Hello Group......
Glad I found you.....
I am not new to growing Orchids, I use to live in South Fla. and it
was sooooo easy there, I just hung them out in the trees during the
Spring, Summer Fall and part of the Winter ..... Watered and Fert. them
and Nature took care of the rest. I attached them to the large Oak Trees
along with Staghorn Ferns and had a Paradise of sorts...
Then I moved to Indiana, took only a couple with me, all but one
died....so sad. Through lots of trial and error I managed to keep my
Encyclia Radiata growing and blooming for the 9 yrs I am here..I have it
mounted on Malaysian Drift Wood and decided that being on the wood is
easier to care for as it is difficult to over water than being in a
pot..at least for me it is.
I have added to my collection with a Brassivola Nodosa,
Degarmoara"White Fairy", Oncidium"Sharry Baby", Cattleya x B.Nodosa
either"Richard Mueller" or "Yellow Bird", an Odontoglossum type,( I
believe by looking at pictures in my book and comparing foliage,)
Miltassia Olmec "Kanno" , Encyclia Tampense the native of Florida, And
the Ludisa Discolor.
All except the L Discolor are mounted on drift wood and seem to be
growing well.
My question is .... what is the best type of light for the time
I keep them indoors.... I have a spare room with a small southern
exposer window and 2, 4' fluorescent light fixtures mounted on the
ceiling. each fixture has 2 bulbs each has a "Power-Glo" from Hagan and
Nutri-Grow from Coral Life...I live in a Po-Dunk town in southern IN and
these were the only bulbs I could find at the local pet shop....
The Orchids hang less than 2 ft from the lights and get watered 3 times
a week in my shower from a shower rod mounted above the middle of my
bath tub..yes, I get asked why I have a rod in the middle up at the
ceiling..oh well, some scratch their heads and others just accept :-)
Does anyone else have any experience with growing Orchids on
wood ? I would like to know if there is more I should be doing..I think
I am doing ok as the Odontoglossum has bloomed for the past 2 yrs and is
in bloom as I type this..last year it had 42 flowers on a spike that was
about 3 ft long..so I believe it is happy. I just worry about Fall and
Winter and the lighting...... Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You
Mark