Is 6500k good enough?

[Ross]

Well said

[m_ms09]

Originally Posted by Daemos

Science can sometimes be crap. Trust me I am a chemist and I tell you that in some cases science simply sucks and as for plants it does most. A plant is like a baby and it simply asks for 4 things. Warmth, water, light an food. Give it too much or too few of that and it will start whining on you. As for light. I agree with Ross that light is light and full spectrum is simply nothing more then a sunlight emulator. We can theoretisize on such things until we die but the bottom line is that you simply should give it a shot and see what the plant tells you. If it burns, move the light away and so on. There are some books on google about orchids in which they performed some sick experiments with glowlamps and simple street lamps etc etc. I don't have any red light going on here and every plant spikes and does its thing.

I think that m_ms09 just did the right thing. Just do it and be amazed. Playing for god is not that hard

haha
You're absolutely right, I 100% agree!!
I am now really looking to get some lights for a bunch of oncidiums I have that I want to bloom soon! But I have no room and would need to set up some serious shelving!

[Ross]

Just as a thought, it has been stated here on Orchid Board that the twisty CF bulbs are wasteful (and that may be true) but I am here to tell you that they are strong enough to turn many high light genera purple! I have Encyclia, Brassavola, Epidendrum, etc. all of which tolerate full sunlight, turning purple under modest CF twisty bulbs. So keep that in mind.

[why_le]

i use envirolites one 6400k and one 2700k and everything is growing fine

[m_ms09]

Originally Posted by Ross

Just as a thought, it has been stated here on Orchid Board that the twisty CF bulbs are wasteful (and that may be true) but I am here to tell you that they are strong enough to turn many high light genera purple! I have Encyclia, Brassavola, Epidendrum, etc. all of which tolerate full sunlight, turning purple under modest CF twisty bulbs. So keep that in mind.

Yes, mine's a "twisty" one -- what kind of lumen output do you need for those high light orchids?? I'm eyeing some cattleyas, myself...

[Magnus A]

Originally Posted by m_ms09

Yep, I was close, apparently photosystem I requires 700nm and II requires 680nm (I'd like to thank wikipedia...).

m_ms09, this statement is somewhat wrong. It is correct that the P680, the central part in photosystem II (PS II) has the absorbing maximum at 680 nm BUT it is not the primary absorber in plants. Attached to photosystem II is an antenna system that collect the sunlight and direct the energy (not light) to the chlorofyll (P680) in PS II.
It is this antenna system that is interesting in a light discussion not the central part of PSII. Unfortunate, this is very often omitted outside the scientific community

The same is valid for photosystem I, it also has an antenna system that collects the light.

/Magnus

[Magnus A]

For artificial light there is 3 main points for orchid growers and I think most of you agree

1. use enough light (more lumen, stronger light)
2. use full spectrum light
3. use a light that makes your orchid looks good (general 5000-6500 K)



/Magnus

[RoyalOrchids]

...and #4. Don't use a traffic light!

[Magnus A]

Traffic lights! it depends

I have a friend that worked with planning were and how to build roads. For some reason, they got this traffic light used for showing variable speed limits to their office. It was around 5 foot high and produced about 1000W of white light! He said that they understood the power just after they had lit it in their 4 times 5 meter meetingroom!......

/Magnus

[Daemos]

Lol

I use Something exactly like Ross has (125 Watt CFL 6500K full spectrum) and my vanda has grown nuts. Spikes popping out from everywhere. Roots growing like crazy. Leafs almost getting sunburned. Twisted or U shape CFL's work (for me at least ). Envirolites are exactly the same type of bulb I believe.

So for m_ms9's question on lumen output. If you get something like 9000 you can grow every plant you dream of and envirolites do just that. LIke Magnus said. It's all about lightpower. The more godlike power you give in light the better the growth but too much abuse of power will destroy your followers. If you hang the lamp in the middle, you can stash your plants around it and get away with something like 15 plants per 100 watt bulb (5 vanda's hanging around, 4 cats underneath is on the table. And a lot of other low light plants around it).

Now remember that these CFL's are greatly underestimated. They CAN burn you plants to dust and they do make your skin look brown if you stand close to them for long periods in a day. I just love it. I really feel like being a god controlling the light