Paph. Iantha Stage

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Paph lovr that is a great idea put a water catcher underneath slots with holes built for pots, I'm gonna move soon and am looking for a 2 or three bedroom place so I can dedicate a room for growing I just don't know if I should get a rising sun open window room or setting sun I've been collecting stuff so far shelving, hangers, humidifiers 3, window a.c. portable heater with a thermostat and am looking at lights fixtures for t-5 bulbs
Troy,

The main bench in my under lights grow room was equipped with two two-lamp F96T12HO strip lamps (that's 440w of output) with a reflector of my own construction that could be raised or lowered in 2" increments. The lamps were 50/50 cool white and Gro-lux wide spectrum. I could bloom just about anything on that bench. The intermediate bench had 4 48" tubes (not HO) using the above mix of tubes. The seedling bench had a two tube 4' fixture. Humidity was supplied by a large rotating pad humidifier that held about 5Gal a fill. Air motion was supplied by a 19" box fan. The heat from the lamp ballasts give me a good winter temperature differential. Here in Michigan I figure this setup was cheaper than heating a greenhouse in the winter.

BTW, since I posted the original photo, the dorsal has come a bit more vertical and the natural spread is now 7-1/4".
 
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I'm starting to research bulbs and fixtures, which ones give different spectrums of light at what wattage, I've already found one the hydro shop sells for 80 that home depot has for 40. Taking yur advice is sort of a cheet sheet to this, I'm sure you have done research regarding light output etc.. I agree it's alot easier to manipulate habitat in a house (room) as long as you don't mind the mess, I don't mind personally, I'm deciding on an open rising sun room or setting I'm still going to use natural light mixed with lights, what do you think, rising sun or setting?
 
Mine was on the south-west corner of the house but was not a sun room like you might have in California. The windows were fairly small and I considered them as inconsequential as far as light providers, especially in the winter. I would think that with the additional heat in California you might be better off with an east facing exposure which would give you brighter light at a cooler time of day.
 
Thats what I have now direct light for 2 hours in the morning and 70'/, shaded light the rest of the day, but thats not enough for vandas and cattleyas and some bulbophylums I think
 
Troy,

No, just did a lot of reading and research before building the light setup. When I built this the Internet was not yet available to the average person. I was a member of The American Orchid Society so I received their journal and also subscribed to the Orchid Digest which featured a lot of articles on Paphs. The prevailing wisdom at the time was that florescent set ups should include some incandescent (I don't remember in what ratio) to augment the red end of the spectrum. I didn't do this due to concerns about additional heat.

This setup provided enough light for the high light lovers in the center of the bench or hanging from the reflector, and those requiring less near the end or outer edges of the bench.

With this setup I was able to bloom a Paph. parishii which took a "Best of Show" in Toronto years ago.
 
Thank you for the insight!! You are a veteran grower, I trust your advice, thank you!! I'm going to use your setup mixed with natural light, I just have to hunt down those bulbs, the bulbs don't put out alot of heat? I also have a window swamp cooler and a piece of plexiglass to put above it so theres light through the window I'm also getting 6' × 4' wall mirrors. Congratulations on the parishii!! Don'tThose require a cold winter?
 
Just to clarify, this is what worked for me when I was growing under lights 30 years ago. I sure that there are better set ups available these days, especially with the advent of so many hydroponic growers.

As far as the parishii, my grow area was maintained at what I would consider intermediate conditions (54 to 58 deg. winter night temps.). I specialize in Paphs, but at the time was growing many other genera, therefore had to generalize my growing conditions to satisfy most of my collection.
 

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