# Paphs under lights



## RNCollins (Nov 28, 2014)

Hi! This is my first winter growing under lights. I have HO T5's. I know that when my Phals turn purple they are getting close to their limit of maximum light. How do I tell when my Paphs are getting too much light?


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## Justin (Nov 28, 2014)

with too much light they will have spot burns or turn yellowish. what kind of Paphs do you have and what is the wattage and distance from the lights?


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## RNCollins (Nov 29, 2014)

Each shelf has 3 48" 54 watt HO T5 bulbs. I keeps the Paphs a little over 1 foot below the lights. They are all mottled- leaf types:

Paph. Avalon Pearl
Paph. Hung Sheng Curtisii
Paph. Hilo Green #3 x Hsinying Yosemite 'Full Moon'
Paph. Pedro's Moon
Paph. Lynleigh Koopowitz


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## troy (Nov 29, 2014)

Show pictures


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## Silvan (Nov 29, 2014)

My parvis and brachys seems to adore growing under T5HO at about 18 inches under my fixture composed of 4tubes and 2 feet under 6 tubes.
Multis prefers more intense (I grow them under LED) and my more complexes seems to enjoy everything ...lol


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## fibre (Nov 29, 2014)

probably too much light if you use very good reflectors too. What are the measurements of the shelves?


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## NYEric (Nov 29, 2014)

Eggshells and others grow under lights. It is reasonable as long as you don't get too close or too hot/dry. Too much light shows as yellowish leaves, more than that and you get leaf tip or surface burns.


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## Justin (Nov 29, 2014)

agree for mottled leaf Paphs the plants should be a few inches further away (For multiflorals it would be perfect). if you can't raise the lights, consider running only two of the bulbs or put the timer on for a shorter photoperiod.


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## RNCollins (Nov 29, 2014)

I started using the light cart Nov 1st.

I keep my Phals and Paph on one shelf and my Phrags and higher light orchids on the other shelf. I am able to raise and lower the lights. I already had to raise the lights because some of my Phals started to turn purple. 

The Paphs looks fine...all my Paphs right now are mottled leaf types. I just wanted to know what signs to look out for if the light is too strong. My Paph Lynleigh Koopowitz has really dark leaves. Thanks everyone for your tips.

I have 2 shelves of 3 48" bulbs of 54 watt HO T5 bulbs.

Attached is a picture of my light cart from the factory:





image by cponsolle, on Flickr


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## Justin (Nov 29, 2014)

that's a very nice looking lightstand. you should be fine with that setup. if the light is too bright the plants will tell you.


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## orchidsimplicit (Dec 10, 2014)

If you can will you tell me which company you bought your stand from?


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## RNCollins (Dec 10, 2014)

I got my light stand from Gardeners Supply. My light stand has two shelves with 3 bulbs of HO T5's. They also have a 3 shelf plant stand but each shelf only has 2 bulbs. They are manufactured in Vermont I think, but they are not cheap. So far I've been real pleased with it. I was able to put the stand together almost entirely by myself. The lights are on a chain pulley system, so if the plants are getting too much light you just raise them.

http://www.gardeners.com/buy/high-i...ier/8586718.html?start=16&cgid=GrowLights_Cat

http://www.gardeners.com/buy/indoor-gardening/grow-lights/

If you sign up for emails they have sales and especially around this time of year special offers like free shipping.


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## naoki (Dec 10, 2014)

Pretty fancy looking stand, Carol!

In addition to the intensity, I recently learned that plants can experience a bit of stress by moving from natural to constant lighting. The photosynthetic system which is accustomed to gradual increase in the light in the morning need to be adjusted a little bit to the sudden wake up of artificial light. It's not a big deal because most plants seem to acclimate to the new lighting environment after a couple weeks. But I sometime see that some (not all) plants take longer to get them going after purchase, and I think this might be a part of the reason (in addition to other environmental acclimation).


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## PaphMadMan (Dec 12, 2014)

naoki said:


> Pretty fancy looking stand, Carol!
> 
> In addition to the intensity, I recently learned that plants can experience a bit of stress by moving from natural to constant lighting. The photosynthetic system which is accustomed to gradual increase in the light in the morning need to be adjusted a little bit to the sudden wake up of artificial light. It's not a big deal because most plants seem to acclimate to the new lighting environment after a couple weeks. But I sometime see that some (not all) plants take longer to get them going after purchase, and I think this might be a part of the reason (in addition to other environmental acclimation).



Just a thought - If you have a "new plant corner" and those lights are timed to come on a little while after other lights nearby they effectively get a somewhat gradual increase.


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## naoki (Dec 12, 2014)

That could help, Kirk. But it may need to acclimate twice (first GH to 2-step lighting scheme, second 2-step to 1-stepn-off). I don't know much about this phenomena, but I was reading about Dr. Geiger's research, which I thought interesting:
http://www.controlledenvironments.org/Light1994Conf/1_1_Geiger/Geiger text.htm


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