Orchid Lights – The Correct Spectrum

What's a home horticulturist to do?  The window sills are full and a greenhouse out back is not in the budget for years to come.  Orchid lights can be a great enhancement to your growing or lighting needs.  When the available space and light is at a premium an orchid lighting system is a reasonable answer.  That system should include high intensity discharge lights.  Most of us out there will focus on the old standby of fluorescent tube lights.  The ones that can be found at the big box store called shop lights.  These are just right in the work shop to make sure you measure twice and cut once, but for orchids these will not do. HID lights will supply the proper amount of light growing spectrum specific light for maximum results. 

There are choices in the marketplace of HID lights.  Mental-halide types match up to the sun's color spectrum.  These types are best applied for the use of vegetative growth.  High pressure sodium lights can be more cost effective and will facilitate increased flowering.  However, this light has a limited range in the spectrum.  With this limitation these will best function when incorporated with metal halide lights to complement them.  The best application of artificial orchid grow lights will be in the form of a combination of lights.

Caring for orchids indoors with lights does present a challenge, how to get equal coverage to all of the plants.  The answer to this is a light mover.  Basically this is a railing system in which the light or lights can move or be moved to cover a larger area.  The rails come in a variety of lengths;  four, six and eight foot.  The whole reason behind a light mover system is to supply the maximum amount of proper spectrum light to the greatest number of orchids.  

While an HID light mover system and an area of correct size in your home is wonderful, the cost to set this up for your orchids comes into consideration.  To cover a grow area of 10x10 you will need the following equipment and supplies: 

• 400-1000 wattage metal-halide lamp with ballast  ($200-$400)
• High-pressure sodium lamp with ballast  ($200-$400)
• Light Mover 8' rail  ($150-$300)
• Timers with grounds  ($50-$80)
• Large air circulation fans  ($70-$160)
• Growing benches 2  ($200-$400)
• Humidifier  ($150-$300)
• Light meter  ($25-$50)
• Thermometer, minimum-maximum type  ($20-$50)
• Humidity gauge  ($10-$30)

This does add up and could be done for around a $1000.  Also, the lights should be on a separate electrical circuit.  While this may seem excessive to some, this could be a long term solution to growing your orchids and increasing the joy in having constant blooming plants in your home.  Make your orchids a happy place to thrive and they will return the favor to you many times over.

Marty Lewis