T5 lighting

[ahazz]

Hi, I'm back with another question. I live in NY and most of my orchids are outside now. When I bring them in they will go under T5 -6500K lights. Will they bloom for me using this full spectrum bulb or should I replace them with 3000K lights?

[jeremyinsf]

They will bloom, provided everything else is good. 6500k is "daylight". The 3000k (red) is in the range that plants use while blooming, but nature doesn't change to this just when a plant blooms :-) Where you see these most often is when growing... other... plants.

What kind of fixture do you have and how many bulbs does it hold? I use both colors in my T5HO, but that's just my choice. Some people don't like how the red bulbs look and feel, so they don't use them at all. Because I use blue and red, it doesn't look bad to me, and I feel like I'm getting the best of both.

[ahazz]

Thanks for the reply. I have 2 strips of T5 - 6500k on 2 shelves & 1 strip on another that is by an east window. This top shelf gets some morning sun filtered through a tree outside. The shelves with the 2 strips are pretty close to the plants. When I had the plants inside they were growing well. I just want to make sure I get some blooms.