New to Orchids and Looking for a cheap grow led

[macquig]

I have done outdoor bonsai for a long time, but never attempted anything indoor and definitely not something that flowers.

I bought my wife a few Orchids for mother's day not realizing how long they can live if cared for properly. We live in the US in the deep south so lots of humidity and the Orchids being 3 ice cube orchids I believe between the weekly ice cubes and constant 100% humidity pulled in to much moisture and within a few week the flowers were dead but the plant is alive and well. I have been reading and watching a lot of videos to self educate and learn more about the orchid because they challenged me so much with the flowers demise.

That being said, we have a toddler and I do not believe anywhere near a window would be safe for the plants to receive indirect light. I want to put them on a bookshelf, but would need a grow light so are there any cheap LED options ($20-$50) you guys have had good luck with? I see some hardware stores have a 2ft non-demable whith full spectrum, but have read where you also need the red spectrum for better flowering. What have you guys had success and what do you suggest I try as a noob to this?
Thanks in advance!!

[Ray]

1) STOP with the ice cubes! It is a novel idea to prevent oversaturating the medium by slowly trickling the water in, but being tropical plants, when would they ever see 0C water? Taking several minutes to trickle in tepid water is far smarter.

2) You needn't get overwhelmed with the light. A Cree 18 watt spotlight will provide plenty of light and will be an adequate spectrum.

[macquig]

@Ray I get that the ice cube think is a myth and have not been doing that for about 6 weeks now. I have changed watering practice and moved to a normal watering as recommended by books and many online articles for the phanaenopsis orchid.

I am just dealing with 2 orchid plants at this point that came from Lowes so maybe $20 in the plants. I didn't know they could live so long or were as temperamental and that peaked my interest. At this point my reason for trying to stay below $50 is because I am just trying to learn the plant and what it responds best too based on the environment I have at this point.

At this point what I am really trying to see as I learn is the leaf color so I can know the required light, see a maybe little spike or node growth, and maybe see some root growth over the next few months. I am really just wanting to see how to properly care for the plants with just these 2 so I can expand in future years.

I appreciate the light recommendation because all the light suggested on many orchid sites were hundreds of dollars. I will find what you suggested and continue to read here and learn.

[Ray]

Personally, I prefer white LEDs, because the plants look more realistic. The correlated color temperature (CCT) doesn't tell you much about the spectrum, but in general, the "warmer" ones - 3500K, for example - tend to naturally put out more in the deep red end, which can make a difference in flowering, albeit a subtle one.

As to the leaf colored thing, that is quite variable among orchids, even within a genus, and some actually do better under low light levels than brighter, so don't count on a direct transfer of your bonsai knowledge to orchids in that regard.

[macquig]

Thanks Ray,
Bonsai is a entire different beast and I only do outside so this is actually my first for indoor flowering plants. Glad to know that the deep red light is not a big deal. Will go with a lowes grow light for a few months and see type of progress happens with the Orchids to self educate and go from there. Will post some pics as things progress.

Again, thanks for the advice.

[annie.exe]

It's neat to see a bonsai grower here! I'm still a pretty inexperienced grower but I've gotten growth and keepen plants alive under a basic $30 shop light. Now I have these from my local orchid nursery: https://www.orchidweb.com/supplies/l...00-5000-kelvin

But they go on sale.. I'm intruiged by Ray's Cree 18 Watt suggestion. I think next I might try another area with one of those

Best of luck! happy to have you here!