lights--how much? which kind?

[elvinwei]

i am really new to this, please help!

right now i am setting up an indoor grow area and need to know which kind of lights to buy
i tried researching online but what i found is confusing because some sites insist that orchids need full spectrum light while others say they do not and that even a few white florescent bulbs would be fine

for the most part i keep low to medium light orchids. i'm not into the cattleyas or the other high light ones.


so for the low to medium light orchids, do you think a single T5 florescent will be enough? i plan to do multiple shelves, so maybe one or two T5 bulbs per shelf

what do you think?

[jerrymeola]

Florescent bulbs are rather low power light sources.

For the best growing idoors you should look for higher powerred lights.

Measure the light unless you are sure of the light levels you will have problems.

Measuring light levels with an SLR camera

[elvinwei]

thanks Jerry

the link you provided was very useful