Just moved from NY Southern/eastern lighting to northern (boo!) Please help!! - Orchid Board

irrka · #1 06-02-2010, 11:57 AM

I couldn't find a place I wanted with southern/western exposure (unless it faced a wall--no light there!) so I ended up in a relatively bright place but facing north.

My poor poor plants. And now I have to figure out what to do with them.

1. I have to get a light meter, right? Any suggestions for something not bank breaking?

2. I suppose I have to set up some sort of a get-up for the catts and oncs to get enough light, but i'm engineeringly-retarded. I've 32"+32" to either side of the windows that I thought I could put a shelving unit and attach some lights to the underside, like I saw some people describe, but I have no idea how to actually do any of the attaching, light rigging, etc. with the fluorescent tubes.

3. This all has to be decent looking too since i'm in a studio, so there's no getting away from how it all looks

Any suggestions??
Thanks
Irene

johnblagg · #2 06-02-2010, 12:19 PM

well I just use a combination of cfls and one 250 watt hps....

the catts go under hps about 30 inches away from it...actually right now the cfl is about the same height ,but it is a huge cfl a 85 watt one and everything is fine there too one catt intermedia is directly under the cfl maby 12 inches away and a phal pulchra and a den about 30 inches unde the cfl also....

I have never owned a light meter but I have been growing other plants under lights for many years so I just make a rough guess and adjust them over a season.I do start farther away and move in over a couple of months watching for leaf color to get the color it should be.

irrka · #3 06-02-2010, 12:32 PM

Thanks for replying!
Yeah I was going to go mostly with fluorescents, since I don't really need the extra heat in my apartment during the summer (i still have to buy an A/C). How did you hook up your fluorescents? Did you bother with the different spectrum stuff?

johnblagg · #4 06-02-2010, 01:16 PM

Mine are just simple cfl types and I have a wire shelving unit with four adjustabls shelves so the light sets on a shelf above the one with chids on it.

Just a simple home made reflector over it

irrka · #5 06-02-2010, 05:01 PM

thanks, but how do you hook up the lights to it? (i really have no idea, i know people manage to rig the fluorescent tubes to shelves but i've no idea how to do it)

johnblagg · #6 06-02-2010, 07:53 PM

they just have a cord runs from them to a outlet ...you can buy a simple lamp socket at a hardware store with a cord and plug

LIBRRIAN · #7 06-02-2010, 10:28 PM

With compact fluorescents, you don't need anything more than regular light socket. You can buy them with a clamp that will fit on a higher shelf. The bulbs themselves can be special gro-lights, warm, cool, or full spectrum lights. Gro-lights are best, but you can also use the full spectrum type.

I grow orchids in my north-facing apartment and they are doing well. Mostly, they are phals, phrags, and other shade lovers, but cymbidiums and dendrobiums also flourish. Only cattleyas fail miserably without lights.

Good luck and enjoy your new place which should be a little cooler in summer!

irrka · #8 06-11-2010, 03:59 PM

I have a whole bunch of catts and some oncs, so I figured I'd need higher light. So I went out and bought some T5s. Now, they each have three wires that supposedly I can hook up in series (but only two go into the outlet connector. The labeled the black / white and ground wires. How do I hook them up to each other???? where does the ground wire go???

John · #9 06-16-2010, 02:43 PM

Hi Irene,
Are you saying that the t5's do not have a cord and plug on them or that they have a cord but no plug? In any case, I would wire each separately with a cord and three prong plug. On the plug, the black wire goes to the copper colored blade, the white wire goes to the silver colored one and the green or ground wire is attached to the round blade. Then you can use a strip outlet to plug them into. Let me know if this helps.

John