I've never tried this light thing before.....
 

I recently moved, and unfortunately, I chose an apartment that never gets sunlight. Ever. Sad, I know, and bad news for my orchids. My Dad had a grow light, and he rigged up a PVC frame for me to hang it from. I believe the bulbs are T12s, but here's a link to all the specs:

mySylvania Product Catalog

I'm using 2 bulbs. My question is, how does this setup look? I have 2 phals (on either end in pics), the tall one is a dendrobium, and the smallest is a cattleya. (Ignore the middle plant. It's a fuschia and I couldn't bring myself to throw it out so I stuck it under there.) I realize they all need diff. levels of light, but do you think this will cover all their needs? Does the light need to be closer to the shorter plants? And how long to I leave it on? I've had it on for 3 hours a day for a few weeks now. Thanks for your help, again, I'm new to this whole light-growing scheme!

well Its a good start but your really need it closer to the plants I think.

Needs to be closer to the plants, just a few inches really, then the phals could do OK. Probably can't give the dend and catt the light they need with this setup.

I would recommend leaving your lights on longer...I think for winter, they need around 12 hours of light, and an increase in the length of time during spring and then again during summer. I have mine on for around 16 hours during the summer. If you do a search here on the OB, you should be able to find some recommendations for light durations for seasonal changes.

Some T5 or T8 bulbs would probably be better for orchids requiring bright lighting, but then again I've never tried the T12's.

Hope this helps and good luck!

Yep those are T12 (an older "shop-light" technology). With the height you need for some of those plants you really are fooling yourself with that fixture. It may look bright to you, but trust me, your plants will not like it. Since this is the only light source, you might consider a 4-tube or 6-tube 48" t5 high output fixture such as New Wave T5 Fluorescents, a grow light for plant propagation / cloning and seedlings at Sunburst Hydroponics I personally use these in both 4-tube and 8-tube sizes. The fixtures are about 47" long and the tubes approx 46" long. The ends of the tubes are not very bright, but sufficient for low-light plants and orchids. As Becca says, you should plan on a lights-on cycle of at least 10 hours during winter and 12-14 hours during summer (normal growth season for most plants.) With a 4-tube fixture many orchids will end up closer than 2 feet from the tubes. With an 8-tube fixture, that height will be more. As a comparison, I grow lettuce, radish and spinach under the 8-tube fixture and it is kept under 12" from the plants. Hope this helps. What you have is a nice start, but you just need more light.

With your set up now the Dendrobium and the Catt should be no further away than a couple of inches from the bulbs. The Phal should be about 12 inches away. As Becca and Ross mentioned above your day length needs to be longer.

I have found that Hydrofarm T5 HO lights work great and if $ is a consideration then these may be the way to go. Maybe others will chime in and tell us otherwise. ;)

Karen

Actually here is a link to one on EBay (I hope I am not violating any rules here;)) I'm considering the 2' four tube one right now. I have a 2' 2 tube one already. Hydrofarm 4' 4 bulb T5 HO Fluorescent Grow Light w/bulb - eBay (item 110452625149 end time Dec-31-09 08:52:35 PST)

Hope this helps. Karen

I think you will need more light intensity and longer day lengths to get them to bloom.

I grow my orchids exclusively indoors under lights.
I've got them on 18 inch wide shelves with 4 T8s per shelf. The tips of the plants are no more than 6 inches from the bulbs and I measure the light at this point to be 4000 foot candles. I'm currently running the lights at 16 hour day lengths and most of my bulbs are 5000K. I threw in a couple of 6500K when I ran out of money.I have no trouble blooming my catt hybrids under these conditions.

I followed advice I got from OB friends and I recently added a 2 bulb T5 fixture and finally got my C. jackmanii and 2 vandaceous types to bloom.
If I ever get some spare change I'm adding more T5s.
BTW, I just got the T5's at Home Depot. They're not the HO type but a 4 foot 2 bulb fixture with bulbs included cost me just $30.

The vandas are hanging with the tips of the top leaves about 3 inches from the lights.

Just my 2 cents for what they're worth.



bingo

Just thought I would also mention the reason everyone recommend the 4 ft bulbs and not the 2ft bulbs is that the lumens per bulb are not as strong with the 2ft bulbs as the 4 ft bulb.