Blooming phals indoor growing area

[mayres]

Thought I'd post a few pics of some of my blooming phals along with their general growing area. For those who may be interested in growing more phals and have not got the room presently - a setup like this works very good with inexpensive shop lights - I've been at it for a couple of years now and it seems ideally suited for phals. The only issue is that when they spike you have to put most of the longer spikes off to the side as you can see. I also have 6-8 really long ones that I have actually put other places or given to others to enjoy during the blooming time - that will not fit. It is surprising sometimes how fast the spikes can be pressing up into the light fixtures - then just remanuever and keep going.

[evagentry]

Nice Mayers, that quite a growing collection you have.

[articuno75]

Questions, questions. Did you make that stand? How is the light supported by the PVC piping? Also I see an awesome colored Phal that's a "peachy" tone in the back (far left front). What's it called? I like it!

[fred]

very nice Mike good growing
thanks for sharing with us

[patticake]

Just gorgeous ! Thank you! I love to just stare- I think I'll go back and do that!!!

[sandra]

That's a great set-up, not to mention what's on it. Great growing Mike.

[Vivienne]

WooHoo - Awesome!!! Very nice job, setup and orchids Mike!

[janice]

COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am going to keep this in mind for next winter!! I need more room

[exasperatus2002]

I like your collection. I built a wooden stand for mine that I need to redo. What is your shelf spacing? I have mine at 24". My daughter is starting to walk so I need to build a new one thats sturdier then the one I have now. I have a tall Dendrobium on mine which is why I have so much space but Im going to move it and hang it in a window somewhere.

[mayres]

Shelf spacing is REAL tricky. As you can see by the boxes I have used in places to move the plants up closer. With shop lights you want the plants as close to them as you can get them - inches - even 1-2 inches. BUT, when spiking this doesn't work. My setup has three shelves in about five feet of hight. (to top of 3rd shelf). Ideally you could have an adjustable middle shelf - acutally when not spiking you could probably even add a fourth shelf if you designed a unit with not only adjustable but removable shelves. Plants like oncidium types, catts, etc. fit well with this spacing but the shop lights do not provide enough light. I tried my T5 on one of the shelves but I then couldn't get the plants far enough away from it to keep from burning, so had to come up with alternate setup for it. Contstant process of learning what works!

[PhalPal]

Mike I finally got my PVC stand made and my T5's working. Pictures TODAY!! Jenny PVC is very cheap and easy to cut; you can configure any arrangement easily and all you need is a hacksaw. I'll start my own thread and add more detail on how I built it as I am sure Mike will do also.

Mike, to use as stands to get some plants closer to the lights I decided to use those white, slated metal/plastic coating kitchen organizer stands. (pictures later) They come in many sizes; I bought a pack of three different sizes for $4.99. At that price it's almost cheaper then the tape! But...the real beauty of them is I can use the underside for low light plants like some mini phals and I don't cover any of the humidity trays. In essense it is adding another shelf. Look for new thread today!

BEAUTIFUL blooming by the way!!! I have many spikes but only a few blooming presently, and those are in the kitchen where I can ooggle at them. I thought I wasn't going to have any spikes this year, remember?? T5's solved THAT concern!

[mayres]

I knew you could do it (blooming phals) Connie! Looking forward to viewing your setup. Also, referring to a comment you made on another thread - yes, complete confidence in coir media for bringing phals back (and keeping them) with healthy root systems.

[BunnytheOrchid]

Wow, the flowers look so pretty! What a cute lil' orchid home

[psyc1210]

I really like the setup, it looks great

[jay]

Mayres - very nice show. I must ask though, I would love to see exactly how tall the spike is on the Phal that appears to be reaching for the ceiling. How much taller is that?

You must love this time of year when all of those come into bloom. Thanks for sharing

Jay

[Anton]

Jay, you beat me to it, I was wondering if Jack is around to climb it then he could tell us what was at the end.

[patlee]

You are a very bad influence, Mike, LOL What a wonderful set up and the blooms are just beautiful I'm partial to those yellow phals--thanks for the great pics and for bringing some sunshine into the wintery days

[mayres]

Jay - the very tall spike shooting off the picture is one of my more exciting ones - there are about 10-12 buds forming flowers that are a wonderful pastel pink - I will try to remember to post here when out.

[mehitabel]

What a lovely display, mayres. Just lovely!

[jimcarolm]

I like you set up Mike. I posted a while ago on using T-5 lights, I have 2 sets of 48 in. 4 bulbs in each. I am experimenting with my space and what to do about humidity, I can get it up to 48% if I am lucky with 3 humidity trays. I am thinking of adding some rigid plastic to create some type of orchidarium to increase humidity. The t-5 are powerful, When phals or any other orchid blooms under lights do the flowers/ buds have to be under the lights also, or just the leafs? This could become a problem with tall growing orchids when the spikes outgrow the space.