Lighting for my Phals

[kagura]

I have a pretty big problem when it comes to growing my 'chids. Ever window in my home is north facing except for one in my room which is north-west facing. So artificial lighting is a must for me. But I am so confused on what would be needed for them to thrive. I don't have much space in here (Rooms only 8x12). The 'chids are on a shelf and I was wondering about the range of lighting for phals, paphs, and, dends . Because paphs and dends are the next orchids on my list. I am also on a serious budget (I don't have to eat but I gotta have electricity and water for my 'chids ). So what would be good lights for me to get that aren't going to burn a hole in my pockets? And also what kind of light cycle do I need to be keeping them on, because I was going to put the lights on a timer.

Thanks for everyones

[calvin_orchidL]

Hi! I hear ya - money is so hard to come by but the orchids have gotta live

Phals can be happy under T8 tube lights - a setup with bulbs shouldn't run you more than 30 dollars, and can be found at most home hardware stores.

[Ross]

Dendros and Phals are two opposites. The Phals need much less light to thrive and blsoom than Dendros. I would recommend seperating them into two different windows. Then I would opt for very high intensity compact florescents for the Dendros and smaller ones for the Phals. I use a couple different sizes from this site 2 to 200 Watt Compact Fluorescent Bulbs : 1000Bulbs.com The Light Bulb Superstore. I use both the 105 watt full spectrum and the 65 watt full spectrum. Here is my setup:

[kiki-do]

I have phals and paphs in my north facing window and it's plenty of light. I wouldn't get a dend, though, unless I had really high light or artificial lights. Two out of three ain't bad! If you are trying to save some bucks.

[kagura]

But I really love how the dends look. And I wouldn't mind keeping them apart. I am glad I got some really good suggestions. I'm going to get some T8 lights for my phals and looking into a setup for some dends, and start looking around for some paphs (B-day is next weekend so maybe someone will be nice and get me some stuff >.<). So what should I look for for a setup for dends? And what else does good with dends? But thank you every one for the help. I was so worried I would get home and I would either have nothing or it would all be alien sounding because everywhere I read it's like a different language right now since I just recently decided to take this to a serious level.

Thanks everyone!