Lights For New Grow Area

[Afid]

I have recently emptied my closet and put in shelving for orchids. The three main shelves 42" wide and 20" deep are spaced about 25" apart. There is a smaller shelf about 18" wide in between the middle and top big shelves (see attachment)

Does anyone have any lighting recommendations? My current plan is to put 3 or maybe 6 24" Barrina t5 LED lights (1 or 2 over each large shelf). The closet walls will be wrapped in foil insulation so there should be plenty of reflected light for the phals and bulbophyllums I plan to put under the smaller shelf.

This is my first time setting up a system like this, so if anyone has any tips or recommendations I would love to hear! Thanks in advance.

[Dimples]

I don't grow my orchids under lights. I do use supplemental lighting in the winter for some of my other houseplants, but they're not in a closet.

In the winter I use a 4-bulb 24" T5 light (vivosun brand) for a grouping of tropical houseplants growing in front of an eastern window. It's anywhere from 6-20" above them depending on how tall the plant is. Taller plants are getting about 1,000 foot candles and shorter ones are getting anywhere between 250-500fc depending on if they're in the middle or near the edge. The light is on for about 8 hours and they get a few hours of sun in the morning unless it's foggy.

I don't know what the actual output of the lights you mentioned will be, but assuming you can generate enough light for your plants, I'd be more concerned with airflow in a closed space like you're planning. LED lights don't usually give off a lot of heat, so heat gain shouldn't be an issue, but in my experience a closed space + water - air flow = problems.

If you're planning on crowding them in on the shelves then airflow will be even more important. Sounds like a fun project!