fluorescent light for Phal!

hi!
i just bought a 2 x 18W fluorescent light (thats the only one i found) for baby Phal! will the light be enough? i have difficulty to find the fluorescent batten in Melbourne! lolz!
i might be able to return them if thats not enough lights! and do some more research! thanks!

That can definitely work. Just adjust how much light the plant gets by how close it is to the lights.

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Diane

"NA BEAN DO'N CHAT GUN LAMHAINN"

2 x 18w fluorescent lamps should be enough for a phal, you will just need to keep the leaves closer to the lamps since their intensity degrades rapidly as you go farther away.

Standard fluorescents should get the job done, but if you can find the special fluorescent lamps designed for plants, you would get better efficiency out of the lamps.

Over here, I usually find those lamps at pet stores. Their labels would usually state that they are for "planted aquariums" or "grow lamps". If the packaging shows a light spectrum chart, look for the ones that emit lights in both the red and blue spectrum.
They should also fit the standard fluorescent fixtures - you just need to match the length.

I hope this helps.
John

Thanks guys!
i read that Phal need 1000-1500 light candle! which i found quite confusing! how does i actually works?
how close do i need to put the fluorescent light to the plants? i actually quite afraid that they'll burm or smthng!
and tell me if im wrong with flourescent light, the longer tha tube the bigger the watt?

Single standard fluorescent lamps (specially those lower than 40 watts) rarely get warm enough to harm the leaves even when they are a couple of inches away.
Obviously, if you use gang type setups (2 or more lamps) then it will get warmer than a single lamp.

The wattage for standard fluorescents increase with length. The common values are 15w for a 12" lamp, 20w for a 24" lamp, 40w for a 48" lamp, etc.

If you have a light meter, you can measure the distance from the lamp to find out where you will get the 1000fc-1500fc reading.

For comparison, my lighting setup uses two pieces of 20w fluorescent grow lamps and I get a reading of 1500fc about 5" directly under the light fixture. At 10 inches, it drops drastically to 800fc.

If you cannot achieve the 1000-1500fc light, then you can compensate by giving the plants longer light exposure.

For example, if your goal is 1500fc for 8 hours:
1500fc X 8 hours = 12000 fc-hours

If your lights can only give 1000 fc, then you will need to calculate how long the lights will need to be on in order to achieve 12000 fc-hours.
HOURS = 12000fc-hours / 1000fc
HOURS = 12 hours
So giving your plants a photoperiod of 12 hours at 1000fc achieves your target of 12000fc-hours.

This is just a rough estimation and is by no means an absolute law.

However, on the flipside, you DO NOT want to give a plant that requires 12000fc-hours 6000fc for 2 hours or 12000fc for 1 hour


John

thanks for the reply John!
Phal need a 1000-1500 fc of light! how long perday do u think i need to let the ligh on if i have 1000fc of fluorescent lights?

at the moment i've my phal baby at 60w "reading light" about 25-30 cm away (pict)!

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In the previous example, 1000fc of light for 12 hours provides the necessary photoperiod for a 1500fc plant.

However, those plants you have in the picture are seedlings.
I do not grow a lot of seedlings, but I think that phal seedlings will need slightly less light than their mature counterparts.

So 1000fc for 8 hours would probably be a good start, and then increase or decrease as necessary based on the plants' response.