Tell me about your lights!

[reptilegrrl]

I am planning to invest in more supplemental lighting for my orchids and would love to hear from you about how much light you are growing in and what is thriving. Can you tell me what temperature and strength of light you are using, how they are set up (distance, etc) and what length of time they are on?

I get the impression that the AOS recommendations re:light levels are incomplete. I've read Ray's piece on light levels here: Light Level Recommendations - First Rays LLC

And I've spent several evenings over the last week immersing myself in PPFD and DLI etc. But I'm still ending up confused, and most commercial LED lights do not list their PPFD. So lumens and color temp are all I have to go on most of the time.

I have one 800 lumen supplemental light right now and the orchids under it are thriving with a 14-hour day (I did just increase their day to 15 hours, a few days ago.)

So I would just like to get a general survey from those using lights: what level of light are you using and how are your orchids doing? Basically, I want to know what is working for you! My plan is to install 4000k LED strip lights on a few of the shelves in my living room. I don't want to over-light my orchids, but I want them to have as much light as they can healthily handle. I want them to thrive, not just survive.

Thank you!