Expert: Christopher Littrell - 11/5/2008

Question
I mentioned sometime ago, my plans for putting up a shop light that would release at least 20,000 lumens of light.  This is intended for my Nepenthes Sanguinea.

I have four bulbs that are 6200 lumens each that I wanted to use for my other plants.  However, when I mounted them into my two fish tank/terrariums, I almost burned out my eyeballs (sarcasm), and I haven't even gotten the shop light yet.  I may only use one of the bulbs and the rest as replacements.

Question 1:  I plan to place the Sanguinea in a room corner.  Do you know if the shop light can be hung vertically from the ceiling with the back of the light facing outward?

Question 2:  Do you know of any light bases that can used with the bulbs while minimizing the glare?

I'd like to give my plants plenty of light without committing luminescent suicide (more sarcasm).

I've attached a company photo of the bulb I have.  They're pretty big, almost the length from the middle finger to the elbow.

All of this is taking place in my bedroom, the best place in the house for these plants.

Answer
Hello Talisha,

Florescent lights can be hung or mounted in many different configurations. The direction will not affect the light output or the tubes. Just make sure you can access your plants and your lights come tube replacement time.

I placed my plant shelves in my bedroom as well. What I do to minimize the glare from the lights is to hang up curtains between the light and the rest of the room. I let the curtains hang only far down enough to block the light glare while still allowing me access to my plants.

What we see as glaringly bright might still be inadequate to a plant. Make sure that the Nepenthes gets at least 12,000 lumens of light or it might have difficulty making pitchers.

Good luck with your plant setup,

Christopher