There is an Orchid Board forum devoted to lighting. I suggest you and your mom glance through it. From the left menu click Forums, then scroll down until you find Growing Under Lights. There are threads from people who have tools to measure light output, and build LED lights from components. There are also threads from people happy with off-the-shelf bulbs they've bought.
Thank you, I will definitely be reviewing as much information as I can before getting into the project. We may decide purchasing a ready to use kit might be in everyone's best interest after all. Who knows! All will be decided in due time 😊 until then, lots more reading!
Thank you! Great video! Very informational😃 My cost was a whole lot less because I did have many of the items I used in my build. I like your area, everything looks lovely and you are right, the yellow tone of my hps is fairly irritating but for now we don't have much of a choice to change it right now. Thank you again!
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Originally Posted by CambriaWhat
Here's my setup, i use a hps ballast to run a 400 watt metal halide conversion lamp. it's been working great since october.
If my plant isn't in a window, I have it growing under LED lighting. For me they are the best choice out there. Easy to find, no hazardous materials and very low heat output for the light you get.
I'm using both lighting designed for planted aquaria (Finnex Planted+) and standard daylight bulbs you can buy at Walmart. I do cut off or otherwise remove the plastic domes from the ones at Walmart to increase the light output (the dome usually reduces it by ~150-200fc from a foot away).
I am happy with both designs and have gotten good results. I used the Finnex strip for my higher light plants like the mini-catts and Den. monilliforme, placed about 10'' above them. I use the LED bulbs in groups of three anywhere from 10-24'' above the plants for areas where I need lower light options. I get great growth and have gotten good blooms from many plants with LEDs.
I think HPS lights are over kill for orchid growing and a waste of energy when growing orchids.
You can just a Cheap LED light that will last longer than the HPS bulbs and use way Less energy and you will have happy plants that do not get burt or over heat. I would save the HPS lights for other types of plants.
You have Zygos They do not like it too hot for too long. So with the HPS lights they give off a lot of heat and I can see that being a problem for some orchids.
I am definitely working towards an LED set-up up, but this is only a temporary set up. Everything will change again when we move in September. I'll be looking for a more natural lighting option with the next move, and we will hopefully be moving in to our camper by then, so all of the plants will be moved into a bunk room with a window or install some.
I am not experiencing an issue with overheating, my lamp is a good5 or 6 feet from the closest Orchid, my avocado trees shade everything underneath them and my "heat spot" ends almost a foot above the tallest avocado tree. I have pretty decent air flow and even use a heater to supplement heat on chilly mornings. My collection sees a 10-20 degree temp change from day time to night with our A/c running over night.
Max temp I allow in the room is 85 degrees, it starts warming up my living room if it gets any warmer. We sleep in 65-70😆😪
Quote:
Originally Posted by snowflake311
I think HPS lights are over kill for orchid growing and a waste of energy when growing orchids.
You can just a Cheap LED light that will last longer than the HPS bulbs and use way Less energy and you will have happy plants that do not get burt or over heat. I would save the HPS lights for other types of plants.
You have Zygos They do not like it too hot for too long. So with the HPS lights they give off a lot of heat and I can see that being a problem for some orchids.
---------- Post added at 11:01 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:56 AM ----------
I am actually seeing an incredible amount of growth and new activity since jumping into this set-up, so I can't fully regret it. But I do monitor everything very carefully, and it does worry me, so the switch to LED and hopefully back to natural lighting (truly my preference) is going to happen. I just have very little choice at the moment, I can't trust growing anything outside at this apartment complex, things have a habit of growing legs and walking away here😥😯😬😠
Sounds like you have a good set up for the plants that make the HPS lights work for you. Sun light is the best I agree thats why my plants spend summers outside in the summer. That stinks that you think someone would steal your orchids if you put them outside. Better to be safe Than sorry. Happy growing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fateisinmyhands
I am definitely working towards an LED set-up up, but this is only a temporary set up. Everything will change again when we move in September. I'll be looking for a more natural lighting option with the next move, and we will hopefully be moving in to our camper by then, so all of the plants will be moved into a bunk room with a window or install some.
I am not experiencing an issue with overheating, my lamp is a good5 or 6 feet from the closest Orchid, my avocado trees shade everything underneath them and my "heat spot" ends almost a foot above the tallest avocado tree. I have pretty decent air flow and even use a heater to supplement heat on chilly mornings. My collection sees a 10-20 degree temp change from day time to night with our A/c running over night.
Max temp I allow in the room is 85 degrees, it starts warming up my living room if it gets any warmer. We sleep in 65-70😆😪
---------- Post added at 11:01 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:56 AM ----------
I am actually seeing an incredible amount of growth and new activity since jumping into this set-up, so I can't fully regret it. But I do monitor everything very carefully, and it does worry me, so the switch to LED and hopefully back to natural lighting (truly my preference) is going to happen. I just have very little choice at the moment, I can't trust growing anything outside at this apartment complex, things have a habit of growing legs and walking away here😥😯😬😠
Sounds like you have a good set up for the plants that make the HPS lights work for you. Sun light is the best I agree thats why my plants spend summers outside in the summer. That stinks that you think someone would steal your orchids if you put them outside. Better to be safe Than sorry. Happy growing.
Thank you! I really worked hard to set everything up, and very carefully placed my plants according to their lighting needs. I have had to re-organize a bit, and tweak where things are sitting as the Avocado trees grow, but that's more fun than work any way😁
I do have a few low light orchids that sit under the tables or in the terrarium under the desk for a humid-house, and they are growing rapidly too.
Ed Rosenthal's book is really whay made me feel comfortable enough to go ahead and use my mini 150W hps lamp, he has fabulous illustrations, calculation formulas and so so much more. I know he wrote the Handbook prior to the LED craze so he has comparisons to old technology, but the book is like a garden bible😍
LED technology has evolved from year to year. Publications older than two years, except for action and absorption spectrum no longer taken into account. The only problem is accepting reality. It's like you want to change your HDD with SSD and read a magazine of 10 years old.
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