Lighting for Paph Magic Lantern

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DukeBoxer

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I have a 2 growth Magic Lantern that is in bud now on both it's growths, whoo hoo! Anyways, I have it in my room where I have a light shelf. The shelf consists of 4 x 4' fluoros and 2 x 75 watt compact fluorescents. The CF's are toward the front of the table and I had the plant toward the back, but now I moved it to the front directly in between the two CF's because the spike were starting to tilt towards the brighter light. It is receiving about 2000 footcandles right now compared to maybe 1500 before, MAYBE (more like 1200). Do you think that the light is too bright to have it right under the CF's or should it be ok?

By the way, if no one has tried growing with CF lights, they don't know what they are missing. A light footcandle measurer thing I have reads about 2000 footcandles when it is 1 inch under my 4 x 4' fluoros but 1 inch under the 75 watt CF (or even a 25w) the meter reads...well it tilts far past 5000 footcandles (the highest measurement) Believe me, CF's are the way to go!
 
I'd leave it in either spot until the bud opens then put it somewhere dimmer (maybe 500-1000 fc) to help the flower last longer. As long as the spike doesn't extend up into the lights and the leaves don't get too hot that is.
When you say 75 watt compact fluorescents, do you mean 75 watt incandescent equivalents? We use 100w equiv CFl's a little and like them. Note that intensity decreases considerably with distance from the bulb. Mathematically, 1/(distance)^2. Always measure light intensity at the leaves where it matters. A 100 watt EQUIVALENT (i think they're ~40 watts actual consumption, the same as a 4' T12 bulb) gives a decent amount of light to grow low light plants in about a 1'x1'x1' to 2'x2'x2' area. There are now 200 watt equivalents out, but they are about $17 each.

-Ernie
 
I did the same thing you did by moving the plant around to help grow a straighter spike, and ended up bursting the bud a week ago. I can't say 100% for positive that is what did it, but the bud is gone none the less. I grow under CFL's also and I was using the 120 watt bulbs from Wal-mart, which they no longer carry. Tops is 100 watt now from them. Started 2yrs. ago and this last winter I bloomed a Blc. His Light 'Praise' X Blc. Arabesque 'Golden Zebra' seedling. We measured the light at the start and it read 2800fc on the leaves. You do need to rotate the plants every other watering or so to make sure light falls evenly on the plant. The aluminum brooder shades are appr. 3 to 4 ins. from the top of the tallest growth. There is a vendor on ebay that sells 200 watt CFL's but the price is $23.95 ea. I believe. I ordered 2 in Feb. to experiment with. The thing I like about the individual shades is that you can very each shade heighth as needed, where as the 4' utility lights are very awkward.
 
Thanks rdhed, maybe I will move it back and just stake it, although I hate staking the plants. I like when they droop, it looks more natural. I'll always remember the first paph I saw (I forget what it was, I think a primulinum) that was drooping over like a foot away from the plant, man it looked great! Thats when I decided to never stake a plant again...I have one staked right now :poke:
 

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