My orchid rack :)
 

I don't know why but I'm always a little shy about showing my pics. :blushing: But I really enjoy looking at everyone elses so I thought I would return the favor. My rack is in my spare bedroom that is in the process of getting fixed up, paint etc. I have t-5's as the only light source, 2 on the top and middle shelves and 3 at the bottom. Thank you Terri for the plant rack info. I got the entire idea from her. :biggrin: I took these pics at the beginning of February, things are little more crowded now! :blushing:

p.s. any blooming orchid on the rack was bought in bloom so I can't get any credit!

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Sarah, it all looks great! (/udb)

Please don't be shy about posting your :photo: ...we all really enjoy seeing each other's chids and displays :cheer:

I see you have a miltoniopsis. How is it doing and how do you grow yours? I just bought one about three weeks ago, but am thinking of loosely potting it in moss. I can't seem to keep the bark evenly moist, I think I either is too wet, but the next day, it is too dry!!!

oooh and I like your set up by the way ;)

Nice set up Sarah as for :photo: keep snapping them, we love for you to share your addiction :clap:

Looks great. I use a set-up just like that. Great way to enjoy your orchids.

Very nice display, Sarah. It's always interesting to see other's plants and setups. Thank you for sharing.

Thanks everyone for all the compliments! :blushing: :biggrin: I'm really happy with it simply because all my orchids were previously crammed in 2 east facing windows with pretty dismal light. I have a ton of trees in my yard. :(( Since moving them to this new set-up I have lots of activity going on, new leaves and roots everywhere! :) I even found a small spike forming on one of my phals today! :banana: I only have one other phal in spike and it's getting really close to blooming. The funny thing with that one is that I noticed the spike the day I moved it from the window to the lights. So it actually grew the spike while in the window. I thought that was funny. All that time there with nothing happening. :)

(..._...), with the miltoniopsis I have it in a coconut husk chip mix. I just got in the beginning of February at a show so it's really too soon to tell if it will like it or not. CHC works good for me because it seems to hold moisure well but it stills dries out for me in about 4 days or so. I personally don't like sphag just because it dries really quickly under the lights (and with a fan blowing) so I have check it all the time. I work full time so it's hard for me to do this. But if sphag works for you I say go for it. It seems that milts would like it since they don't seem to like to completely dry out. :biggrin:

Super nice!

I just bought a couple of the T5's for my orchid rack. . .need four more. lol

I am really seeing the plants perk up with the brighter and supposedly, broader spectrum light. I was using just T12 grow lights.

Love seeing your photos!!! Thank you for sharing your growing space with us. We love seeing them, you know!

nice little setup sarah! it is nice to see other peoples setups, where one sometimes get good ideas fortheir own use. that,s why pictures are so inportant
thanks for sharing

That is really nice Sarah. You've got a nice collection going.

Sarah, it looks great! You're very welcome for the idea. I stole it from my son! :blushing: Isn't it amazing how much growing starts right after moving them under lights? I couldn't believe it.

I'm going to add two more lights to my setup. I've got mine in a south facing window so they do fine in the summer, but could use a bit more light in the winter when it dismal and grey out. I think I'll end up with 2 lights per rack.

PS. What's that adorable tiny purple Phal. on the middle rack? I must have one!

Haha! Its the opposite for me! I find that the bark dries out too quickly and unevently! I find that I find it hard to tell if it need water in bark, but with the moss, even though it is still damp, I know it is ok to water.;) :biggrin: I guess everyone likes different methods!!

Nice collection Caseydoll and great:photo: Don't forget you can use the sides to hold mounted guys and pot hanger clips to hang from the upper shelves. Better start looking around for more light fixtures and racks. :rofl: you're on a roll.
Lorraine

First of all, thank you all again for all your kind words. :) It makes me happy to read all of your nice comments. :cloud9:

Terri, I think you'll be happy with 2 lights. Two definately gives out plenty of light. :) I ran in to look on the tag on the purple phal. It's called Phal. Little Steven 'B'. I purchased it at the Grand Rapids Orchid Show from Rob at Littlefrog Farm. I didn't see any phals at all on his website but you could probably e-mail him. At the show he had a lot for sale. I measured the leaf span and it wasn't even quite 6 inches across at the longest point. It has been in bloom since the beginning of February when I bought it and I just cut the spike off last weekend. Heres a pic of it a little closer up. In person the purple is darker and brighter. The pics aren't that good and don't really do it justice. :biggrin:

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Thanks Lorraine! Don't worry, I have already been planning on how to hang more orchids off that thing! :coverlaugh: Believe or not my boyfriend keeps trying to convince me to get another rack and put it on the opposite wall in front of the window. I keep resisting because it will make me want more orchids instead of just spreading out what I already have and it already takes soooo much time to water and fuss over them.:whew But I still may have to get one. :blushing:

Nice set-up Sarah. I have the same thing, but mine is in a SE facing window and I only have T12's. :(
You said you have 2 lights on the top shelf, does that mean 2 fixtures and 4 tubes?

