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Direct vs. Indirect Light?
YANQ - Yet Another Newbie Question
Is direct light essential? It's a little hard for me to find growing info appropriate to my situation (South-facing open, hard-roofed, second-floor balcony right on Tampa Bay in St. Petersburg, Florida), so I thought I'd go talk to one of the local purveyors. This particular place (Art Stone Company, for any locals) has been there for years and is clearly the result of hobby-gone-wild. Point is just that I assume the guy is fairly knowledgeable. Light levels in the shade are 500-2000 footcandles, depending on how close you are to the front. Light levels out by the railing are, of course, Florida-level, at 12-16000 footcandles. I also took measurements in his greenhouse and the numbers were similar. His brightest areas were a bit brighter than my brightest, and his darkest were darker than mine, but all-in-all, quite comparable. And yet, when I described my growing situation, which is this hard-roof balcony, he seemed fairly pessimistic. I didn't have the numbers in footcandles at that point, but I said the numbers were about the same as home. He said that the indirect light didn't count as much, and that my light levels were quite low. He advised Phals, and said that while other orchids would grow, they would be unlikely to bloom. I've had a few orchids growing here for some months now and the leaves have not gone dark green. No blooming, but that's as likely due to other aspects of newbie husbandry. So, what's the scoop? Is the guy right? I'll tell ya, for a roofed-over porch, it's pretty bright! I actually had to move one Phal back towards the back wall, as the leaves lightened up a lot. Is direct light essential? As long as I get the light levels required on the meter, is that "good enough" or not? TIA Gannet St. Petersburg, Florida |
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