cattleya walkeriana light pollution tips?

[OrchidNut555]

Hey everyone! First of all; Happy new year!

i decided to bite the bullet and get a cattleya walkeriana and i had been wondering about some good ways to limit light pollution at night since this plant is very sensitive to it in terms of blooming or not blooming.

my current setup is a milsbo cabinet with grow lights inside it that also generate some warmth which results in the perfect temperature for my warm growing orchids (around 23 degrees celsius). the lights turn off at 7 pm and then there is some light from the kitchen and tv on the other side of the living room that hit the cabinet. currently this is the only place where i can put the milsbo cabinet.

i was wondering if any of you had any ideas on how to limit light pollution once the lights turn off? maybe there's some sort of setup i could use or some household trick i hadn't thought of yet.

[Ray]

I think it is unlikely that other households lights will have any effect, as the intensity is so low.

[Dimples]

From the plant’s perspective, your nighttime ambient light is dimmer than a full moon on a clear night would be if they lived in habitat.

[estación seca]

TV is bad for humans!

[Diane56Victor]

If you want to exclude ANY light after sunset all I can think of would be either a blanket draped across the cabinet or maybe one of those folding silver sunshades made for cars.
Either one would require a bit of fiddly work every morning and night to set up and remove.

[Roberta]

Are the kitchen light and TV on all night? If just for a few hours after the "grow lights" turn off, it is still getting darkness for most of the night. (They shouldn't be on all night anyway!)

[OrchidNut555]

Hi everyone!

The grow lights turn off at 7pm after being on for 12 hours. not a lot of light hits it and by the sound of it, it should be fine.


for anyone wishing to do a little bit of DIY to ensure proper darkness; someone gave me the tip to cover a corner of one of the milsbo shelves from the inside with something like cloth or aluminium foil, shielding it from any light. If all else fails, i guess for anyone growing these, then i guess that would solve it!