What artificial lighting is needed for my Onc?

[plantaholic]

I have an Oncidium panamense that I'm going to mount on grape wood. I'd like to hang it in the bathroom (shower/tub) but will need to add lighting as we unfortunately have no windows there. What sort should I get or would the spotlight that's in there (will have to check the wattage....) be enough if its left on. Would that be too much heat? I really do need some advice soon.

[Dorothy]

I moved your post to it's own thread in this forum - I think you will get more responses here

[Orchidophile]

I grow mine under double 48" 40w shop lights and have them on for 14-16 hours. If the light in there is incandescent I would switch it out with a CFL but it's probably not enough light.

[Orchidophile]

Oops I double posted!... The incandescent wouldnt be good, they dont make the wavelengs of light that orchids like

[Ocelaris]

Originally Posted by plantaholic

I have an Oncidium panamense that I'm going to mount on grape wood. I'd like to hang it in the bathroom (shower/tub) but will need to add lighting as we unfortunately have no windows there. What sort should I get or would the spotlight that's in there (will have to check the wattage....) be enough if its left on. Would that be too much heat? I really do need some advice soon.

I think you would need to have a compact fluorescent in the 30-40 watt range within 12" of the plant in order for it to have enough light... That may be kinda hard to do in the bathroom... You could do a metal halide downlight fixture in the 100watt range, that would be spectacular! but again, that's probably too much work. Best bet if you just want a plug in solution, would be to get as big of a compact fluorescent bulb from the local hardware store, and get that as close as you can to the plant.