Orchid light for living room
 

Heya all i'm new to this forum and i could use some advice since i think i'm getting myself confused or over complicating stuff

So i have a variety of orchids in my living room as its the only place i got space for it.

Atm do i have two Gemma E14 9W light bulbs but my collection have long surpassed their reach and i'm starting to look into a better and more efficient way to give my orchid some light during winter.

For that i've looked a several articles back and forth. Some explain it lux and other in PPFD (From when i can understand is the best way to measure)

I came across this article:
Best Grow Light For Orchids: Buying Tips & Setting Up

But here is where i might not get it. I've been looking at pack of Barrina LED Grow Lights, Full Spectrum, 180W(6 x 30W) which according to their pages gives 137.3 umol/m2/s at 12 inches (30cm). One should in theory be enough at 12 inche for lower light orchids. But according to the article then in order to reach the 100umol/m2/s would i need to place two of them at 12inches due to their rated 137.3 umol/m2/s is only in an test enclosure environment which reflect lights and lower the rated by 20-40%

atm am i used two Ikea SATSUMAS where most of my orchids a placed, Its a mix from lower light paphiopedilum to higher light Brassia.

My question is. How much do i really need and is the calculation of umol/m2/s (137.3 x 2) umol/m2/s x 40% = 109.7 umol/m2/s correct?

Been looking at these Amazon.com. Due to high rating and spectrum should be right and they might fit aesthetically in an living room environment. I am by by no mean a professional orchid grower and is still very much at the novice level and still learning



setup atm facing south side is attached

Welcome to the Orchid Board! Your plants are beautiful.

Most people use LED light strips rather than individual lamps for multiple plants because of the rapid dropoff of light with distance. What is available in Europe maybe different from the US. European OB members will be able to suggest lamps.

Welcome to Orchidboard!


As you are using these for supplemental light, consider that your lighting needs are lower than when using lights as the only source.

You should also consider that what a plant needs is not only dependant on the intensity, but also the duration. This cumulated sum of light is called DLI (daily light integral). Because intensity stays constant the entire time lights are on, maximum values are going to be a lot less than sunlight to achieve the same sum of light over a day.

Phals, Paphs and other low light orchids are fine with intensities in the range of 50-100 umol/m2/s with 10-12 hours of light. Intermediate light plants light Phals are good with a bit more, 100-150 umol.

For comparison, I use a couple Sanlight Flex 20 as supplemental winter lighting, one per shelf, and the light levels are similar to the ones you list if I remember correctly. I have them only 20cm above the plants (limited by the shelf height) and have them on only 9 hours a day to compensate. For some phals that still too much light (red pigmentation, smaller/compacter spikes that usual) so I've moved those Phals and all the slipper orchids to the edges of the shelf and placed plants with higher lighting needs directly under.

Here is a better article I had found about the Barrina lights a while ago : Optimal Lighting Orientation for LED Bar Lights
– High Desert Orchids They did some really thorough measurements (including with 1,2,3 tubes and different distances away from the center of the light beam) and found that the intensity is indeed lower than the advertised values, but still more than enough. Based on that I'd say one fixture above the plants may be enough though 2 would provide better coverage also depending on how deep the area is that needs to be illuminated or the distance to the plant canopy.

Ah thanks Camille

Yeah it will be supplement light over the winter. I'll read up on the article to make sure i don't overdo the light for my Paphiopedilum and especially my Macodes petola as its still a young plant and should be one of the more difficult (reasons i also made its a mini greenhouse (attaching picture) so it didn't dry out and could be kept damp as many suggested