Need advice on my current setup

[MrHungx]

My apartment unfortunately does not have any bright sunny windows, so I've resorted to growing my orchids under lights. Each of the bulbs in the octopus lamp is 60w equivalent, the center fixture has two 150w equivalents (one soft white, the other cool white), the leftmost fixture has one cool white 150w and a soft white 60w, and the spotlight/desk lamp has a 60w soft white equivalent. There is a ultrasonic humidifier near the octopus lamp with a small fan to spread the humidity. I just wanted some advice if my setup is sufficient for my needs. Thanks!

[stonedragonfarms]

It looks too dark to me; if there were a way to have the lights overhead and aimed down at the plants it would be the most beneficial (ie hanging fluorescent, HID or LED lighting). You might also be able to increase light levels with reflective mylar sheeting, but that would probably require a frame of some sort. Airflow is great, but you should consider a way to capture (and localize) the humidity; most spot humidifiers are simply not capable of increasing and maintaining relative humidity in a non-enclosed area, imho.
Good luck, let us know if you need further details or help,
Adam

[katrina]

I have to agree...it looks pretty dark. It might be good for phals but the higher light plants, I believe, will struggle. Your best bet would be to get a light meter so you can get a better idea of what you're dealing with.

For now though...if you can rig some sort of reflectors on all of those lights...to direct the light down onto the plants...it would help some. As things are, you are losing a lot of your available light to the rest of the room.

Also, keep in mind...you'll get better results if you're using Full spectrum or "daylight" bulbs. The others can be more green and/or yellow spectrum and plants don't use much (if any) of those 2.