Major kudos to Ki, who ran around town with me all day yesterday to find the shelving, the fixtures and the lights.

I have a small studio apartment, a good southern exposure, and so far, am not sure I want the compace fluorescents (but I still might get one for the top shelf). So, per her advice, I got a nice shelving unit from the Container Store, 25% off sale for the next few weeks (the entire shelf unit was like $92). It's got 3 shelves, though I only bought lights for 2 shelves for starters. I want to see how many plants fit on those shelves when my plants finally come in from outside, get a real sense of which plants I'm going to put under lights, which plants (like my catts) will sit in my southern exposure window, THEN consider buying a compact fluorescent for the top shelf for my catts, oncs, etc.

Anyway, we got shop lights, two fixtures per shelf (with 2 bulbs each), from Home Depot. Got the "plant and aquarium" lights and the "like sunlight" lights - one is blue-ish, the other is rad - so we're hoping those are the right combo. The bulbs are T8s. Oh, and got a $5 timer from Home Depot to turn the lights on and off.

Total cost for everything, a little under $300.

Anyway, some of my plants are already inside, so I have them under the lights now - I've done a combo of lowering the lights and raising the plants to get them to the right distance (I'm trying for the right distance, still working on that).

I'm also thinking of spray painting the lighting fixtures black - or red or yellow or some fun color (the outsides, the insides I'll probably line with mylar) - they're white now and just plain ugly.

Anyway, that's it. Here's my set-up, and any additional wisdom is welcome. Oh, actually, I do have a question. How many hours do you run your lights - I've been told 12 to 16 is good, for fluorescents at least - but my question really is what do you do to change the lightening for the seasons. I noticed in All About Orchids (Ortho) they suggested cutting the lighting back in September and October, then picking up again in November and December. I would have thought that December would have been the darkest month, not time to start upping the lighting again. What do you guys do? Which months do you cut back, and by how much, and which months do you start upping the hours again?

Thanks, JOHN

http://www.wiredstrategies.com/flowers/plantstand.jpg

http://www.wiredstrategies.com/flowers/shelf1.jpg

http://www.wiredstrategies.com/flowers/shelf2.jpg

it looks great!! lots of room!! i run my lights 12 hour cycles i have never changed it. also check out www.ahsupply.com for compact floros they have the brightest and the best its all i use for my frogs terrariums

Hi John,

Looks nice! I don't grow under fluorsecents so I can't really give you any tips. Thanks for posting.

here is what I used to do:
14 hours Nov-Jan.
15 hours feb-April & Aug-Oct
16 hours May-Jul

Funny I just heard Leo Schordje do a talk on growing under lights. He grows in his basement under straight cool white bulbs. For 2 years I would run out and buy the expensive bulbs for no reason... He said he saw no benfefit in fancy 40 watt bulbs. Yesterday John I took both of my shelves apart(made of wood) and transformed them into my growing platform. I will post photos later.

I admit the winter solstice comes a little earlier under my lights than outdoors, and my winter is a little shorter in duration. My light hours start increasing around Thanksgiving. Basically, they get a head start so that the gesneriads and seed-grown outdoor plants reach blooming stage earlier. I think this schedule will work well for the australian orchids as well, as they will come in from the cold as late as possible and be ready to start the up cycle.

I haven't been growing under tubes for long, so I take my cues from how the gesneriads grow - many of them go from seed to flowering in 6 months, so they are great for experimenting. While everything bloomed under all cool tubes, I had better blooming when some warmer tubers were mixed in.

There's also this little bit of info that floats around the gesneriad world (specifically re: african violets). The cooler the temp, the less light required to get the plant to bloom. I ran a non-scientific experiment to verify. I wonder if this is true for orchids?

As for slippers, I'm really quite new to them so not much to say, other than that Inca Embers and Don Wimber will bloom under 4 tubes of 1-2 year old T12s. (Certainly they would grow and bloom better with more light.)

What I would like to know is if mylar lining is the best for the reflectors? And how to attach the mylar to the refectors, considering the warmth and the humidity?

Nice setup :clap2:
My wife loves Container Store shelves - we did two closets from them.
I might be able to talk her into one of these rigs :twisted:

Nice setup :clap2:
My wife loves Container Store shelves - we did two closets from them.
I might be able to talk her into one of these rigs :twisted:


We don't have that store here. WAH!
:(

ahem ... Chestnut Hill and Natick :poke:

Ahem.... their shelving is 25% off on online orders too :-) http://www.containerstore.com/browse/index.jhtml?CATID=13378

Though the delivery is $35 - BUT that pretty much comes to the cost of the shelf normal price, so you break even
AND get it deliver for you!

ahem ... Chestnut Hill and Natick :poke:

I plead the fifth! LOL!
I knew not. I don't shop down there, it is way too far out - I avoid Rt. 9 like the plague. I had no idea they existed!

(Someone shops too much!)

This site helped me out a lot on how to set up an orchid shelf. A great site.

http://www.collins-consulting.org/orchids/orchid.shtml

What I would like to know is if mylar lining is the best for the reflectors? And how to attach the mylar to the refectors, considering the warmth and the humidity?
I read a study years ago where the reflectance of different surfaces was actually measured. Mirrors, silvered mylar, etc. The result was quite surprising - the highest reflectance was from white painted surfaces! Mylar and mirrors were really quite poor. So I'd just leave the inside of the lights alone.

kpb

It looks like you'd better start filling up those open areas of shelf.

I went looking for shelving this weekend and I was close to getting the same kind of shelving, but the wife does not want this in the living room where the South facing 8' window is located, so I am looking for a nicer looking Bakers rack. I wanted to have an area to show off the plants when they were in bloom instead of the basement greenhouse.

I read a study years ago where the reflectance of different surfaces was actually measured. Mirrors, silvered mylar, etc. The result was quite surprising - the highest reflectance was from white painted surfaces! Mylar and mirrors were really quite poor. So I'd just leave the inside of the lights alone.

kpb

That's sort of the conclusion I was coming to, just from browsing and reading. Baked white enamel seems pretty good, so it's just a matter of lining the wall and sides - I'm putting together a similar setup to John, but a free-standing one with just CFLs up top. (Still not tall enough for the basket vandas....)

I read a study years ago where the reflectance of different surfaces was actually measured. Mirrors, silvered mylar, etc. The result was quite surprising - the highest reflectance was from white painted surfaces! Mylar and mirrors were really quite poor. So I'd just leave the inside of the lights alone.

kpb

That's sort of the conclusion I was coming to, just from browsing and reading. Baked white enamel seems pretty good, so it's just a matter of lining the wall and sides - I'm putting together a similar setup to John, but a free-standing one with just CFLs up top. (Still not tall enough for the basket vandas....)

A trick I learned in photography is to take a sheet of aluminum foil, wad it up, then flatten it out. All the little krinkles in it help diffuse the light that bounces off it. It's a great way to add light into the shadowed areas of an object you are photographing, and works better than a white card or a mirror (which directs the light too strongly). I've used this techique on shelving units with two 24" single tube fixtures, with good results. I've not added it to the 48" two-tube fixtures I have.