Newbie artificial light questions

[lilricky]

Glad to hear the lights are working fine. I think I might have to resort to the same kind of set-up. Do you plan to move your plants outdoors when it warms up?

[dupree1977]

If I am able I will. They don't need to be stuck in the basement all year

Originally Posted by lilricky

Glad to hear the lights are working fine. I think I might have to resort to the same kind of set-up. Do you plan to move your plants outdoors when it warms up?

[jim the orchid guy]

I have been growing many types of orchids under lights for about10 years. I have a 9x11 room in the basement. I just use the grow lights from canadian tire but make sure they are full or wide spectrun. My lights are on Dec,Jan 12 hr a day Feb March 14 hr a day april may 16 hr a day may to sep 18 hr a day.Then from Sept to dec I drop them to 14 a day. I have 5, 4 tub flurosent lite fixtures when they come on they heat the room to between 75to80 degree them I bring in cool air to cool them down at nite around 60to65 degree.I also have humidity trays to keep the humidity around60 to 70 percent. I also have 4 4" fans that come on with the lites and a 10" fan that blowes 24,7.I can grow cats phal,phap,oncidiums,brassia,epid,etc. The more lite the plant need the closer to the lites they go.The room has only a 2ftx3ft window. The orchids stay in the room all year long. Hope this will help you Jim

[lilricky]

Jim,
is your room in the basement lined with plastic?

[Lagoon]

Welcome aboard Jeff & Ricky

Jeff, Why are your orchids so far away from the light source? Is heating an issue?

I grow under T-8's and CFL's - my chids are kept about 8 inches from the lights so I can reap the benefits the lights have to offer.

Nice to have you with us, Enjoy the forum you guys

[dupree1977]

The wonderlites get pretty hot up close. I went by the enclosed guide with the lights to determine how far away to place the lights.

You can view it from this page. What do you think?

Wonderlite Indoor Grow Light, Orchid Grow Light

I plan on moving the plants around a little to fine tune the placement. So far so good. I am seeing marked improvement in the oncidium types. The others, well, they aren't talking to me like the oncs are, but they seem to be okay (fingers crossed).



[QUOTE=Lagoon;71866]
Jeff, Why are your orchids so far away from the light source? Is heating an issue?

[Lagoon]

Sure, I can understand about the heat these lights are throwing off. I have the same problem with mine. Although mine are not wonderlights.
I fan, fan, fan. or it gets to hot, much to hot during the warmer months.

Nice price on that web site link. My local plant store has these for 120.00 but fer me they're $80 (uh yeah ok)

Uppin the lights, you can see a difference within just 1 short week, Atlease I did and overtime it just gets better.