Anyone use Barrina or Monios LED lights?

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Those plants look to me as though they are getting too much light. That doesn't improve plant health and doesn't improve flowering.

[jiblylegs]

Originally Posted by Jmoney

Kelly (of High Desert Orchids) just gave a talk this past week at our local OS about LED light growing. She mentioned a phenomenon of excess LED light she refers to as "toasting" - it doesn't appear like sunburn but the affected leaves/growths are wrinkled and disfigured. Not reversible.

I haven’t had disfigured leaves, but I had noticed some of the plants closest to the light (a set of anthuriums) had this curious yellowing occurring to their leaves that I thought was related to being pot bound. I now think the high intensity was slowly damaging the leaf cells. Thank you all for your input. I decreased the intensity for many of plants and reduced the ‘day length’ to 12hr 30min from 14hr. I’ve already seen improvement from my phals and paph. They got the most dramatic adjustment. This will also save me on my energy bill. I’m just slightly worried I might confuse the catasetinae with this sudden decrease in day length.

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Phals. have been shown to flower and grow best with 1,000 foot candles. To stimulate flowering light can be raised to 1,200 foot candles for 4-6 weeks in late Fall, then dropped back to 1,000 fc. At higher intensities they produce fewer and smaller flowers on shorter spikes.

[MateoinLosAngeles]

I recommend reading Kelly McCraken's "Let there be light" articles in AOS Orchids Magazine.

I use Barrina lights (my setup attached). 4 lights of 5W each.

When using LEDs, there is no way for you to know the appropriate light without measuring it. Your best shot is to find one that tells you the PPFD and distance.

Unfortunately, when it comes to LEDs, wattage is irrelevant without knowing the LED panels' efficiency. Makers use the terms "T5" and "T8" to suggest intensity based on fluorescent lights.

For me to figure light out I went through trial and error plus used the "Photone" app to measure PPFD. I try to aim for a DLI of 3-4 for Phalaenopsis. Double that for Oncidiinae. Triple that for Cattleya. My carnivorous plants, which are my most light hungry, get a DLI of about 23-26.

You can cut the number of hours that your lights are on and that lowers the DLI.

[jiblylegs]

There is a lot of trial and error in figuring out what is good. I'm growing phal. schilleriana and stuartiana now at 16in under a 10W Barinna T5 which is about 40ppfd(2 DLI). Schilleriana is still showing a decent amount of pigmentation. I'm going to stick with this for now as growth is still looking good.

I attached photos to show the color of the roots. In the first photo at the base of the plant you can see a lot of pigmentation on the newest root. Phal stuartiana isn't showing any signs of pigmentation like this at similar light levels.

[MateoinLosAngeles]

Originally Posted by jiblylegs

There is a lot of trial and error in figuring out what is good. I'm growing phal. schilleriana and stuartiana now at 16in under a 10W Barinna T5 which is about 40ppfd(2 DLI). Schilleriana is still showing a decent amount of pigmentation. I'm going to stick with this for now as growth is still looking good.

I attached photos to show the color of the roots. In the first photo at the base of the plant you can see a lot of pigmentation on the newest root. Phal stuartiana isn't showing any signs of pigmentation like this at similar light levels.

Love the foliage of those species

[pokefan_nat]

I decided to buy Barrina lights because someone who recommended them to me. I've had it for about 2 weeks and so far I think it's working. I also joined an orchid society in my area and one person suggested I bring the lights down close to the plants since most of them are small and I have many seedling. I do notice that they seem to be receiving a lot of light. I was just wondering if I need to move up the plant light an inch or two. I tried changing the angle of the pics but it didn't work :/

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It's trial and error. Visit really good growers and pay close attention to what their plants look like.

[Jmoney]

I find that LEDs can potentially be VERY bright. I do run them in parallel but when moving my plants from a crowded windowsill I ended up "burning" several standard cattleyas. They are fine now, but the sudden increased light did it.

It is impossible to tell how much light you are getting without measuring. But moving seedlings close to the light is potentially a problematic blanket statement, if you ask me. If your new growth becomes more reddish, backing off would be in order. You can always move up slowly without issue. Burning is irreversible, at least until the next growth.