I just bought a Hydro Farm orchid cart (used).

I think the bulbs are no good (maybe ballasts, too!).

What kind of bulbs do orchids need to supplement natural light
indoors?

Used to live in a sunny house, great windows for orchids.

Moved to a house in the woods. Dim every day of the year. The orchids
hate it!

Thanks,

D Flash
Durham, NC

Another point good for a debate, but I like the GE "Sunlight" bulbs (Chroma
50) or Sylvania "Sunstick," as they have a higher intensity than the
"Gro-Lux" types, and the spectrum is really good, while only costing a buck
or so more than a cool white.--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Books, Artwork, and Lots of Free Info!

.. . . . . . . . . . .
"Flash" wrote in message
...
I just bought a Hydro Farm orchid cart (used).

I think the bulbs are no good (maybe ballasts, too!).

What kind of bulbs do orchids need to supplement natural light
indoors?

Used to live in a sunny house, great windows for orchids.

Moved to a house in the woods. Dim every day of the year. The orchids
hate it!

Thanks,

D Flash
Durham, NC

Has anyone tried the halogen plant lights- what do you think of halogen in
general. Wal-Mart has a new line of lighting listed as for plants

"Ray" wrote in message
...
Another point good for a debate, but I like the GE "Sunlight" bulbs
(Chroma
50) or Sylvania "Sunstick," as they have a higher intensity than the
"Gro-Lux" types, and the spectrum is really good, while only costing a
buck
or so more than a cool white.--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Books, Artwork, and Lots of Free Info!

. . . . . . . . . . .
"Flash" wrote in message
...
I just bought a Hydro Farm orchid cart (used).

I think the bulbs are no good (maybe ballasts, too!).

What kind of bulbs do orchids need to supplement natural light
indoors?

Used to live in a sunny house, great windows for orchids.

Moved to a house in the woods. Dim every day of the year. The orchids
hate it!

Thanks,

D Flash
Durham, NC

I was doing some confusing reading on this a week or so ago. Lots of
different opinions and lumen/color temerature/phosphor coating info
later I've decided to go with one Chroma 50 and one Chroma 70 in my 2
tube shop light. The chromas have rounded wide band colors and they
overlap well for supplemental plant light, and like Ray said they are
lots cheaper than the Gro-Lux WS tubes.

Ray wrote:

Another point good for a debate, but I like the GE "Sunlight" bulbs (Chroma
50) or Sylvania "Sunstick," as they have a higher intensity than the
"Gro-Lux" types, and the spectrum is really good, while only costing a buck
or so more than a cool white.--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Books, Artwork, and Lots of Free Info!

. . . . . . . . . . .
"Flash" wrote in message
...

I just bought a Hydro Farm orchid cart (used).

I think the bulbs are no good (maybe ballasts, too!).

What kind of bulbs do orchids need to supplement natural light
indoors?

Used to live in a sunny house, great windows for orchids.

Moved to a house in the woods. Dim every day of the year. The orchids
hate it!

Thanks,

D Flash
Durham, NC

Of all the 50 things I read through trying to figure this out - this
article:

http://retirees.uwaterloo.ca/~jerry/orchids/light.html

was the most useful

Gary Rich wrote:

I was doing some confusing reading on this a week or so ago. Lots of
different opinions and lumen/color temerature/phosphor coating info
later I've decided to go with one Chroma 50 and one Chroma 70 in my 2
tube shop light. The chromas have rounded wide band colors and they
overlap well for supplemental plant light, and like Ray said they are
lots cheaper than the Gro-Lux WS tubes.

Ray wrote:

Another point good for a debate, but I like the GE "Sunlight" bulbs
(Chroma
50) or Sylvania "Sunstick," as they have a higher intensity than the
"Gro-Lux" types, and the spectrum is really good, while only costing a
buck
or so more than a cool white.--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Books, Artwork, and Lots of Free Info!

. . . . . . . . . . .
"Flash" wrote in message
...

I just bought a Hydro Farm orchid cart (used).

