New LED Lamp

[Gthumbz89]

Hey there guys! Does standard footcandle measurements apply to the white leds, or do they have higher par making these measurements ineffective. I am interested in growing with white leds but I don't know how effective they are at growing the more light demanding orchids. I have seen some people claim that high light levels are achievable using 7 watt screw in bulbs...Is this correct or just hype???

[Subrosa]

Yes you can achieve high light levels, but the area so illuminated by a 7W led is going to be small. For a practical example I have 5 Leptotes bicolor in different situations, one of which is potted and in an area of about 1' square illuminated by 2 9W 6500K screw in LEDs. Out of the 5, (which include another lit by a different LED setup, 2 under T5HOs and one in a SE facing window) it's the only one not spiking.

[ALToronto]

Consumer grade screw-in LEDs are not adequate for growing orchids until you get to 20W and up. You're better off using individual diodes. Ray's LEDs at 13W are good within 40 cm or so, but not much farther. I'm using some screw-in LEDs as supplementary lighting for plants in a shaded south-facing window in the winter. I plan to turn them off for the summer.