Skylites

[roadrunner]

Charlie in my quest for creating more usable space for my continuely growing collection I'm considering adding a skylite to brighten up a portion of a room since I only get direct sunlight inside for a few months during winter.  The increasing size of my collection will be creating a very crowded situation in front of my 3 south facing windows.  In the past I've overwintered pentas in the house on the floor under an existing skylite but while they continued to bloom the plants tended to get very leggy and weak.  In this case the new 2' by 4' skylite would be above a large entertainment center where the hibs will sit so the pots will be about 2 1/2 to 3 feet below it, much closer to the light.  This room is currently fairly dark except for the light coming from the existing skylite barely visible in the upper left part of the photo.  The entertainment center is behind the ficus tree in the attached photo.  What do you think?

dave

[Charlie]

So the hibs will sit directly on top of the entertainment center? That's quite high up which should be a warm spot as well as bright. Sky lights in winter are affected by the lower angle of the sun during those months which will lessen the light but I bet it's still adequate. Are your winters cloudy or sunny? The first person who told me that their hibiscus in Arizona did great turned out to grow them year-round under a skylight in the entry to their house. I'm not sure how big it was but it worked for them with their hibiscus. I'd say go for it and will be very surprised if it does not provide adequate light for growth and maybe even for some blooming.

Charlie

[roadrunner]

Yes the hibs will be on top of the entertainment center.  Foliage house plants do fine on the floor but last winter it wasn't enough light for any hibs I tried on the floor under the other skylite.  I also have another skylite of similar size where I'm going to put a 1' by 4 or 5' shelf at about the same distance from it.  Hopefully between the two areas I can keep at least 20 of my 6" and smaller 8" pot plants.  As far as our winter weather goes we get a mix of sun and cloudy days depending on how far south the storm track comes, but usually lots more sun than clouds.  Assuming I get this done I'll let you know how it works out.

My greenhouse which technically really isn't one has a 4' by 6' skylite in the center of the ceiling and of course has the filon sides.  There are exterior and interior photos of it in the World Gardens section, S Arizona.

dave

[roadrunner]

I got ambitious over the weekend and put the 1' by 4' shelf under the skylite I mentioned in an earlier post.  The 6 hibs on the shelf are all recent purchases either in the original 4" pots or moved up to 6" size.  Hopefully the next couple of months will indicate whether this is enough light for them to grow properly and maybe even bloom. If so I'll get another skylite installed above the entertainment center that was also mentioned earlier and have another area to overwinter some of this rapidly increasing collection.  The shelf is 30" below the skylite so it will limit the height of plants I can put on it.

dave

[Charlie]

It sure looks like enough light. With these photos you will be able to compare growth after a month or two. These sky lights are a very good idea, seems to me.

Charlie

[Cindy]

That skylite looks great, Dave! Your hibiscus should love that spot.
Cindy

[roadrunner]

Apparently spider mites love the spot too.  It is surprising that the spider mites have already found them, well one of them anyway.  Magic Crystal has had a couple of the mottled yellow leaves this week and sure enough there are a few mites visible on it.  Amazing how quickly the mites find them.  These 6 plants are new and have never been outside.  One thing that puzzles me is that I have a few houseplants like crotons that are notorious spider mite magnets and yet have never had one mite on any of them, some I've had for 20 years, so where are these little monsters hanging out?  They all got sprayed with BioNeem this morning.

dave