Orchidarium lighting

[MiniatureOrchids]

Thanks, that's handy.

Going to be expanding an existing collection of miniature angraecums, aerangis, restrepia, bulbophyllum, lepanthes, masdevallias and phalaenopsis....

The idea is to get a large enough tank to hold a large collection, and to get some decent-sized branches of cork to mount them on, so there'll be some shady areas, and it'll look really natural.

Also considering getting two tanks to run with different conditions (more moist for the masdevallias and restrepias, for example), but will probably get one up and running and learn from the (inevitable) mistakes and then make the second one even better. Got to look at fogging systems, lighting and fans for air circulation, but since I can hand-mist, and computer fans are the defacto solution to air movement, the lighting is probably the bit with the biggest learning curve.

[MiniatureOrchids]

Hmmm. The danger of browsing the web for new kit. Just seen the Jungle Hobby programmable lights on the MistKing website. Look fantastic - anyone tried them?

Just need to justify the €700 price tag!

Edit: Actually, doing the calculations, a single unit would more than suffice, so only €385. SOLD!

	Mistking Looking for a misting system? Look no further. Automated misting systems from MistKing are used by multitude of plant enthusiasts and are perfect for Orchids. Systems feature run dry pumps, ZipDrip valve, adjustable black nozzles, per second control! Automatically mist one growing shelf or a greenhouse full of Orchids. See MistKing testimonials

[clusty]

Originally Posted by MiniatureOrchids

Hmmm. The danger of browsing the web for new kit. Just seen the Jungle Hobby programmable lights on the MistKing website. Look fantastic - anyone tried them?

Just need to justify the €700 price tag!

Edit: Actually, doing the calculations, a single unit would more than suffice, so only €385. SOLD!

I cannot justify 700
Only reason to go for LED in my opinion is if heat is an issue: refrigerated case for cool growing. In all other cases t5ho is great.

	Mistking Looking for a misting system? Look no further. Automated misting systems from MistKing are used by multitude of plant enthusiasts and are perfect for Orchids. Systems feature run dry pumps, ZipDrip valve, adjustable black nozzles, per second control! Automatically mist one growing shelf or a greenhouse full of Orchids. See MistKing testimonials

[MiniatureOrchids]

Thanks, yes, I know what you mean about heat. Ironically, the issue with heat isn't so much the orchids themselves, but the surrounding area - the tank will be where we sleep, and in the summer we don't want any additional heat.

It's also one of those things where it's worth buying once, and once only - the longevity and power consumption of LEDs is a big plus over a few years.

[smokinjoe1952]

I have been using 2 44" INDOOR LED fixtures from FLUENCE BIOENGINEERING for several months now. I really like these lights for the following reasons:

No particular order.

1. Lighweight 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. The high CRI allows the plant to been viewed while illuminated by the fixture.