Adding 60w incandescent or cfls to set-up

17 years ago

I grow my orchids on a rolling shelf unit from Costco that is 4' long by 2'wide by 7'high. I use four 48" tubes per shelf and have it in a bay window that gets west northwest light. I was wondering if adding 60w inc. bulbs or smaller cfls would help, and how to add them to the shelves? All of the plants were acquired this year, some in bloom, most not. The plants have new healthy growths, some phals and Sharry Baby are throwing up spikes, and Onc. Twinkle is flowering, but the minicatts haven't put any sheaths out yet, though I bought them just out of flower in Aug-Sept. I read an old thread from Howard that he is adding the 60w inc. bulbs to his grow area, and I remember growers doing that with my type of set-up 15 years ago (when I grew orchids the first time around) to help with flowering. I don't want to go overboard with the cfl size and I want to stay with 26w bulbs so I can actually keep my eyesight and not blind everyone in the house. Should I just buy light sockets and wiring to make string lights down between the two shoplights on each shelf using the 60w inc.? Or stick with cfls and attach them to the shelves and put the higher light orchids on the edge of the shelves? How far from the plants should either type of bulb be? Howard said he had his at 29" above the floor. I have an octopus light with 26w cfls that I am using for some orchids growing hanging baskets, and one clamp light with a forty something cfl lighting a epidendrum radicans that is blooming (which is why I'm concerned about the brightness of the bulbs). I want easy access to the shelves to water and see the flowers so thought clamping some fixtures to the shelves would be easier than filling all of the space in front of the cart with standing lamps. I've seen the threads with pictures of growing areas and lights, and wondered about the larger distances from the plants from the cfls. Any ideas? Thanks, Tom

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Comments (9)

howard_a
17 years ago
The incandescents are for when you are growing without any sunlight. I was in a basement. With your bay window and fluorescent you should be fine. You don't say how close the shelves are to each other. Usually they are much to closely spaced. People end up removing every other shelf to get more space inbetween. And just so you know, 60W inc. are just a little too hot for a shelf setup. 40W would be about ideal. They are hard to find these days. I am told it can be done but most stores I see start at 60W and up. In that setup I described the lights were 29" above the floor but most of the collection was 18" off the floor on storage tubs so they were much closer to the lights than you think. The incs. were staggered so as not to be directly above anything tender. Some things like cactus and succulent types love it under incs but most orchids do not.

H
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tom_z6_stlouis
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks Howard for the info. I always wondered if it was with no sunlight or not. I have one shelf so the pots are around 8" below the lights and I put some of the minicatts on small stands to keep the leaves a few inches from the tubes. The second shelf is spaced farther down so the large leafed orchids almost touch the tubes, so about 12" to the top of the pots to the bottom of the tubes. This cart allows for changing the spacing between shelves in 2" increments, so I didn't use one shelf and the lower two are far enough down that I use them for storage, until/when the orchid collection needs more space. Tom
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tom_z6_stlouis
Original Author
17 years ago
P.S. Howard... if I use small cfls for the lower shelves, you said something in that older thread about one light covers either 2'x2' or 1'x1' area, how far above the plants should the lights be? Thanks, Tom
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claritamaria
17 years ago
How small Tom? 28 or 23's can be very close. I use them literally inches away. Are you looking for max. distance out?

Clara
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tom_z6_stlouis
Original Author
17 years ago
More like an option for shoplights if they are easier to attach to the shelf unit. I have the soft white 100w equiv. cfls in the octopus lights. The remaining shelf spacing is 28", to be divided by two shelves. If I just have one shelf with 28" total space, I could use the forty something cfls to get more coverage with one bulb? Tom
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howard_a
17 years ago
Below is a photo of the setup I described in that post that you saw. Originally the CFL's were in the can shades but not having any ventilation they proved too hot for the electronics of the CFL's. 60W incandescents however work just fine in them, even 75W are not too hot, but will burn unacclimated orchids beneath, quickly too. Those are 23W CFL in the clamp on fixtures (clamps removed) but had I the $$$ at the time I would have used 42W.

H

{{gwi:204498}}
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claritamaria
17 years ago
OMG Howard. The Phals are monsters! Beautifil set up. All plants are incredible. A testimony to what indoor growers can accomplish!

Clara
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bevo_2007
17 years ago
Howard - how did you upload your photo?
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tom_z6_stlouis
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks for the picture Howard, it helps showing the distance from the plants. Tom
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Adding 60w incandescent or cfls to set-up

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Adding 60w incandescent or cfls to set-up

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