Thank you very much and sorry for the confusion! :) I have 2 individual 4 foot t-5's on the top and middle shelves and 3 individual ones on the bottom. So 7 total bulbs altogether. I have a relatively cheap reflector for each one. I hope that helps! :biggrin:

love your,e paph delenatii, so haelthy looking

:Tup: Thanks for sharing your photos. Until I find a plant rack that suits my needs, I am always on the lookout for new ideas. I like your setup and lighting.
John

Thanks for the info Sarah. I've added it to my ever expanding list. :shock: Very nice delenatii too! They look so cool when they start shooting up multiple new growths.

John the other nice thing about this setup is you can adjust the shelves up and down to accomodate spiking plants.

Terri,
Could you put a link to where your original post was about the plant rack? The racks I find, don't have adjustable shelves, unless I go with the large bulky ones from Sam's or Costco. Being from Michigan too, I need to get these plants under some light in the winter.
John

John I got mine at Lowe's. Here's a link to the exact one I got. It's a bit of a process to move the shelves up and down. The shelves have circular connectors on all four corners that slide over the 4 uprights. There are little cone shaped sleeves that snap around the uprights and the circular connectors slide over the top of the sleeves and stop when they get to the wide part of the cone shape. You can put the sleeves anywhere you want on the uprights in 1" increments. It's much easier to do with two people but I have done it alone. Hope that makes sense. :scratchhead:

5-Tier White Shelf

Thanks Terri for the link and also thank you Sarah for posting your pictures. I think the Lowes stand is something that will work for me.
John

John here's a link to the original thread. There are pics of my set up in there somewhere.

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...id-care-5.html

One quick reply: I LIKE the display rack idea -- cheaper than a commercial rack... I think. Just for fun, how much did the A) rack cost you B) One bank of 4tube x 4 Ft x 2 Ft lighting fixture cost you?!? Lastly has anyone made a "Humidity Tent" to raise the humidity within the rack? How did you do it?!? The desert is NOT a good place to grow orchids. I live in an apartment so there is no greenhouse, and even if I did own a house 10 plants don't justify building a greenhouse. This rack idea has promise if is some way to create a ventilated "tent" to raise the overall humidity at the same time keeping overall cost down.

I'm all ears too.
Also - how do you attach the light tubes to the rack?

Thanks!!

If memory serves me correctly I think I paid $70 for a 4ft 4 shelf rack at Lowes. I am using 2 t5HO strip fixtures per rack. There is no "hood". The lights are attached to the bottom of each shelf with long twist ties. I'm using the HydroFarm strips. I can't remember exactly how much I paid for them, but I want to say they were around $40-$50. You can daisy chain two together.

Thanks!

OK sounds good. Trivia question are you using 4 foot fixtures?? I just "discovered" that 4 ft fixtures are actually 50- 53 inches in length (DUH :dumb: you would think with a PhD I would have thought of that ). Are you use a 4 ft fixture and if so how do you mount it in the 4 ft wide rack?!? I am seriously debating going with a 4 tube T8 LED grow light setup. The problem: The @$%# bulbs are EXPENSIVE , but use only 18-22W each --vs-- 54W each for a T5 -- that 88W / hr --vs-- 216W /hr. ... OR roughly 1 - 1.5 KW /day --vs-- 3 - 3.5 KW /day ... or 31 - 46.5 KW / mo --vs-- 93 - 108.5 KW /mo. That's a LOT of electricity!!! So do you go with the "cheaper" T5 setup and pay through the nose each mo when the electric bill comes due? Or do you pay through the nose up front and save each month on the electric bill?!? Has anyone used the T8 LED bulbs?!?

Because the T5HOs kick out more lumens per bulb than the T8s I only have to use 2 per shelf instead of 4. They also take up less grow space than the T8s. My electric bill only runs around $70 a month which includes all lights, computers, TV, and other misc stuff. It's higher in summer when the AC is running.

