Ficus in The cold north ( Denmark)

Hi dreamcast

Many new doors will maybe open when I have the new lamp, and have more information about it...My tent is in a window, and give only limited Space, the tent can not be bigger.
Up to now have the light not given any problems, as also sun from the window add to the light.
I will ofcourse update later....the lamp is being made to order in China...I must be patient.

Kind regards Yvonne

Yvonne, I'm sure you will rock that light! looking forward to the update later on

The new lamp arrived today, and is up working now, it give a LOT more light than the lamp I used to use, and I expect I and my trees now will be more happy....the last 6 weeks has been without any, or just little sun..dark and cloudy

http://www.terrajova.eu/priser/NYE%20DOBBELTARMATURER%202014.pdf

It is the 120 m lamp I bought....I will ofcourse update if anything special happens...good or bad.

Kind regards Yvonne

Yvonne, That LED looks awesome! i am sure it will be great for your setup it dose not look like those bad quality Chinese made LED's that has the bad reputation for failing, and the seller is in Denmark so if it dose fail it should be no problem to get it sorted out quick and easy.

Hi Dreamcast

I have high hopes...the seller is a frind of my soon too..but hopefully does the lamp just Work   

kind regards Yvonne

This winter has been terrible gray, and only the old lamp gave light to the ficustrees...also february was gray... but the new LED lamp was now up and working. Look what a little more than one month did for this tree

Late december


Now


Kind regards Yvonne

Glad to hear the new light is working good! gotta love LED!

Any pictures of the new setup in action?

It is incredible how well you can grow Ficus in the area you live!

Temperatures here never go close to frost or freezing in my garden, but now, with autumn coming and temperatures falling below 20 degrees Celcius at night, I am already worried about winter, especially when it comes to my Ficus!

Well done, especially taking into account the variety you are growing.

Lennard

You tree is looking good Yvonne, I also find it surreal that you can grow them in the Viking country, how time has evolved.

I was paging through one of my bonsai books over the Weekend, Mame bonsai, when I noticed a absolute stunning little Elm....I then I read with great surprise that it was yours Yvonne. What about an update of that beautiful Elm tree, or have you already posted it recently and I didnt see.

Nicely done on both accounts!

Lennard why are you worried about your ficus, do you get frost?

Love and light

Hi Dreamcast, and also Lennard   

If you scroll back a little can you see my "humidhouse"....not much to look at, the new lamp is just lying on the top of the house, as it is not burning the plastic, due to the low warmth it give....Later, when the trees are in the gardenhumidhouse, will I see, if I can place it in the house, and not on the outside.

Hi Andre

The climate will become better and better for the ficustrees     ....they may in the future be able to stay outside...you know they are becomming old, the climate min my house has worked out OK for the trees.

The ulmus you talk about...send a photo from the book.....

kind regards Yvonne

Hi Andre

https://ibonsaiclub.forumotion.com/t9762-5-ulmus-nire-cuttings-facing-5th-growingseason?highlight=facing

Here you find it

Kind regards Yvonne

On summercamp from today... the 3 ficus in the last evening sun.....during daytime is the door open, in the evening closed...the wall behind facing north, heat up during daytime, and keep the trees warm during the night.


Kind regards Yvonne

As I dont want/need more arealroots to develope, and the arealroots thats already there dont need extra humid protection, as they are strong and fat enough now, do I think it is safe to let the trees enjoy the fresh air during daytime now and in the future... still they are kept out of direct sun....I close the tent for humid at night.




Ficus in the morning   

Kind regards Yvonne

Love your ficus Yvonne. They look very happy and healthy. Very inspirational to see such nice tropicals so far north. Just goes to show what can be accomplished with enough knowledge, care and love.

Mike

Is this what you call double glazing? I have no idea.... hihihhihihihihihihi

Very sweet.

Love and light

Hi Mike

Many thanks...I hope other people will do the same, ficus is a nice plant to work with   

Kind regards Yvonne

 

Andre Beaurain wrote:Is this what you call double glazing?  I have no idea....  hihihhihihihihihihi

Very sweet.

