Ikea cabinet plants and tips?

[gdupont]

I just put together this new Ikea cabinet for my orchids with LED lights and I love it!

In it, I have:

• Cattleya percivaliana (x3)
• Phragmipedium besseae
• Phragmipedium kovachii
• Angraecum didieri
• Stenoglottis woodsii
• Cattleya alaorii
• Laelia lucasiana
• Paphiopedilum tigrinum
• Cattleya mossiae
• Cattleya lueddemanniana

The meter reads 47% humidity at temp of 81F, gets around 70 at night once the lights have been off.

Do these sound like reasonable conditions? Any tips? Would love some general input It's my first time having a setup like this with a cabinet and grow lights. Thanks!

[Roberta]

What are you doing for air circulation? If you don't already have a fan in there, look around the growing-under-lights subforum and you'll get some ideas.

[gdupont]

Trying to figure that out! There’s little airspace between the shelves, so I think I will need 3 fans, and it seems difficult to find fans small enough for a single shelf that they wouldn’t dry out the plants super quickly.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by gdupont

Trying to figure that out! There’s little airspace between the shelves, so I think I will need 3 fans, and it seems difficult to find fans small enough for a single shelf that they wouldn’t dry out the plants super quickly.

Computer fans are used a lot. Give it a bit of time, you'll get suggestions from folks who have done this.

[gdupont]

I’m also wondering about the lights themselves.

I’m using Barrina T5s, which have a Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density (PPFD) of 91 at 8 inches and 59 at 12 inches.

Some plants have leaves that nearly touch the lights and other smaller plants are about 8 inches from the lights.

I have TWO (2) light strips per shelf.

I know nothing about lights but will this be enough light? Or possibly too much? I don’t know how two strips versus one changes the math of it.

[2009zohsix]

Your enclosure looks very nice. You have me thinking for futures.

I'm a novice at orchids, so take this for what it is worth. I have a 24X20X18 vivarium that I have repurposed as a home for miniature orchids. There are LED lights that produce about 125 PPFD in the middle, about 12 inches from the lights, less as you move away from directly under the lights. So far I haven't burned up any plants.
There are two fans in the enclosure, (I used these Amazon.com). They are very quite and seem to move enough air around in the enclosure without creating a wind storm.
The temp ranges between 68 (lights and fans off) and 75 (lights and fans on), with humidity around 80%.
So far, so good.

[gdupont]

Thanks for all the info!! That fan looks like a good option. If you have multiple of these fans can you chain them together, or do they all have to be plugged in separately?

Originally Posted by 2009zohsix

Your enclosure looks very nice. You have me thinking for futures.

I'm a novice at orchids, so take this for what it is worth. I have a 24X20X18 vivarium that I have repurposed as a home for miniature orchids. There are LED lights that produce about 125 PPFD in the middle, about 12 inches from the lights, less as you move away from directly under the lights. So far I haven't burned up any plants.
There are two fans in the enclosure, (I used these Amazon.com). They are very quite and seem to move enough air around in the enclosure without creating a wind storm.
The temp ranges between 68 (lights and fans off) and 75 (lights and fans on), with humidity around 80%.
So far, so good.

[Jmoney]

the PPFD is likely going to vary a bit, especially as you go to the ends of the light strips. I would shoot for underdosing. I "calibrated" my monios to what I thought were appropriate levels but suspect overdosing most of my plants, even the big catts. the only ones I was not able to overdose were the catasetums, which love these.

[2009zohsix]

Originally Posted by gdupont

Thanks for all the info!! That fan looks like a good option. If you have multiple of these fans can you chain them together, or do they all have to be plugged in separately?

I have two fans and a "Y" connector from a single power supply. I wouldn't daisy-chain them but would use a distribution strip, one power in, multiple power out to each individual fan. Most of these small fans have very low amperage but make sure your power supply is the correct voltage for the fans, usually 5 or 12 volts, and the total amperage of all your fans. You will also need 20 gage wire, a distribution strip, and a connector to attach to the power supply.

[jiblylegs]

This is a really great start! My entire collection is grown indoors and 80% of them live in a modified Rudsta Wide and Tall. There will be a lot of trial and error in the beginning.

As stated you will need fans to keep air moving. Also for lighting, I would suggest studying this article closely. Target PPFD for Orchids and Tropical Plants
– High Desert Orchids

I believe you are giving these plants more light than they need with the distance they are at. They may not be burning, but it could be that over a long period the cells will accumulate a lot of damage and can reduce the lifetime of some of the plant structures. I have yet to see scientific data on this though.

I would recommend weather stripping the side panels and a bit of the front panel. You don't want it to be 100% sealed, and you will need to calibrate how sealed it is based on your household conditions. This will be a bit of guess and check, but I find the front door seam a good spot to play with to get the desired humidity.

I would also recommend buying custom acrylic shelves with holes to replace the glass. This will increase airflow between the levels, and help heat from accumulating at the top of the cabinet. With two thermometers, you will see there is a large difference in temperature between the top and bottom. They can be expensive though, so don't stress about getting them right away.

I also run an air filter 24/7. It keeps dust down, and maybe it helps reduce fungal pressure by filtering out spores. I don't have anything scientific to support this though.

I use a smartplug to time the lights and to time the fans. My fans are 1 minute on 1 minute off repeating during lights on. 2 minutes on 1 minute off at night as humidity gets really high in my cabinet at night (80%).

I am attaching some photos of my setup and conditions. The large humidity drops are when I open the cabinet to take stuff out or look at it. You can see the humidity quickly goes back to baseline.