Total lighting beginner
 

Hi! I have decided that I would put a few of my orchids under full year lighting, especially the small brachi, and parvi Paphs, and some more smaller orchids. I bought a light(lumen/footcandle) meter, and some E27 blue/red LED grow lights.
Red wavelength: 620-625mm
Blue wavelength: 460-465mm
and I am wondering if I should also put a "white" bulb in there for any spectrum they might require not supplied by the R/B lights?

I also got a roll up "mat" type LED R/B for my small terrarium boxes.

I have been studying the light differences in the growth of various plants using different colored lights, and in some cases it isa total disaster (stalky vegetation, or "dwarved") and do not want to harm my orchids.

I can't put those little one's out again because last year they were really beaten up by the sun and heat.

So in your opinion, what is the best mix of lights?
Any other tips and hints you might give a newbie?

Thank you, Katy

Red/blue units definitely grow plants well, but I added
some daylights just so my plants didn't look like alien life forms.

I use regular daylight LED bulbs.

I looked at the grow lights with just red and blue, but they are just to, uh, ugly for my taste. Of course, I live in a one bedroom apartment, so all my orchids are in my living spaces and that matters more to me than if I was growing in a basement. The daylight bulbs are simple, offering a more more natural looking spectrum and have proved to be more than adequate for growing my medium and low light orchids. I have some highlight plants (I.e. Broughtonia negrilensis) that are doing well growth wise and have the desired purple tinge as well. Some are still to young to flower, so I can't say from that aspect.

I suspect, also, that the light meter provides a more accurate reading for daylight bulbs vs reds and blues, but I could be wrong.

I also want to add a disclaimer that I am not into the technical aspects of lighting and decided to go the old fashion route of just seeing what works for me. In short, anything I say is based off of those experiences and not technical knowledge. I applaud anybody who does the research on wavelengths and conversions and such!

I posted this a few days ago. These are higher end fixtures though:

I have been using two 44" INDOOR spectrum LED fixtures from FLUENCE BIOENGINEERING for several months now. I really like these lights for the following reasons:

No particular order.

1. Lightweight and small size
2. High Output
3. High efficiency
4. Dimmable (to me this was big)
5. High CRI
6. Defined umol output, so you can interpolate required light levels for various orchid types knowing what the fixture provides at full output at 1 foot.

I had previously tried a non-dimmable red/blue LED light, and found myself constantly taking a plant out of the grow chamber to inspect it since the colors were so far off. The high CRI allows the plant to be viewed while illuminated by the fixture.

Red and blue lights alone are sufficient to grow plants but plants do utilize other spectra of light using carotenoids and other pigments besides chlorophyll.

If you want to stick with led lights then I suggest buying par 38 23 watt white bulbs from 1000 bulbs.com. They are only 8 bucks and are very powerful. Unfortunately they have a small light footprint, and use the same yellow white spectrum as a high pressure sodium bulb (2300 kelvin). Overall I like these for growing though despite the quirks.

I attached a few pictures of my set up with a light meter reading or two.

The beam is super focused so directly under the bulb about 8 inches away I get 5000 footcandles. At a indirect angle below the bulb I only get 1000 footcandles though. Sorry the light meter is hard to see in the pics.

A confession: For at least 20 years I've grown many of my orchids under lights, always using fluorescents and now using T5s. I grow mostly Phals and lower-light plants. I have utterly no idea, to this day, what I'm doing and it's working like a charm. My lights hang on cords with these cool adjusters. However, I don't know anything about the light output of the lamps, the average plant distance from the lamps, or just about anything else technical about my setup. I simply put the plants under the lamps where they look good to my eye's judgement, and watch them do wonderful things.

Like salixx, I pondered how things would look in my home. I have one red/blue spotlight. It works great but, looks like an ad for someplace unmentionable. Then I bought a vivavolt copper framed unit from Home Depot. Looks great, works great, cost was good.

Yeah low light plants don't need much thought in this regard. Honestly, I wish I could take a less involved approach to lighting but I hate waiting for buds on cattleyas only to be disappointed if I didn't give enough light. As a result I do allott of measuring that in all likelihood is unnecessary.

---------- Post added at 09:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:09 PM ----------

Omg yes...i hide my purple lights in a grow tent and even then some obnoxious light gets out. It is very jarring on the eyes.

Unlike Carol, the only other people in my house are dogs. I'm a social recluse of late, so nobody comes in this house. I place utterly no value on the appearance of my lighting just as long as it works. My house is decorated in 60-ish bachelor. My T5s dangle nakedly from the ceiling, from black cords attached to big, ugly, white hooks. If I could find a T5 unit that looked like a pool light I'd hang it just to be even tackier!

Please pet the dog for me.

How do light meter readings compare between incandescent lamps and few-wavelength emitters like LEDs from the standpoint of what is good for plants?