I have tried the standard tube last year with the Pothos winding around a trelis in an up and down fashion. It didn't do too well(many leaves drop on the trelis & weak branches) It is not clear that has something to do with the light or the trelis or the location that gets 2-3 hours direct sun since the branches sittings on the bottom away from the light did best in size and color.
I suspect the trelised branches didn't do too well because they were too long - more than 20 feet long. After I cut them back to about 6-10 feet long, they thrived again.(without any artificial light).
One thing is quite obvious. The stronger the branches, the bigger the leaves. However, the longer the branches, the skinnier they are which lead me to think I need to keep the branch to certain length. Is there any good way to develop strong branches? I am not certain maintaining a short length would automatically force the branch & leaves to get bigger. I am nipping new buds on branches that goes over 10 feet.
I just overwatered the
plant a week ago and it has been dripping so I don't want to put a humdifier at it until it comes back normal(water wise). And I still haven't found a growth pot to double pot the whole thing. It is not easy to repot a 6 feet tall circular trelised Pothos(I built a trelis with 8 bamboo sticks close to the rim of the 12" circular pot to maximize surface area.) with 10" soil. The whole thing is very heavy.
I guess whether the more expensive full spectrum tubes do better or not depends on which range of the spectrum and intensity the particular
plant needs. I can see illum intensity and even spectrum would not matter to Pothos. Do nurseries use regular tubes too? I have seen nurseries using both - regular and the super bright tubes.
I bought the tube for an experiment to grow sun-loving tomato on the fridge top(and thinking to use it later on the Pothos. It is still too cold here in NY. I started too late in the season (with the cold weather, I am not sure starting early helps) so I thought I would catch up with a full spectrum tube shining 4 inches from the tomato
seedlings 24 hours a day. I got the first leaves in 4 1/2 days.
seed germinations probably don't need light or does it? Now, I just need to figure out a way to keep the moisture high. (currently, I put a saran wrap with holes on top of the planter to reduce moisture loss but I can probably remove it once the
seedlings start budding secondary leaves.
[ May 27, 2003: Message edited by: tomato345 ]