Indoor lighting for winter - Brazilian Rain Tree

[Paradox]

I dont use a humidifier in the room I have mine. I dont even know what the humidity is down there honestly.
If you think you need more humid, you can put water in the tray underneath.

 

[Omar]

Here is the final setup as of now. I bought a small fan for circulation and put the tree on a humidity tray for humidity. The area stays a constant 76-78 degrees and about 45-50% humidity.

Next I will be looking for reflective material for the back and sides, as well as some sort of rack to replace the plastic bin contraption it's sitting on.

Any comments or suggestions are appreciated! Is the temperature/humidity ok? Or should I look for a small humidifier?

In my personal experience I'd advise to not use a humidifier. I tried one once and got mold on every single one of my trees. If you can enclose it in something like a makeshift greenhouse that'll help raise humidity and you can just spray with water. Water in a tray is useless and will do nothing to help raise relative humidity in an open space like yours. As long as your temp isn't dipping below 60 I think your current setup is great to get you through the winter.

 

[Rodrigo]

In my personal experience I'd advise to not use a humidifier. I tried one once and got mold on every single one of my trees. If you can enclose it in something like a makeshift greenhouse that'll help raise humidity and you can just spray with water. Water in a tray is useless and will do nothing to help raise relative humidity in an open space like yours. As long as your temp isn't dipping below 60 I think your current setup is great to get you through the winter.

I took the door off the closet thinking it would be safer than having a light on in an enclosed area that small. (and of course so I could look at it at any time) Do you think I should put it back on for humidity purposes and keep it closed?

 

[Omar]

I took the door off the closet thinking it would be safer than having a light on in an enclosed area that small. (and of course so I could look at it at any time) Do you think I should put it back on for humidity purposes and keep it closed?

Again closing the door will have a minimal effect on humidity, if any. I wouldn't worry about that, just keep it well watered, keep an eye on it and let it do its thing.

 

[my nellie]

In my personal experience I'd advise to not use a humidifier. I tried one once and got mold on every single one of my trees... ...

As long as the air is moving around the plants (see in the photo the fan on the ceiling) there is no risk for mold development.

 

[my nellie]

@Rodrigo bare with me asking my question within your thread.
I have also posted it in the other thread regarding Lighting for Beginners and perhaps you might be interested, too.

... ...I have one table with 6 of these over it and another shelf with 3 over it. They are on from 7AM until 11PM... ...

Sandy, do you think plants need some period of complete dark round the clock?
I have a small aquarium which I use as a greenhouse for my orchids. There is one Sylvania Grolux lamp set up and a small pc fan and it is positioned in front of a balcony glass door.
I read that plants growing indoors under lights need at least 16 hours of lighting and I have adjusted the timer accordingly from 18:00 pm to 10:00 am
As the aquarium is positioned in front of the glass door the plants are never in completely dark condition.

 

[Rodrigo]

@Rodrigo bare with me asking my question within your thread.
I have also posted it in the other thread regarding Lighting for Beginners and perhaps you might be interested, too.

Sandy, do you think plants need some period of complete dark round the clock?
I have a small aquarium which I use as a greenhouse for my orchids. There is one Sylvania Grolux lamp set up and a small pc fan and it is positioned in front of a balcony glass door.
I read that plants growing indoors under lights need at least 16 hours of lighting and I have adjusted the timer accordingly from 18:00 pm to 10:00 am
As the aquarium is positioned in front of the glass door the plants are never in completely dark condition.

Don't worry, Nellie, we're all here to learn. You can ask all the questions you need to. The darkness thing is actually something I was wondering as well so it'll be good to know.
I have mine at about 12-13 hours of light on, should I be making sure they get 16 like you mentioned?

 

[Paradox]

@Rodrigo bare with me asking my question within your thread.
I have also posted it in the other thread regarding Lighting for Beginners and perhaps you might be interested, too.

Sandy, do you think plants need some period of complete dark round the clock?
I have a small aquarium which I use as a greenhouse for my orchids. There is one Sylvania Grolux lamp set up and a small pc fan and it is positioned in front of a balcony glass door.
I read that plants growing indoors under lights need at least 16 hours of lighting and I have adjusted the timer accordingly from 18:00 pm to 10:00 am
As the aquarium is positioned in front of the glass door the plants are never in completely dark condition.

Are the lights on all night? If you adjust the time that the lights are on so that they are off at night when its dark outside, and you are sleeping, they will get complete dark (?).

Not sure if they need a period of complete darkness, but they do get that in nature. I do know that their physiology changes during the day vs the night

 

[Bonsaikev1985]

My 2 large BRT’s are in their 3rd year of being brought inside for winter. I use one 4foot/T5/2bulb daylight spectrum. They both sit under it and they’re happy all winter. I also have a humidifier I run for a couple hours a day, rotating fan (hitting them slightly) mostly for moving air around in the room, and most only once a day if that. They stay happy and green. I even have to prune back once a month to keep maintained. It’s simple, people make it out to be some crazy over whelming process.

 

[Paradox]

It’s simple, people make it out to be some crazy over whelming process.

Once you get a handle on it, but there are a lot of things to consider and you need to learn the lingo.

People new to lighting get all the different terms thrown at them: watts, lumens, kelvin, color spectrum, PAR, and there are a few different configurations T8, T5, fluorescent, LEDs, yadda, yadda. It can be very confusing to a beginner. There are no guides as to how much light is enough light, how many bulbs of what wattage/lumens.

It's not as simple as putting a single incandescent grow bulb above a tree and call it good.

 

[Timbo]

I have to use a humidifier in my small house or the humidity will get below 30% and my tropical trees will brown or drop leaves. If i keep it around 50% they seem to do OK, except my Delonix Regia still drops leaves ALL the time.

I use a clip lamps for some of my indoor trees with a LED bulb...it's works well for me and gives out good light...only issue is the clamp itself is weak, I try to hang it.
Can't fit a 2-4 ft. light in some of my spaces I have.

 

[Rodrigo]

Well I wanted to thank everyone for their suggestions and input. After yellowing a few leaves while it got used to the new lighting, all of the dormant buds starting opening and it seems to be loving the light I got it.

The question now is, do I raise the lights or prune the shoots that touch the bulbs? The new tiny leaves can get surprisingly close without burning but if they come in contct for a while, they do start to burn.
Front:
Back:

 

[cbroad]

It all depends on what you want to do with the tree, whether you're trying to grow out more or work on ramification. Just keep in mind the light intensity decreases pretty quickly as the distance from the light increases. So by raising the light, it could effect the interior growth and lower branches. If it was me, I'd raise the light though.

 

[Rodrigo]

There is some structural pruning that I need to do in the summer, than start working on ramification, so for now I'd just like to maintain it as is. So I think I'll take your advice and let it grow out some and cut it back when it gets too long, raising the light in the meantime.

Do the newest shoots need to be directly in the light if they'll be getting cut off anyways? In other words, can I move them so they grow past the light so I don't have to raise it so much?

 

[cbroad]

I've never grown a BRT, but I don't see why you couldn't wire them horizontally, assuming this won't affect the structure you have planned for the tree. Now if the growing tips are out of the light, it could have some affect, but it would probably only cause more interior buds to grow which might not be a bad thing...