Using artificial lights GREATLY increases the number of suitable areas for growing plants in your home!
Congratulations, you're obsessed with Nepenthes! Maybe your windowsills aren't big enough or bright enough, or the humidity is too low, or the temperatures are too cold. No worries! Artificial lights to the rescue!
Which Lights Should I Buy?
I remember being somewhat paralyzed by this decision - there are SO many artificial lighting options and such a bewildering array of terms to describe them that I felt utterly lost when trying to figure out which lights to buy. It was sheer dumb luck that I went to Costco with my friend (I don't have a membership - literally went for the free food samples... ) and walked past some 4 foot LED shop lights on sale for only $16 a pair! I knew the "white light LEDs" were commonly used for growing plants, but I had no idea what temperature, wattage, etc... however, the price was so good that I had to just buy them and try it out. Turns out 4000K LED shoplights are perfect for Nepenthes! I went on to read a LOT more about the photosynthetic properties of light, which is summarized in my Growing Nepenthes Indoors section. I plan on "upgrading" my lights in the future, but I guess the moral of my story is to try out different light sources and see how your plants react. They definitely don't have to be marketed as grow lights to be effective. If the temperatures stay within tolerable ranges and you see slight red blushing on the leaves combined with lots of colorful pitchers, then you are on the right track!
Making a Growing Area - Be Creative!
Once you have figured out the lights, then you can think about how you want to enclose the area to trap the heat and humidity. Most internal rooms in the home don't have high enough temperature or humidity to support Nepenthes. I have seen a myriad of different successful growing setups, ranging from converted fish tanks and closets to wire racks surrounded by plastic sheeting. Again, as long as the light, humidity, and temperature requirements in the immediate environment are met, your plants will grow! My current artificial lighting setups are a converted 40 gallon tank and metal shelves with Reflectix insulation walls secured by magnets. Details on my latest setups are included in the videos below: