Left the lights on!
 

With the shorter light duration (12 hours) and my work schedule (horrible) I sometimes get home after the lights have gone out. I might turn them back on when I finally get home to see what the orchids are up to. Well, last night I forgot to turn the lights back off when I went to bed!

Should I leave the lights off all day so the orchids get a dark period, or is it no big deal?

Thanks!

If it was me I would leave them off until the next cycle. I don't think it is a big deal either way. They would probably appreciate the rest.

Bill

You can buy a programmable timer from Home Depot, Amazon.com or any electrical stores.

http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Timer-.../dp/B0026PZQHY

It's not a big deal...just don't do it every night. ;)

I have all of my light zones on timers so I never have to think about it.

I'd think they appreciate a bit of a dark period. Wouldn't push them much past an 18/6 on/off cycle.

You could always get a really complicated timer so that you are not tempted to mess with the lights. I can recommend one.... :)

Well, I didn't do anything, just let the timer (hence how it is always dark when I get home!) do it's thing. Hopefully no harm done!

Don't fret the small stuff. Leaving the lights on overnight is no big deal on an occasional basis. I grew under lights for many years and speak from experience. I'm assuming that your lights are on a timer and you overrode it to look at the plants and then forgot to turn it back off. Been there, done that. No harm done.

From my understanding (anyonecorrect me if I'm wrong), plants go into a night time cycle where they absorb different items from the air. I believe it is that the O2 gets reversed....O2 is taken in at night v CO2 in the day. So if you leave the lights on over night, I would venture to say keep them on until the next night period. Remember, LUSH plants grow in Alaska with daylight 19hrs a day and light twilight for th other 5 hours.

That said, the crisis has passed already. I'm sure no harm done. I would keep the lights on if I forgot them on. But then again, I don't turn the plant light on, just the room light. My big light (1000W DE) I don't mess with b/c it's a 5min warm up period and its a whle process that I don't want to deal with.

I'm rambling.