Lighting for a Weeping fig

[Chammy007]

The instructions for caring for my Wintergreen Weeping Fig Trees is below.

For the Wintergreen Weeping Fig tree we recommend to water it only when the top several inches of the soil are dry. Avoid cold drafts, dry heat, and sudden temperature changes. The plant does like some humidity as well therefore a mist to the tree's leaves occasionally is recommended to prevent them from drying out.
I have a SANSI LED Grow Light
Does the Sansi emit dry heat?
thanks

 

[Lindasjackson]

I guess it would because it’s a light but I don’t think it’s that drying. If it were really hot then it would. I have a weeping fig and use a sansi. I just got the weeping fig so we will see how the sansi will effect it. I don’t have my sansi on every day though. I only turn it on like every couple of days.

 

[MissSkittles]

My weeping fig has had a few leaves burn as they were almost directly beneath the lights, but the rest is doing fine. In 2 years of searching, it’s the only weeping fig I could find and it’s a bit taller than I’d have liked. I could only trim some much before I ended up with just a tree trunk.

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

The instructions for caring for my Wintergreen Weeping Fig Trees is below.

For the Wintergreen Weeping Fig tree we recommend to water it only when the top several inches of the soil are dry. Avoid cold drafts, dry heat, and sudden temperature changes. The plant does like some humidity as well therefore a mist to the tree's leaves occasionally is recommended to prevent them from drying out.
I have a SANSI LED Grow Light
Does the Sansi emit dry heat?
thanks

IDK that I'd call it "dry heat" in this context; enclosure humidity will more than make up for it as far as the Ficus is concerned. I do know that before my Ficus got parasites, it loved that Sansi light.
Too close, and it likely will burn leaves, but other lights of that intensity will also. Branches that close should likely be pruned a tad anyway to keep chams from getting too much UVB.

 

[Lindasjackson]

IDK that I'd call it "dry heat" in this context; enclosure humidity will more than make up for it as far as the Ficus is concerned. I do know that before my Ficus got parasites, it loved that Sansi light.
Too close, and it likely will burn leaves, but other lights of that intensity will also. Branches that close should likely be pruned a tad anyway to keep chams from getting too much UVB.

Very true

 

[Chammy007]

What effect does uvb and a basking bulbs have on the ficus plants?

 

[Lindasjackson]

I really do know but maybe someone else does. I’d be interested to know as well.

 

[Chammy007]

.

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

What effect does uvb and a basking bulbs have on the ficus plants?

Nothing deleterious.

Plants do not need UV, but it shouldn't harm them as long as they have a good plant light as well. They do need red & blue wavelengths as part of a full/daylight spectrum. (No colored lights)

A good LED plant light (e.g. this one) will supply all the Ficus needs, but you still need the other 2 lights for the chameleon.

 

[dinomom]

What effect does uvb and a basking bulbs have on the ficus plants?

I wouldn't worry about them, almost all ficus suffer because of too much water or too little light-there really cannot be enough light. I have one in Dino's outside cage, it sits in 90 degree INTENSE sun (not when Dino is in it of course, he only goes out when temps are moderate!). I let it get "dry as a bone" before watering.

My concern is if it is in an enclosure and gets water every day it will suffer and die.

 

[Wain7906]

Yes I have a Ficus Tree for mines. And noticed that my misting system was over watering it along with other plants that I have in the enclosure. I took the Ficus out so it could enjoy its last couple days of summer. Did notice 4 new leaves growing in towards the bottom.

 

[Chammy007]

I have a mistking and a uvb and basking bulbs and a Sansi growlight. I'll have a Jackson's Xanth soon. How often should lights be on and off? And the same with the mistking. How much and how often? With the longevity of the ficus plants in mind. thanks

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

Does the Sansi emit dry heat?

Yes, but that shouldn't be a problem. Most of the heat from that light goes upward; very little will reach the ficus unless the leaves are all up in its business.

I have a mistking and a uvb and basking bulbs and a Sansi growlight. I'll have a Jackson's Xanth soon. How often should lights be on and off?

Plant light: 12 on/12 off.
UVB: Some do 12/12; I do an hour after "lights-on" until an hour before "lights-off" because very little (if any) UVB gets through the early morning & late afternoon atmosphere.

This has an added bonus of extending the life of the UVB bulb by up to 2 months.
Basking light: Opinions on this vary, and some are experimenting. You can run it 12/12, and if your chameleon doesn't want it, s/he'll probably just not perch under it. If you find your cham only basks during certain hours, you can time it for that. Any time the enclosure temp reaches or exceeds basking temperature, there's no need to have the basking light on, so some keepers combine the basking timer with a thermostatic control.

I would let the care sheets and archives be my guide.
https://chameleonacademy.com/jacksons-chameleon-care/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/search/1400909/?q=jackson's+basking&c[title_only]=1&o=relevance

And the same with the mistking. How much and how often? With the longevity of the ficus plants in mind. thanks

That second part could be tricky, but plenty of people do it successfully.

IMO, there are 2 parts to misting—duration and frequency.
Since I use distilled water (distilled or RO are recommended by MistKing), I don't want to waste a lot just running down the drain. With everything else in the enclosure in-place, I manually turned on the mister and let it run until water began running down the drain. This came out to 2 min., so that is my duration.

Frequency—like establishing the basking site—may be a trial & error process, and depends on several variables, including ambient temp & humidity, how challenging target temp & humidity are/can be to achieve & maintain, how long it takes for the misted enclosure to completely dry out, and whether or not you use a fogger. At the minimum, mist at/near lights-on & lights-off. If you don't use a dripper, I would mist at/near noon to make sure drinking water is available.

Nighttime misting sessions depend on use of a fogger and if you're achieving & maintaining nighttime humidity.

Sorry there are no "one-size-fits-all" answers to this.