Where to start? Probably with the amount of light that African violets will thrive on. Winter sunlight is not enough. There is not enough, and a window is not always the best place.
Violets do best with at least twelve to sixteen hours of light a day. That’s far more than we can get through a window during the winter. It’s much easier to supply artificial light evenly for your violet. Normal tungsten bulbs are too hot. Violets prefer daytime temperatures below 78 degrees - and night temperatures above 60. Even the light from a single florescent desk lamp will work wonders if it’s placed just over the violet.
At present I’m trying a CFB placed about 14 inches above the single plant. It’s a warm daylight bulb with (approx) brightness of a 100 watt light bulb.
(It’s a Greenlite 23w/ELS 2700k bulb T2)
It runs cool enough so the plant is not being scorched. A timer turns the light on at 9:00 am, and off at 10:30 pm.
Next - Making watering and feeding easy!
Seems to be working, the violet is not screaming...kidding.
ReplyDeleteyes, your violet looks content...not sweating from the heat...and not shivering from the cold! perfect!
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting about the violets. I didn't realize that they required that much light, Rusty! Maybe I'll pick one up. Hey, can I use one of those "bankers lamps"?
ReplyDeleteOK,now what is a 'bankers lamp'? If you mean something around the size of a 12 inch fluorescent rated between 24 and 30 watts - yes. In fact that is exactly how I discovered how to get a violet to grow. I had tried before but ended up killing two - the window light was just not enough. The third try was heading the same way until I decided to give it more light by my computer desk. It worked! It's not the best - but it should work.
ReplyDeleteEnjoying catching up here.
ReplyDelete