Light Meter

[Raver]

its me again and my questions lol . I was wondering if any of you guys know of a good light meter that works. i've been trying to get one but there is so many of them to choose from that i'm not sure which one to pick, i dont know if my orchids are getting enough light. right now i have all of them under 4 4ft T5's i think but i dont know how many foot candles does that produce and i know my phals and paph onlly need about 1500-2000 foot candles but i think they are not even getting 1500 ft of light. I leave the lights on for about 16 hours.

[Cjcorner]

I was just looking at them online the other day... So far i've used the "hand shadow" method. You hold your hand in front of the light available to the plant...if it shows a clear shadow it's high level...medium shadow, medium light...little to no shadow...low light. So far it's worked for me.

[orchidlady]

How close are they to the lights? I have mostly Phals and Paphs under 4 ft 4-bulb T5 fixtures and get more than enough light for some. I even have some higher light Catts/Laelias and a carnivorous plant that are doing great. The fixtures are 12 inches or less from the leaves.

Susan

[Raver]

I havent tried the shadow method but it sound cool. i will give it a try the light is about 7-9 inches away from the plants. they all seem to be doing fine but i know my wilsonara and Miltassia need more 2000 foot candles, so i doubt they are even getting 2000 ft since i have researched about my lighting and most of them say it only produces about 1000-1200 ft depending on how far the light are from the plants. i will keep researchkng more and see what i find out, there is always something new to learn about orchids. Thanks for the info connie and orchidlady =). i will be back soo with more questions lol =p