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Thread: New to Grow Lights

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  1. #1
    Real Name
    Jason
    My Grow Area
    Under Lights
    Favorite Orchid(s)
    Phragmapedium
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Philadelphia
    Posts
    130
    Member's Country Flag

    Default New to Grow Lights

    I've been looking for the right grow lights so I can keep my orchids indoors year round. I've been using cheap grow lights I bought at a hardware store but I want to upgrade to something better. Does anyone have some advise for a beginner?
    Last edited by Brutal_Dreamer; November 27th, 2010 at 02:42 PM. Reason: vendor links removed - see FAQs on posting

  2. #2
    Real Name
    Rich Weise
    My Grow Area
    Under Lights
    Favorite Orchid(s)
    Cattleya & Den.
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Gender
    Male
    Location
    Columbus OH.
    Posts
    952
    Member's Country Flag

    Default

    What type of orchids are you growing and how many do you have ? Rich

  3. #3
    Real Name
    Jason
    My Grow Area
    Under Lights
    Favorite Orchid(s)
    Phragmapedium
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Philadelphia
    Posts
    130
    Member's Country Flag

    Default

    I have around 50. Mostly cattleya and I have a few phrags and paphs too. I live in PA so the past few summers I've moved them outdoors but I'm going to set up lights in my house and keep them inside year round.

  4. #4
    Real Name
    Cindi
    My Grow Area
    Under Lights
    Favorite Orchid(s)
    Catts
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Central Iowa
    Posts
    1,766
    Member's Country Flag

    Default

    I have my (roughly 200) orchids in my basement on shelves over the winter. For the cymbidiums and oncidium alliance I use a 4 foot long shop light with two wide spectrum bulbs. I might step it up to two 4 foot shop fixtures (a total of 4 bulbs) above them. The catts all ready have either two 4 foot shop fixtures or one shelf has a three bulb high output T8 fixture, and I am playing with some LED's, too. The T 12 florescent shop fixtures have a daylight or sunshine bulb that is wider spectrum than the normal cheap shoplight bulb. The HO T8 fixture uses brighter high ouput bulbs that I order over the internet. The LEd christmas light strings I am playing with have c6 and c10 bulbs.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Posts
    3

    Default

    I use high output T5 four foot tubes in a fixture with 4 bulbs and get catts to bloom. The T5 is a bit strong for phals so I use regular shop lights for them. The T5 really put out much more light than shop lights.

    Frank

  6. #6
    Real Name
    Jason
    My Grow Area
    Under Lights
    Favorite Orchid(s)
    Phragmapedium
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Philadelphia
    Posts
    130
    Member's Country Flag

    Default

    Thanks for all the suggestions! I just ordered a 4 foot 2 bulb HO T5 fixture for my cattleyas (my shelf isn't wide enough for the 4 bulb fixture) and I'm going to get a 2 foot version for my phrags.

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