light or sunlight for Vanda?

[timi0613]

Hi,
I have two Vandas (I uploaded 2 pics, hopefully they can be seen). both are in glass vases. I water them everyday, soak them 2-3 times a week and mist when it's hot. they are fertilized regularly (every 3-5 days). they are in a west-facing window and when the weather is nice I take them out of the glass and put them in the sun outside. they are bringing nice leaves, but no flowers.
my question is when everybody says they need more light do you mean light or sunshine? I have a light that mimics sunlight. now that fall and winter is on the way (i live in Switzerland) how much should I use it with the Vandas?
Thanks for any suggestion.
Timi

[camille1585]

West facing windows should work for them I think. How many hours of sun are they getting? You should be able to bloom them, I have friends in the Netherlands who get flowers every year just by leaving them on a sunny windowsill.

Sunshine is a type of light. You can also grow them under artificial lights, but they need to be very strong in order to bloom Vandas

[Paul Mc]

There are also other considerations with lights that simulate the sun. It needs to be in a certain color range. If you go to Ray's website, I believe it is FirstRaysOrchids.com or something very similar, he has some great instructional tools on artificial light that will explain what you need to look for.

One example of the type of lights is that while a light may seem bright to us, it may not be in the correct color spectrum to give plants the color of light they need to grow and bloom. Another example is there are grow lights for aquariums that work great for that set up, but do not work for growing plants under that well.

Another issue is how far away the light is and how intense it is. With HID (High Intensity Lights), your plants may be able to be quite a distance away from the light source. However, with flourescent bulbs, you will need to have the light source closer as the light will not stay strong too far past a foot or two from the source.

[timi0613]

hi Camille,

they are right next to the window, not behind curtains, so they get plenty of natural light. sunshine, however, not too much, maybe 3-4 hours when the sun is low enough to shine in the window. and of course, when the weather is not good, then it's only light, no sun :-(
the artificial light I have is 100Watts. should i use it during day while there is natural light (as a 'sun substitution')?

[camille1585]

Yeah, 3-4 hours isn't much. Is your 100W light one of those energy efficient lights (compact fluorescents), or a standard bulb? Makes a huge difference.

[timi0613]

it's neither of those. it's a lightbulb made by philips, specially made for plants, kind of purplish bulb. i checked it, it's only 60W not a 100W, but it lights from over the plants from about 75 cm.

[denvervet]

I have my vanda's in a northeast facing window, they get sun about 5 hours, they are growing like weeds. I water them 2 X a week and let the pots sit in water about 5 minutes when I water them, I spray them daily. They really are doing incredibly well. They are in a mixture of bark, charcoal and styrofoam. Love them!

I would say definitely "sunlight" and, if grown inside, the more - the better.
My vanda gave out a spike when I moved her from regular east window with only early morning sun (where she was just growing new leaves and roots) to a very tall south-east window where she gets full sun from the sunrise until 2 pm. I just wrapped the vase into tinfoil from the sunny side to protect roots from burning, but foliage seems to enjoy the full sun. I don't have any sheers or curtains there. Now she is in bloom.

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by timi0613

it's neither of those. it's a lightbulb made by philips, specially made for plants, kind of purplish bulb. i checked it, it's only 60W not a 100W, but it lights from over the plants from about 75 cm.

I googled Philips grow bulbs, and it seems like what you have is an incadescent bulb. They are not very energy efficient, put out a lot of heat and not much light compared to CFLs. You may be able to grow very low light orchids under them, but certainly not Vandas, even if it's only supplemental lighting. And at 75cm from the plants, they are especially getting not much light. You need to look into getting some high watt CFL or a florescent tube fixture.

[timi0613]

Dear Camille,

Thank you very much. I'll check out some other type of lights. hopefully i will find a better one.