I think the bulbs are no good (maybe ballasts, too!).

What kind of bulbs do orchids need to supplement natural light
indoors?

Used to live in a sunny house, great windows for orchids.

Moved to a house in the woods. Dim every day of the year. The orchids
hate it!

On Mon, 29 Sep 2003 16:47:47 -0400, Flash wrote:

I just bought a Hydro Farm orchid cart (used).

I think the bulbs are no good (maybe ballasts, too!).

What kind of bulbs do orchids need to supplement natural light indoors?

Used to live in a sunny house, great windows for orchids.

Moved to a house in the woods. Dim every day of the year. The orchids
hate it!

Thanks,

D Flash
Durham, NC


Regular flourescent bulbs are all you need, no need to waste your money on
the so called "special" bulbs. For a 2 bulb fixture get one warm and one
cool. Replace once a year as the end get dark over time and the light
level drops a bit at the ends.

This has been my experience too. I've bloomed seedlings of several genera
less than a year out of flask under standard cool white tubes. Recently, I
added one warm white per shelf (I have 4 - 2 bulb fixtures for a total of 8
4 foot bulbs per shelf).

"Tom Randy" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 29 Sep 2003 16:47:47 -0400, Flash wrote:

I just bought a Hydro Farm orchid cart (used).

I think the bulbs are no good (maybe ballasts, too!).

What kind of bulbs do orchids need to supplement natural light indoors?

Used to live in a sunny house, great windows for orchids.

Moved to a house in the woods. Dim every day of the year. The orchids
hate it!

Thanks,

D Flash
Durham, NC


Regular flourescent bulbs are all you need, no need to waste your money on
the so called "special" bulbs. For a 2 bulb fixture get one warm and one
cool. Replace once a year as the end get dark over time and the light
level drops a bit at the ends.

OK, my question is, where do you find warm bulbs??? All I see in my area is
cool bulbs.

Cheryl
"Jerry Hoffmeister" wrote in message
...
This has been my experience too. I've bloomed seedlings of several genera
less than a year out of flask under standard cool white tubes. Recently,
I
added one warm white per shelf (I have 4 - 2 bulb fixtures for a total of
8
4 foot bulbs per shelf).

"Tom Randy" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 29 Sep 2003 16:47:47 -0400, Flash wrote:

I just bought a Hydro Farm orchid cart (used).

I think the bulbs are no good (maybe ballasts, too!).

What kind of bulbs do orchids need to supplement natural light
indoors?

Used to live in a sunny house, great windows for orchids.

Moved to a house in the woods. Dim every day of the year. The orchids
hate it!

Thanks,

D Flash
Durham, NC


Regular flourescent bulbs are all you need, no need to waste your money
on
the so called "special" bulbs. For a 2 bulb fixture get one warm and one
cool. Replace once a year as the end get dark over time and the light
level drops a bit at the ends.

I got mine at Home Depot. I would expect you could find them at any
hardware store...

"clc" wrote in message
...
OK, my question is, where do you find warm bulbs??? All I see in my area
is
cool bulbs.

Cheryl
"Jerry Hoffmeister" wrote in message
...
This has been my experience too. I've bloomed seedlings of several
genera
less than a year out of flask under standard cool white tubes.
Recently,
I
added one warm white per shelf (I have 4 - 2 bulb fixtures for a total
of
8
4 foot bulbs per shelf).

"Tom Randy" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 29 Sep 2003 16:47:47 -0400, Flash wrote:

I just bought a Hydro Farm orchid cart (used).

I think the bulbs are no good (maybe ballasts, too!).

What kind of bulbs do orchids need to supplement natural light
indoors?

Used to live in a sunny house, great windows for orchids.

Moved to a house in the woods. Dim every day of the year. The
orchids
hate it!

Thanks,

D Flash
Durham, NC


Regular flourescent bulbs are all you need, no need to waste your
money
on
the so called "special" bulbs. For a 2 bulb fixture get one warm and
one
cool. Replace once a year as the end get dark over time and the light
level drops a bit at the ends.