Thinking of growing year-round under lights....

[Leafmite]

Thanks, Cody! You do make sense. Thanks Fishmom. Humidity was a problem until this year. I am using trays and I have the orchids that were unhappy under the lights in a window and the ones that need very high humidity small terraiums with cloth over (as they like shade, too). The others (Cattleyas, Angraecum sesquipedale, Cyncnodes, Phal-type Dendrobium, etc. are not at all picky, judging by past experience.

The other plants I am currently growing under lights are 3 dwarf Ficus carica (which were all proclaimed great for bonsai and will be kept small), a mini pom tree, coffee, a couple of alpine strawberries (I have more outside), a guava, Aglaia odorata, a few small citrus, a piper nigrum, a Cestrum nocturnum and a Camellia sinensis. These have been growing under lights for almost two months and are doing very well. I wonder if anyone else has tried growing any of these under lights for an entire year successfully?

I will probably get more lights for he Cinnamon, bay laurel, Manikara zapota and plumeria. The Jasmine and Theobroma cacao will remain in the window as they do fine in a shaded location (and the Theobroma would probably fry under lights). It should be an interesting future for all these plants. They have always gone outside every summer.

I currently have a Sunblaster and three Envirogro. Looks like I will be getting more shelves, more lights.

[FairyInTheFlowers]

Originally Posted by Leafmite

The other plants I am currently growing under lights are 3 dwarf Ficus carica (which were all proclaimed great for bonsai and will be kept small), a mini pom tree, coffee, a couple of alpine strawberries (I have more outside), a guava, Aglaia odorata, a few small citrus, a piper nigrum, a Cestrum nocturnum and a Camellia sinensis. These have been growing under lights for almost two months and are doing very well. I wonder if anyone else has tried growing any of these under lights for an entire year successfully?

The only problem I can see you having with these plants under lights is that I'm assuming most of these are bushy, broad-leaf plants. What is convenient about orchids is that most of them have small leaf surface areas without much overlapping and shading of themselves. I could see bushy plants being a bit fussy under lights where the source of the light is only coming from one direction, rather than the sun travelling through the sky. This would place many of the leaves in a constant shadow, possibly leading to etiolation.