Love and light

One layer is plastic    

Kind regards Yvonne

In periodes with low light ( no sun) during winter, was I not pleased with the fairly weak new LED lamp I had invested in last winter, and I needed something better for my trees, as I could see the internodes was a bit longer now, than when I used a T5 lamp.
With Dreamcast' help have I bought 3 M30 units, one for each tree....I do look a lot forward to see, how it will work for my trees.

This is how the window used to look in gray weather...


minutes later with the new setup....


The look on how the trees was in the new light scared me, can this be healthy?...pretty is it not, looks spraypainted


Quikly I found out, by adding the old lamp in the front, removed the painted collors, and made the trees look normal again in the shaded areas...maybe in the future, if I see this setup works, will I Invest in a couple of more lamps....am planning to use mirrors in the sides of the tent ASAP


Thank you for your help Dreamcast  

Kind regards Yvonne

Yvonne, glad i could help out, and great to see you found a way to fight of those red colored shades! i hope you will like your M30's as much as i like mine.

Are you having the units laying directly on the plastic? if so i would use the frame and hang them at least a couple of cm's over the plastic.
Reason for this is the LED chips themselves do get hot and there are still some radiating heat from them, maybe if they lay direct on the plastic they can get to hot from trapped hot air and get overheated or something, or the plastic tent roof could melt.. i don't know, but IMO it feels safer to be on the safe side always.

Actually, if i where you i would raise the lights a little anyways, at that distance i have seen pale and yellow growth, bleaching i think its called, it takes some trial and error to find the best hanging distances.

Also do not use mirrors as reflective material, from what i heard it can give you serious light hot spots, like the ones you get when the sun shines on a mirror, it can burn your leaves, the best home made reflector is a flat surface painted with non shiny white paint, it is +90% reflective if i remember correctly, and it will give you a nice diffused light reflected.

Other then that i think your trees and setup looks great! simple yet very effective and energy efficient.

Hi Dreamcast

Happy you like my setup....the lamps are lying/liftet up on the 3 cm wide frames, and does not heat up the plastic underneath very much, it is the black ribs abowe that realy give the heath...hope this is enough. I will lift them up further, if  the trees bleach...for now are there 10 cm air under the plastic, and 3 cm air ower.... thank you for the warning, I will monitor them closely the next days.
I already have white paint in the window, so I will just save my money, and dont buy mirrors

All for now
Kind regards Yvonne

Yeah, as long as it is some air circulation under the light then it should be no problem, but i still feel like you have them to close to the trees, but just monitor everything closely and like you said, raise them if you see any signs of bleaching.

Another good reason to have them a little higher is so the light spectrum (red and white light) have some space to mix properly before hitting the trees, do you understand what i mean?

The heat sinks can get quite warm i know, to help the lights cool them self a little better you can always have a small fan blowing over the whole area, just to keep some air circulating around the lights.

Hi Dreamcast

"Another good reason to have them a little higher is so the light spectrum (red and white light) have some space to mix properly before hitting the trees, do you understand what i mean?"

yes, it makes a lot of sense, had the thought my selfes.

Will still Watch everything closely.

Kind regards Yvonne

Hi Dreamcast

I can only lift the units very little, the smallest bonsai is more than the max distance I can reach for the big bonsais...went to try, but from above could I see, it would be no difrence, as all the trees is  in white light seen from above, it is in the shadows red and green appears...moving the lamps slightly closer to my viewing front ( in the room) and the white "old" LED in the front solve the problem fairly nice...a stronger would be better...Natural sun will light up the shadows from the windowside....I dont think heath will be a problem.
For now am I very pleased...What do you think of this?

Kind regards Yvonne

Yvonne, i think it all sounds very good, just raise them as much as you possible can.

You can also move the smallest Ficus to the middle, this way you will use the light footprint of each light a little better and up the efficiency of the whole setup a little extra.
The small guy in the middle will then get good overlapping light from both side units as well as direct light from the one above it, therefore probably getting around the same light intensity as the 2 bigger ones witch are closer to the lights.
This is IMO the best way to place your trees under these new lights to get the most even light distribution possible.

A quick drawing to illustrate what i mean just in case.