Artificial lighting

[Rozilla]

Hello everyone! My name is rose and I’ve been growing miniature species for about 6 years now. So my collection is getting quite large and my husband decided to build me a grow room in the basement. I live in upstate NY so an outdoor greenhouse is not an option. The room with be 6’x7’ and I’m having a really hard time deciding on lights. I was almost 100% set on a 630w CMH light set up and now I’m not sure. These lights give off light that is most similar spectrum to the sun and that includes what I believe to be a considerable amount of UV radiation. I like the idea of using a HID because the heat will help especially in the winter but I’m nervous the light will damage my plants. I could potentially put a piece of glass under the light and that might help. Please help!! Any info is very much appreciated.

[estación seca]

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

There is an extensive Gardening under Lights forum here, accessible from the left yellow menu.

I have grown under high-intensity sodium lights before. I won't do it again. The lights are dangerously hot.

LEDs provide a much better output of light per input of electricity, so their overall cost - fixture plus electricity - becomes much less expensive after a few years than any other available technology.

For heating your grow space, use a heater. You can use it independent of the light.

[Roberta]

First, Welcome!
Take a look at the Growing Under Lights subforum toward the bottom of the list). There are lots of ideas in there.

[DeaC]

I'm no help with this but......