hid lighting mh or hps

[johnblagg]

I have been reading a lot since I purchased these three and had read that a hint of red was good and did work them gradually into full sun in the morning untill 10:30 outside.I did get a tinge of red on them then.When I finally got them home and under the hps the new Psuedobulb on the Goldenzell started getting redder than I was sure was ok and needed to ask someone that uses hid lighting about it as I had read something about anthocyanin toxixity and dont want to allow that.Do you perhaps have a picture that would show just how deep the red coloring can be before it is too much?I have moved the light up another foot and none of the other plants are turning red not even the one that had a tinge of red while outside.

[ericst11]

I don't have a picture right now but a good picture is in a book called flora's orchids they have a Bulbo flecherianum on page 86 that is what you'd call a good red, and i'd say that plant is just getting sun light. when i bring mine in it starts to change to red hue once under lights but some even bleach out instead of having that red hue . I'll show you the differant changes tomorrow when i can take pictures.

[johnblagg]

Thanks that will be great.By the way do you have any Paphs under your lights?

[ericst11]

Sorry i didn't get back sooner and yes i have some paphs under lights. Heres some pictures of a leaf turning red and one were it bleached out but still growing.

[johnblagg]

Thanks, mine were much redder than that but its now limited to the Psudeobulb on them.The blc mac holmes 'newberry' is a purple flowered plant and the new leaf on it is very dark also but Its growing new roots and Im guessing dark backsides wont hurt the leaf.
I wondered about the paph because a friend just gave me three small Saint tigris plants to go with my new Catts.

[ericst11]

I have a mexipedium and a paph rothschildianum ,and some odd phrags under the hid and they seem to do fine and stay green.

[Royal]

Originally Posted by johnblagg

The hps ballast can be used with mh by simply taking out the ignitor.I buy my lights at the local electrical supply store and just buy a 400 watt hps ballast and put a switch in to make it a conversion type.

Hey John,

Can you describe this in a bit more detail? Thanks.

[social_misfit]

what kind of foot print our you covering with your 400 watt HID lamps ?

4ft by 4ft ?

I was going to use a couple of 400s over a 4ft by 8ft
bench

but is that over kill for say Cattleyas ?

I was thinking of using a HPS and a MH together

any help or advice would be great

thanks and a great evening

S_M

[fishmommy]

HPS and Metal Halide together would be ideal.

I really can't afford to run both, so I've been running HPS for a couple of years now, 600W at 18" - 3' off the plants. I grow vandas, paphs, catts, and phals with awesome results. It's true the light is ugly, so I run the light at night and during the day when I'm in there I use the room light and everything looks normal :-)

I just bought a new ballast from Future-Brite which has a switch to select 3 modes:
600W HPS
400W HPS
Metal Halide

I was thinking about trying Metal Halide the next time I need to change the bulb....do you think it would be a good idea/worth it to do so?
I usually have stuff blooming, so switching between the two on a schedule to maximize HPS time during flowering wouldn't work. Therefore, I'll be doing one or the other for a year at a time.

And yep, HPS is HOT! I run a desk fan in the area and run a cool mist humidifier 24/7. All the terrestrial plants are in pots on humidity trays. The floor is covered with humidity trays. The only thing I have burned so far was a bromeliad.