Opuntia 'Sapphire Wave'

Growing SO tall & SO fast! #pricklypear #sapphire-wave #indoorgrowing #growlights #ohiowinter #succulentsunday #cacti

@KelsiBriana all of my plants are inside for the winter under grow lights & I have it set on a timer to be on for 16hrs a day! Shouldn’t that be enough ? I thought it was growing pretty oddly but just in past 4 wks it has grown probably 4 inches with new growth also 🤷🏼‍♀️

@KelsiBriana ugh! Yeah after you said that I was reading about this and I guess this new growth isn’t healthy 😔🤔... the plant is directly underneath the grow lights but the light is hanging and the plant is on the floor, maybe the light is a little too far away even though it should be reaching it? The grow light is LED and it was $150 from amazon so I think it’s a pretty nice one 🤷🏼‍♀️😬 ... some of my others are stretching but i figures it’s probably bc they aren’t right under the light

@KelsiBriana Sunlight is a major factor, but fertilizers and watering schedules play a part, too. Overfertilized succulents can etiolate from too much nitrogen intake, especially during the wintertime when plant food isn't needed. Same with watering, which should be reduced during the winter months. If all three of those variables are in order, the opuntia should be fine. I'm also curious about the growlights used, mostly because 16 hours per day sounds like too much.

@KelsiBriana so what I read last night was that I should actually trim off these long stretches out ones ? 😟

@DonNotDonny @KelsiBriana So I actually have not fertilized my plant at all - does that mean anything either way? 😬 I’ve been watering all of my succulents every 3-4weeks while they’ve been indoors. ... just to throw it out there this is my first year having succulents, I’m a newbie so I appreciate any advice, thank you! ☺️

@KelsiBriana The only reason I have the light hanging as high as I do is because I have shelves in the room so in order for all the plants to get some light I would need it up high

I have several lighting systems for my plants. Those on shelves share one light per shelf, which spans the length of the shelf. I have two lights hooked to the ceiling on adjustable cords, and all the plants that receive light from them are grouped together directly underneath. There's about one foot of space between the ceiling fixture growlight and the plants underneath, at most.

@KelsiBriana They're both Agrobrite lights, the T5 432W models. It's not a cheap setup at about $240 and a little intense for an alocasia, but I'd recommend them for succulent use. You could try a smaller nodel from the same brand for your alocasia.

@KelsiBriana I don’t mind at all! Lol like I said any advice or tips is appreciated ☺️... I do have another light I can hang actually .. I just thought this one would be enough because it says the coverage is 6ft x 6ft ? Also some of my succulents got a little burnt so I thought adding more lights would maybe not be a good idea, now I just keep those ones on the lower shelves

@KelsiBriana these plants can be very high maintenance 🤦🏼‍♀️😆

Sorry to get in on this so late, but sounds like you have been given great info. The only thing I would add is to possibly lower the rate of water. The soil needs to be dry before it gets water. This helps them keep their water inside for dry times. Most in the #Succulent family don't need regular water, just water when needed. @KelsiBriana @DonNotDonny

#newgrowth #pricklypear #sapphire-wave #indoorgrowlights #cacti

Lots of new growth!!

Crazy new growth @MaltipooMom !! Almost looks trippy ! Lol 😆

Lots of #newgrowth! #pricklypear #sapphire-wave #indoorgrowlights #cacti

#optunia #sapphire-wave #pricklypear #indoorgrowlights #growth 🌵

This guy is loving the indoor grow lights!! #optunia #sapphire-wave #pricklypear 🌵

#opuntiasapphirewave

#opuntiasapphirewave #badboy