OK sounds good to me. A few more questions: A) is it a 4 ft fixture, (which means it will be 50 -53 inches lengthwise) how did you fit it in a 48 inch rack? B) How many hours per day do you have the lights on?!? Are you growing strictly under lights or as supplemental lighting?!? C) How many plants will fit under the two tubes?!?

For anyone else who may be reading this has anyone used the T8 LED tubes?!? Your input would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

The 4 light FLP44 fits perfectly in the 4 foot shelf. The dimensions are towards the bottom of this link.
Amazon.com: Hydrofarm FLP44 4-Feet/4-Tube T5 Designer System with Bulbs: Patio, Lawn & Garden

Bill

These are similar to the light strips I'm using.

Sun Blaze T5 HO Strip Light Fixtures | Sunlight Supply, Inc. - Indoor Gardening Supplies, Grow Lights, Hydroponics, and Lighting


MY shelf is a tad under 4'. My lighting strips fit just inside. I think a picture is worth a thousand words and since I can't find the old thread I'll just repost pictures.

The whole rack.
http://www.orchidboard.com/community...m/100_8787.JPG

2 strips per shelf
http://www.orchidboard.com/community...m/100_8784.JPG

Daisy chained together.
http://www.orchidboard.com/community...m/100_8785.JPG

Attached to bottom of shelf with long twisty ties.
http://www.orchidboard.com/community...m/100_8786.JPG

That's very helpful. Thanks, Terri.

[QUOTE=quiltergal;568971]These are similar to the light strips I'm using.

Sun Blaze T5 HO Strip Light Fixtures | Sunlight Supply, Inc. - Indoor Gardening Supplies, Grow Lights, Hydroponics, and Lighting


MY shelf is a tad under 4'. My lighting strips fit just inside. I think a picture is worth a thousand words and since I can't find the old thread I'll just repost pictures.

I'll reiterate what others have said: Thank You Terri!!
I'm not a big fan of T5's simply because they use too much wattage, and second they are too hot, BUT.... until the price of LED grow light tubes comes down -- WAY DOWN!! -- I'm thinking of going with your setup, a few questions remain:

A) How far apart are your two strips??
B) Will two strips be enough for growing Cattleyas?
C) Because they are so HOT how far above the plants must you hang the strips / tubes. With T8 technology you can hang them within inches of the plants.
D) Under your current setup, how many orchids can you fit under that 4 ft space?!?
E) How many hours per day do you have those lights on?? Are they being used as supplemental lighting or are you "Growing under lights" ONLY?!?

Thank you for all you help!!!

I'll answer your your questions in order.

A. The strips are approximately 8" apart center to center. You are limited in how far you can spread them by the length of the connector that daisy chains them together.

B. I have grown and successfully bloomed all types of Catts, Dens and Oncs with just the two strips and the light from the window. The Phals, Paphs and Phrags are all doing great and bloom like clockwork.

C. My experience with these particular strips is that the heat dissipates quickly because it is not trapped under a hood. I also keep all of my plants on humidity trays, so the rising heat hits the bottom of the tray first warming the water not the plant above it. I have had plants practically touching these lights with no problems. That said most everything I'm growing is intermediate, warm to hot growing. Anything that requires cooler temps is on the bottom shelf and father away from the lights.

D. At the height of my orchid insanity I had 95 plants on that one rack. I'm now down to 45 intentionally. ;)

E. The lights are all on a timer. They get 11 hours of light in the fall/winter, and 14 hours during spring/summer. The lights are all plugged into a power strip which in turn is plugged into the timer. The window the set up sits in faces southwest so it does get a lot of light. I would imagine if I were growing in a dark basement I would have to add 1 more strip per shelf to bloom things successfully.

I also keep a spreadsheet of when I change the bulbs and what location on the rack. I know I don't change them out nearly as often as I should, but it doesn't seem to be hurting anything.

Thank you Terri! :waving I had just been contemplating whether or not I should add 1 or 2 T5 strips to my racks in my south-eastern window... And I bought a cheap light to see..... But I'd started to second-guess myself... And then I read ur posts & u answered my doubts! :) (*obviously everybody's grow spaces, conditions & culture are different, so I do understand that it is still mostly trial and error, no matter how similar something is* but I was second-guessing myself! Not to mention, I should have a few more blooms at this time of year! :roll: Lol ~new set-up~
:coverlaugh: {I've doubled my collection in the past year :yikes: :evil:})

I think you will be really surprised at what a rapid response you get from your plants under lights.