New artificial light arrangement

[masaccio]

I have a long shelf in a spare room (11 feet). I want it to be my "paph garden". The lighting will probably be LED spots. I have a choice: I can either do the track light directly over the plants (which will involve relocating an air conditioning duct), or I can pull the track out about a foot and a half to avoid the duct, in which case the light obviously will be more from the side. Generally, I thought this might be okay if I made the back wall reflective. If I opt for directly overhead lighting I'd be able to use 40 degree spots; if I pulled the track out to avoid the duct, I'd probably have to go with more focused 20 degree spots to compensate for the increased distance. Is there a definite yes or no about which of these options would be more effective? Aesthetically, it doesn't matter. I think either would be nice. I'm leaning towards the slight side-lighting. Not to mention the expense spared in not relocating the duct, having the plants more evenly illuminated top to bottom seems a no-brainer. I tend to fuss over the plants enough that I'd be mindful of keeping them turned to accommodate "both sides." I'm not wild about using narrow spots though. I want to use the ALT brand LEDs. I wonder if these are dimmable. Hm.

 

[Ray]

Is there vertical space to play with?

One issue I have with narrow beams is the lack of light uniformity - brighter and dimmers areas across the growing space. By elevating the lamps - compensating for lost intensity by adding more of them - the beams overlap more, improving the uniformity of the light.