Seedlings BEST light question.

[JCcares]

I am a newbie I grew some cacti from seed they are 9 months old. My Question is;

I have these cactus seedlings I grew 9 months old now. I understand NO Direct sunlight.

What I want to learn is what would be the “best kind of light” for them to Thrive. My good artificial indoor light “Maxsisun MF2000 or outdoors in the “shade” no Direct sunlight just out side somewhere where the sun light never touching my baby cactus?

Thank you for much for sharing your experience .

[mmcavall]

For outdoors: filtered sunlight, for example under a shade cloth. Or in the shade, sunrays never touching them directly, but not deep shade...somewhere very close to sunrays is ideal. You can slowly adapt them to some sun. For me, when they are 9 months old they are already outside the bag/box, taking some sun.

[jerrytheplater]

My two week old Frailea seedlings are getting filtered sunlight now. They are under a screen with about 35% opening. I'll be increasing the light as they got older over a period of a week or two. Even as adults they don't really want full unfiltered sun.

It would help it you'd tell us where you are growing your plants, this forum has members scattered all over the globe. Some see monsoons, some are full desert.

[JCcares]

Thank you. Thank you for your eagerness to share your knowledge and experience to care for cacti. I want to give them the best of care. It took me a year to find this blog and hope in the future to be more of an asset instead of a liability.

I am in Hickory NC. We have 4 perfectly equal seasons spring summer fall winter exactly 3 months each, Amazing. We get one good snow a year summers Average around 86°F 30 Celsius.

Forgive this question but can anyone show me what “filtered sun looks like? A picture is worth 1000 words.

[jerrytheplater]

Filtered sun: sunlight that is being partly blocked by leaves or grasses. Picture a cactus growing in the midst of tall grass. It won't see direct sun, but filtered sun-the sun will be partially obstructed by the grass or leaves.

Deep shade: the light found under a grove of evergreen trees, or in the middle of a dense forest. Or even on the North side of a house, that kind of light is really not good for a cactus at all.

You can also buy shade cloth with varying levels of shade expressed as percentages. 50% shade cloth means it only allows half of the sun hitting it to get through. Even plain window screens do not allow 100% of the air or light to get through. The actual wires of the screen block the air/light. Screening is sometimes sold on its actual open area. An example for a window screen is about 65% of the area is open, so it blocks 35% of the air/light going through it.

Curtains on windows block light and they can vary too. Some curtains are very sheer and allows lots of light through. Some don't allow any direct sun to come through, but are very bright. Others can totally block the light and make it dark inside.

[jerrytheplater]

Look at the photo's I posted last spring where I was shading my new transplanted plants for a short period of time before letting them see full sun. This will show you what you can do to get filtered sunlight.

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