safe distance light source to phal bloom

[ladyslipper]

Well, I have bought my table top grow station because I wanted to make sure I had something that looked decent & I had to make sure my phals would have enough light in the winter.

Now my question is I measured one of the spikes from the highest flower to the bottom of the ballast & it looks like its between 4 & 6 inches. Is that enough distance so the flowers will not be burned? I had thought that as my grow area is right next to a window, I could probably place the plant close to the end of the grow station with the spike poking outside of the ballast. My next project will be to try to enclose the area with (probably) something like plexiglass so I can mist them without spraying down my livingroom walls.

regards, m

[Shadow]

I'm thinking about the same problem.... I think it depends on the type of lamps you use. There is one more problem - if to put lights too far, the flowers will be safe, but the plants won't get enough light.

I'm going to hang fluorescent lamps 50 cm from the wall and hope that this distance is enough to accomodate plant, pot, flower stalk and not to burn the flowers. (I want flower stalks to hang down)

[ladyslipper]

Hi Shadow, I am going to use just the basic warm/cool lights. This set up is close enough to a window that I can open the window a bit & it should be enough to keep the area from getting too warm (at least I hope). I am growing phal hybrids and species right now and the only one I know of who likes to hang at all is the phal schilleriana. The two I have are quite small & in pots so if they look happy staying in pots, it should make my life a little easier. At any rate, these guys are babies & I am not expecting anything for about a year (although they are supposed to be flowering size, the one looks like it couldnt hold a spike up without topling over.

regards, m

[Shadow]

I mean hanging in pots. They can't stand because the leaves are too heavy, so I'm going to hang them. I've estimated this distance as approximately 10 cm from lamps to flowers, but the fixture isn't ready yet, so I didn't try it in practice.