Too much light / leaves are red-burgandy

[Singingirl96]

10-12"...

[trdyl]

Do you have a light meter handy?

[Singingirl96]

not currently. I friend borrowed it and refuses to return it... ugh... I will soon though.

[Florida_guy_26]

You guys need to calm down and breathe- first of all, The leaves are red simply because they are getting the most light possible without leafburn. That is a GOOD thing so why stress about it? The plants do better that way then in lower light as high light helps with flowering and overall growth. So the next time you go to move them DONT they arent getting damaged so let them adjust to the light and do well in it.

[trdyl]

To give you an idea I grow most of mine in southern window sills at 3500-5000 foot-candles. If they were in low light before I would start them out at 2000 the increase to 3000 over a couple of weeks.

[johnblagg]

Originally Posted by Florida_guy_26

You guys need to calm down and breathe- first of all, The leaves are red simply because they are getting the most light possible without leafburn. That is a GOOD thing so why stress about it? The plants do better that way then in lower light as high light helps with flowering and overall growth. So the next time you go to move them DONT they arent getting damaged so let them adjust to the light and do well in it.

I am not sure this is a good thing myself and I have read a few articles online stating that the Anthocyanins can become toxic to the plant. I dont really know how true this is I just spotted a few things here and there regarding this.

I would just back off on the light untill I had jut a hint of the red instead of major red like this as I would say you are very close to damaging levels of light

[Florida_guy_26]

Well I doubt the anthocyanins become toxic at higher light levels as most orchids that grow in the wild get very bright light and are normally red tinged as well. Wouldnt that mean they would eventually die? My orchids have been red looking for some time as well and they are fine- they also bloom better when they get direct light in my tank for most of the day time. I would read a bit more about the orchids and make sure oyu know for sure if that is fact before worrying people un-neccessarily or without the facts to back it up. Look- to be honest even when the plants do get red tinge, they will adapt to the light. most of the leaves on all my orchids that turned red gradually faded back to deep green anyway so do not worry so much. I think you guys are way way too paranoid about the leaves- like i said most of mine get red tint to them, but eventually they grow out leaves that dont have the red tint on them.

[Claire25]

Florida_Guy_26, red tinged leaves due to bright light? Yes of course this can be healthy and natural; for instance, you note that your plants are red-tinged and doing fine. Bravo. But please look at the last photo Singingirl96 posted. That's not a healthy reaction to light--that's orchid barbeque. I should know, as I've been there myself quite a few times (usually when I've been anxious to get my plants some direct sun after a long winter indoors.) It's not pretty, and the leaves thus affected will not simply "fade back to deep green," as you say.

Please be cautious about saying that those of us posting to this forum need to "read a bit more about the orchids and make sure oyu (sic) know for sure if that is fact before worrying people un-neccessarily or without the facts to back it up." If we were all experts then we wouldn't need this forum, now would we? A contentious reply to good-intentioned advice on here will get us nowhere, especially when said reply is similarly based upon incomplete information.

[Florida_guy_26]

Look- I missed the photos guys and I didn't realize that the leaves were that dark. I made a mistake and just thought everyone might be overreacting as I have had some people do in the past. True the reaction to that amount of light is very severe, but if it was caused by sunlight or even a lamp, then maybe putting a sheer curtain over the window or between the plant and the light will help even out the amount of light. Those leaves did get burned but there is a red tinge around the brown- I wonder how those leaves feel to the touch- dried out and dead, or still have substance to them? Those leaves will not fade back to a dark green, but if they are still alive or even dead, then the plant just needs to be protected from any more intense light. I would watch if that was caused by the light being 12- 18" from the plant as the heat emitted from some of those mh and hps lamps is enough to scald flesh. The plant should recover in a 50% shaded area for now and watered very sparingly as the leaves probably do not lose much from transpiration if they are burned. I would mist lightly for a week or 2 and when new growths emerge, slowly increase the light to 75% or even subtly increase to direct light- the plants are fairly tough and should recover well. Claire- I was only trying to make sure singing girl did not worry about all the other things people were bringing up as it is alot to think about and johnblagg was bringing up much more advanced subjects. read his post before mine then you might understand my post. I was not meaning all of you or even you. I just think we need to stick to the simple side of this for the beginners sake.

[Singingirl96]

Thank you everyone. The leaves do feel healthy to the touch, they're just brown and burgandy. I have them near the lights but not directly under the lights. All my other 30+ orchids have handled the lights just fine... this is the only sensitive one Ugh...

thanks for all your input.