Winter solstice

[magicatt]

Well, today is the darkest day of the year. Tomorrow the light begins to increase. It can't happen fast enough for my plants. Even with the blinds open it has been cloudy and dark today. I really should get supplemental lighting for my orchid babies. Oh well, at least one phal is spiking.

[WaterWitchin]

Not sure what zone yer in, but I feel your pain. I am fortunate to have a south facing room that's mostly windows (very old house). And still, it seems I should work on additional lighting for the dregs of January, February bleecch yet to come.

Not sure what I'm waiting on... have a turtle in ICU here, with UVA/UVB/Heat lamps on it. Perhaps because my orchids don't bite?

[seaj]

I'm looking forward to longer and warmer days for sure. My windowsill has an unobstructed southeast facing window and I keep the blinds pulled all the way up all day. Clouds and rain have been minimal here, but the short day length really gets me down.

I wanted to start supplementing my windows with fluorescent lights, but my landlord was already complaining about my other grow lights. Most of my plants can handle low light, but I just got my first cattleya so I put it in the sunniest spot I have. In addition to that, I placed a white tri-fold display board made of cardboard directly behind the plant to reflect as much light back on to the plant. I'm sure it would be even better if I used something more reflective, but this should at least help for now. The reflector caused the leaves on my Miltoniopsis to lighten up considerably so I know it's doing some good.

The only downside to the reflector is that is blocks the view of my plants.

[My Green Pets]

Thanks for this thread! I'm so glad we're finally here!

Today's astronomy where I live:

Sunrise: 08:41
Sunset: 16:56
Length of day: 8 hours 15 minutes
Angle of sun: 17.8°

Very much looking forward to longer days!

---------- Post added at 03:07 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:04 AM ----------

Originally Posted by seaj

I'm sure it would be even better if I used something more reflective

You can get rolls of mylar online or from a hydroponics shop. The stuff is super reflective but does not reflect heat like a mirror or aluminum foil will. Highly recommended if you want to maximize your reflector's effectiveness.

[seaj]

Originally Posted by CambriaWhat

You can get rolls of mylar online or from a hydroponics shop. The stuff is super reflective but does not reflect heat like a mirror or aluminum foil will. Highly recommended if you want to maximize your reflector's effectiveness.

I always knew that mylar was the way to go when it comes to being reflective, but I didn't know that it doesn't reflect heat. Thanks for that info!

[Ferns Daddy]

I can't wait for the longer days, my orchid room has window on 3 sides east, south and west I still need to use lights for my orchids, at least with all the window the room warms up to 75 in the day time and only drops to 63 at night.

[Leafmite]

I am so happy the days will now lengthen. It has been pouring for the past two days and really dark. Our part of Ohio isn't known for the number of sunny days.

[magicatt]

I'm in ohio as well. Even though my plants are in a south facing window, they haven't seen a ray of sunshine for a week.

waterwitchin, I hope your turtle gets better!

[Leafmite]

We have had a couple of unusual winters where we had more light but it looks like this winter is starting to follow the usual pattern of Dark and Dreary. On the plus side, the rain collecting is going great!

[Joseia]

Well, the nice thing about growing exclusively under artificial light is that it is always summer and very bright in my orchid area. A greenhouse would be better, but it is still very relaxing when it is cold and dark outside to sit in the orchid room under the bright, hot MH light with the breeze from the fans and the mist from the humidifier. It's always Hawaii in my grow room.