Friday, June 5, 2026

Spotlight

Even though the succulents are in the greenhouse, the amount of sunlight each receives during the day varies due to the shelves, walls, and the surrounding trees. So, taking no chances, I put 'Lola' under a Sansi growlight in her big new pot. It was still light out this evening when I snapped this, but obviously most of the illumination is coming from the Sansi. Cue the dramatic music.

I needed a bracket that was about 10 inches long with a base no more than four inches high so it would fit on a lateral beam. The outside brackets I am going to replace are long enough, but they are too tall. Rather than spending all day looking, I made one on the 3D printer. My rudimentary design skills are enough to produce such a thing. Due to printer size limitations, the length is 9.25 inches, so I slid the pot back 3/4ths of an inch. Now I'm printing a second one for the Aeonium 'Floresens.'

I don't know if the 3D printer actually saves money on such things, but it appears rudimentary 10-inch brackets are about $18 for a pair. BambuStudio claims that the pair I am making costs less than $2. They didn't have to be too sturdy since they are just holding up one light bulb, but still.

Those big pots looked so dry, so I watered them today. I also added a small cutting of SunSparkler 'Lime Twister' hardy sedum to the big grow bag. It's not really a cutting; it broke off when I was potting up the main plant six weeks ago and has been in a 2-inch pot since then.