Phal. Gan Lin Royal Yellow Care

[Chlorophile]

Null

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Throughout the years of orchid growing I have found out that direct sun can be somewhat relative in strength depending on where in the world you are, although I have to say that it is still quite strong. To be cautious I would not recommend putting any Phalaenopsis under direct sun for any length of time. Some Phals do grow under brighter light than others, but generally, the genus as a whole shouldn't be subjected to full sun at any point during the day. You don't have to believe me, you can research on your own where wild Phals grow. You can kind of tell that it is not all that bright in those locations that they grow in the wild.

I personally would never put my Phal outdoors in full sun here in the Los Angeles County area unless I hated it so much I wanted to outright kill it. 2 hours is definitely enough to murder the plant if it was out here.

Since you are in the North Eastern part of the US, 2 hours of outdoors direct sun might not do as much immediate damage, but I imagine it will still do quite a bit of it.

People who sell things don't always give you 100% factual information, they can tell you half-factual information. Most of the facts may be there in the advice, but there can be one or two falsehoods in there. You must determine on your own what the facts actually are.

Since you are dealing with Phals, there is no shortage of factual information available on the internet. Or if you'd like to narrow the search down, that information can be found here on the OB as well.

In terms of lighting, I'd try using the area with the lesser amount of light first and try things out. Then move on to the brighter area later if you see that it is not enough. Since I'm not quite sure how much light gets to the places you mentioned, only you would be able to gauge this.

[Optimist]

I grow my phals under lights and near a window. I do agree that they need more light than usually advised, however, also that would not be "direct" whatever that means in a window. If you do put it in a brighter window, then a light curtain is usually used. You can get a sticky film for the window that would block the light a bit. I usually grow mine is east windows. Is there a table or something a few feet from the south window? That seems to me to be ideal.

If you think of it, the sun is always moving from East to West, with East getting morining light, and West getting evening light. In a house you rarely get "noon" light, unless you have skylights. That is the kind of thing you have to consider. In my east window, yes, they get "direct" light for a few hours in the morning. The light is also lower (on the horizon) in the winter than in the summer, but there are more obstacles (houses, trees) in the winter as well.

[CourtneyT]

I grow mines by the north facing window and I feel it’s definitely not enough. So I have growing light. If I were you, I would grow that plant by the south facing window. It’s bright and gives the flower the light those 2 hours of “direct light” can give but less concentrated. For the seller, she may mean to put the plant in the center of living room most of time and move out for light for short time. 2 hours of direct light may not cause the sunburn depending on the season and the time of the day. But the problem is what if you forget to bring the plant in after the 2 hours.

[Roberta]

Phals really do need indirect rather than direct light... a burned spot can happen in minutes or less if they get a "hot beam". I have found that increasing duration (hours) of light is more valuable than increasing intensity - a cheap LED or fluorescent light for 12 hours to supplement what comes in the window can greatly facilitate reblooming. You really do have to be very cautious about applying terms such as "direct light" or "full sun" because these are very imprecise - my full sun and your full sun are very likely not the same - due to trees, sun angle, etc.

[Ray]

In nature, most phalaenopsis are deep shade plants, and growing them too brightly can stifle blooming. Some of the best-blooming ones I've ever seen were in a greenhouse that was so overgrown with algae and dark, that it took a while for your eyes to adjust when you walked into the structure.

That said, since moving to NC, my phalaenopsis "summer" on my deck, and do get mottled, direct sunlight in the early morning, but since it is passing through foliage of trees and shrubs as the sun rises, the tiny patches of light are moving, so no one location has time to overheat, as was suggested in Roberta's post, above..

[Chlorophile]

Thank you guys. I do have an East window at my office so I will just move the phal there. I was being greedy and trying to keep it at home but I really can't provide the right light. The set up of my apartment precludes putting tables or anything in front of windows so I am sort of stuck with how things are.

[Ray]

Two words: supplemental lighting

[Chlorophile]

Originally Posted by Ray

Two words: supplemental lighting

Sounds complicated but perhaps not. Is there a cheap way to provide supplemental lighting? And what do I look for when picking one good for a phal? For that matter, what would be the difference between a supplemental light for the phal vs one for the maxillaria? I'm assuming wattage?

[Roberta]

Ray may correct me on this, but I think that just about anything that provides something like full spectrum light (LED, CFL). For just one or two plants, a suitable desk lamp is a good place to start. And a timer, so you don't have to remember to turn it on and off. You can then get fancier as your collection gets larger.