Question for those growing under lights

[Royal]

If an orchid grows on the equator, then photoperiod isn't as pronounced or variable than us folks at higher lattitues. Although some orchids may be photperiod sensitive, I believe it is more common for orchids to bloom in response to temperature and rain/water. I may be wrong.

That being said, I do adjust my lights to be in synch with the natural light. My reasons is NOT to convince them to bloom, but to keep from confusuing them. I don't worry about it too much, but my timer does get adjusted from time to time.

@ Bob, A cheap timer is totally worth the few bucks. One less variable to worry about.

[Call_Me_Bob]

i am planning on getting one. it just hasnt happened yet.

[Becca]

I use timers for my lights...I used to adjust for the seasonal light changes...but since I have only been growing orchids for a little over 3.5 years, I can't say if it helped or not since maybe some orchids may not have been receiving strong enough light to bloom anyways. I've moved...and I added more lights to grow under....should be strong enough to bloom most of my orchids....at least I hope. I haven't adjusted my lights at all this year for season changes....and not many of my orchids are blooming either, but that also may be do to the new growing conditions and the fact that they also sat in card board boxes for at least 3 weeks until I finally had a place to unpack them. I figured the move set them back and I will hopefully have more blooms next year. I do have a dendrobium and a phal in bloom currently, but that is it...and I'm happy with that for now...lol.

When I used to adjust the light time, I would go with 12 hours during the winter months, 14 hours during spring and fall and 16 hours during the summer. I can't remember why I used those amount of hours, I think I read it somewhere.

[quiltergal]

I do adjust the hours of light to coincide with nature. I have lots of stuff in bloom. Not sure there is a direct correlation or not. Like Royal I do it mostly to mimic nature so they won't get confused. I stole this chart from somewhere but can't remember where. Might as well share. The months in parenthesis are for the southern hemisphere.

Most species do well with 11-14 hours of light, which the following schedule provides:
JAN. (JUL.) 6:30 a.m.-6:00 p.m. JUL. (JAN.) 5:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m.
FEB. (AUG.) 6:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m. AUG. (FEB.) 5:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m.
MAR. (SEP.) 5:30 a.m.-6:00 p.m. SEP. (MAR.) 5:30 a.m.-6:00 p.m.
APR. (OCT.) 5:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m. OCT. (APR.) 6:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.
MAY. (NOV.) 5:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m. NOV. (MAY.) 6:30 a.m.-6:00 p.m.
JUN. (DEC.) 5:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m. DEC. (JUN.) 6:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.