles...I think I would be able to cover 4 more small plants.

That's another thing I like about those fluorescent bars that I've seen in pictures, square/rectangular is quite efficient space-wise.

Pic from this morning:

Pic from just now:

Maybe I should have rotated the pot so it wouldn't be so tilted huh.

Do I just sit back and admire it now? I can't really do anything with the pollen and stamen and etc I don't think?

Woo! I've been collecting a bit of pollen from my flowering plants in plastic bags. I need to add some dessicant to my plastic bags:

http://www.aos.org/Default.aspx?id=722

Most of the threads online about storing pollen are by marijuana growers and it seems like they've been pretty successful.

Not sure what others are doing. =)

: O

Niceeee, thanks for the link. I was thinking about this! Going to do some reading on this..ugh I haven't even grown anything from seed and I'm thinking of storing pollen.. Sigh. Well something interesting to do!

Woot! Blooms coming through for my little m. Plumosa. Is it normal for it to bloom so early? Hope I'm not messing with its flowering season...

A fuzzy pot?!

Is felting your other hobby? lol...

It is definitely ready for the winter, all snuggled up in the warm and fuzzy. Mus like it, it's blooming!

Rina

omg thats adorkable.

is the pot in a fabric sock like thing, or is the growing media directly sitting in the fabric? or whatever it is - what is it? looks sort of like wool.

if you have more, please share pictures!

Daniel

Fuzzy cacti in a fuzzy pot, very cute :) !

ewwmayo lol! gosh I was too lazy to crop the pot out and now that's the first thing that's commented on! haha.

rina Naah I've only felted twice, I still have some felt left over! I'm hoping it is happy...a sweatered cactus..

Daniel -Totally not practical... : ) It's a felted "pot cover" that I felted and tugged over the clay pot inside. Always have to be pull it out of the way when I'm watering. And I made the pot way too small so the poor cactus doesn't have room to grow. (I know cacti like to have a smallish pot for their roots to sort of reach out against...but even with that in mind I know this pot is claustrophobically small) I haven't made any other felted pots but they're definitely cute decor. For things that don't need water.. lol.

mintylemonade- I definitely take things too literally sometimes.

The pot is cute! Haha, it was just so unexpected. Grats on the bloom!