Update on Orchids Under Lights

[LLW]

Sorry to be away so long. It is obvious I need to catch up. The office move and settling in took forever. I just thought I would drop a note after all the help I got on setting up lights for my orchids since my new office has no windows.

I read all the info and was worried when the general advice is that you need at least four foot lights. I do not have room in my office for shelves with lights that long. I though well why not try something that will fit and see what happens. I found some really nice chrome wire shelves that are 3 feet wide and 2 feet deep. I found four shop light fixtures that are 2 feet long and hold two flourescent bulbs. I set up two of the five shelves with two fixtures each and put a "warm" and a "cool" bulb in each one and set them all on a timer. I selected eight of my small to medium lower light orchids for the office and the rest came home. I have been there since October and so far none have started to look light starved, one Phal. has bloomed gloriously, one mini Catt. has a bloom spike, one Encycl. is adding new growth and looks like it "might" be going to spike. I love the lights!!!! This is my first experience but so far it looks to be working! Thanks for the help. Lashelle

[fred]

welcome back its nice to hear how your orchids are going but where are the pics of the blooms we would love to see some

[LLW]

I'll post some pictures when I get to the office tomorrow or the next day. I forgot to mention the lights make my office "seem" to have a window, I guess because where I have the shelves located they are just outside my peripheral vision and I just get a sense of light. It's great. Lashelle

[exasperatus2002]

Originally Posted by LLW

Sorry to be away so long. It is obvious I need to catch up. The office move and settling in took forever. I just thought I would drop a note after all the help I got on setting up lights for my orchids since my new office has no windows.

I read all the info and was worried when the general advice is that you need at least four foot lights. I do not have room in my office for shelves with lights that long. I though well why not try something that will fit and see what happens. I found some really nice chrome wire shelves that are 3 feet wide and 2 feet deep. I found four shop light fixtures that are 2 feet long and hold two flourescent bulbs. I set up two of the five shelves with two fixtures each and put a "warm" and a "cool" bulb in each one and set them all on a timer. I selected eight of my small to medium lower light orchids for the office and the rest came home. I have been there since October and so far none have started to look light starved, one Phal. has bloomed gloriously, one mini Catt. has a bloom spike, one Encycl. is adding new growth and looks like it "might" be going to spike. I love the lights!!!! This is my first experience but so far it looks to be working! Thanks for the help. Lashelle

Congratulations! Sounds like they like your lights. Can we see pics when they open up?

[LLW]

Ok, if I am doing this right, here are pictures of my light set up and of the Phal. that is in bloom now. Unfortunately I don't have the name for the Phal. because it is one of my older ones and I lost the tag several repottinngs ago. I am not a good photographer, but these are fairly clear.

[fred]

your pics look good LLW thank you for sharing them with us

[pikevi]

Nice photos.

I wish I can arrange my orchids as neatly as you have done

I hope your move was a smooth one. Good luck with the new location.

[robb]

looks really nice, your Phal is beautiful i am eagerly awaiting a few mystery Phals to bloom as well!

i would be really interested to know your particular light setup, ballast, lamps, etc. have you done any measurements with a light meter? i may have to supplement my conditions here too, just curious

[LLW]

Oh goodness no! I am really technically challenged when it comes to most of this stuff. Like I said in my first post above, I was really worried that I only had room for the 2 foot lights. The best help I got was right here on this forum when I realized my new office had no windows. I have had orchids in my office for 20+ years and I just flipped until I started looking into growing under lights. My "setup" is really simple. Four extremely cheap two tube, two foot shop light fixtures from Wal Mart. I have two fixtures for each shelf with one cool white tube and one warm light tube in each fixture. I got all of the information for how to do this from a very informative thread this forum referred me to. Help me out here all you more knowledgeable folks! That thread helped me understand the basics of lights and that I did not need the really expensive light set ups to get this to work. Maybe the thread should be kept somewhere easy to find as a reference. It sure helped this lost beginner! Lashelle

[mayres]

You got it down perfect. Indeed - that is all you need for LOW LIGHT orchids. Good job!

[LLW]

Yep! Low light orchids and one VERY happy African violet. Lashelle

[mayres]

Oh yes! African Violets love them too! I once had 200 of them under shop lights. Unfortunately I had an episode with mites that destroyed nearly my entire collection. Now I'm down to only about 7-8. They can certainly be very beautiful as well. Enjoy!