whats your setup?

[Royal]

Originally Posted by help

okay, thats what i was thinking about! they are on sale now too!! what kind of tray ware you thinking? can you really fit 100 orchids on one shelf? i dont have near that many yet. but i will soon

You probably could, but I think there are about 150-200 on the bottom three shelves combined. Many of these are seedlings. The trays really help pack them in. Just snoop around your local nursery, they'll probably give you a few. The ones I like most hold 4" pots and smaller in each cell. They are three cells wide by about 6 long, maybe 7 long. Four fit well on a shelf.

[Call_Me_Bob]

Originally Posted by BobInBonita

You probably already have a light meter if you have a half-decent camera.
I don't meter ( I grow outdoors under trees/bushes. If the orchids turn too dark I pull them forward and if they yellow (or worse) I move them back towards shadier regions.
As I remember the relationship, it should work out like this, although someone better (and more current) at photography could probably explain and work out a better table for you.
Each f-stop change cuts the light in half. F-stops are f-16, f-8, f 4, etc
Set ISO speed on camera to 100 and take a shot - check the image data (or meter reading)
f/16 for 1/100 sec or equivalent is full sun
f/8 for 1/100 sec (or f/16 for 1/50th sec) is half shade

i have a nikon d90, so i know what your talking about.

so if its on f/16 for 1/100 sec at an iso of 100, and the picture turns out the way it looks? or what should it look like?

i understand f/stop and such, i just dont understand how i can use that as a a light meter

[Call_Me_Bob]

Originally Posted by RoyalOrchids

You probably could, but I think there are about 150-200 on the bottom three shelves combined. Many of these are seedlings. The trays really help pack them in. Just snoop around your local nursery, they'll probably give you a few. The ones I like most hold 4" pots and smaller in each cell. They are three cells wide by about 6 long, maybe 7 long. Four fit well on a shelf.

oh those!! i understand!! do they hold water though? because im worried about the water dripping onto lower shelves and getting in crowns, or dripping on to the floor. but i also dont want the pots to be sitting in water. how do i get around that?

[Royal]

You will have pull them off the shelf to water - unless you figure out some drip tray system. I water plants from the top shlef first. As they are dripping dry, I'm watering the next shelf. By the time I get to the bottom shlef the shelves are empty and I can put them back in the same order. I also put down a single layer of paper towels on each shelf. Letting them drip dry for a while and using paper towels helps keep water from dripping.

[Call_Me_Bob]

i meant for once they are watered, and are drying. the pots will drip. and i definately need something for on top of the wire, because i have seedlings that are prone to falling over with a shelf like that

[Royal]

Originally Posted by help

i meant for once they are watered, and are drying. the pots will drip. and i definately need something for on top of the wire, because i have seedlings that are prone to falling over with a shelf like that

I use the "egg crate" light diffuser material to make a good flat surface on top of the wire shelves. The trays also add stability.

As for the dripping, just let them drip a while before you put them back on the shelf. Laying down a paper towel catches most of those slow, late drips. Plus, when you are putting the first plants back (top shelf), the others are still dripping. By the time you put the second shelf in, the plants above have dripped most all of the excess water into the paper towels. The last to be watered (bottom shelf) is last to go back, and the second shelf should have stopped dripping by then.

This system is not perfect but it solves the problem for me.

[Call_Me_Bob]

okay, i see, they drip while other get watered!

but what is this 'egg crate' stuff?

[Royal]

Egg crate is the white plastic grid that goes into recessed fluorescent light fixtures. You can find them in hardware stores on the lighting isle. It is easy to cut to size and elevates the pots a bit to allow for air circulation underneath. It's like 10 bucks for a full piece.

[Call_Me_Bob]

cool, ive never heard of it, but i can probably find it

[BobInBonita]

Easiest way, (based on FirstRays.com nifty calculator):

Set camera to ISO 100 and f4
point at white paper and zoom to fill frame
inverse of shutter is footcandles
i.e. 1/1000 sec is 1000 footcandles, 1/2000 sec is 2000 footcandles, etc

By shooting white paper you measure the amount of light
hitting an orchid at that spot - if you shoot the orchid, you are measuring how much is reflected off the orchid.

Only advantage compared to using FirstRays calculator is that you don't have to take your reading in to the computer. Disadvantage is that you have to use a specific IISO and f-stop.