Thermometer Humidity Meter
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US $68.00
Orchid Lights – The Correct Spectrum
What’s a home horticulturist to do? The window sills are full and a greenhouse out back is not in the budget for years to come. Orchid lights can be a great enhancement to your growing or lighting needs. When the available space and light is at a premium an orchid lighting system is a reasonable answer. That system should include high intensity discharge lights. Most of us out there will focus on the old standby of fluorescent tube lights. The ones that can be found at the big box store called shop lights. These are just right in the work shop to make sure you measure twice and cut once, but for orchids these will not do. HID lights will supply the proper amount of light growing spectrum specific light for maximum results.
There are choices in the marketplace of HID lights. Mental-halide types match up to the sun’s color spectrum. These types are best applied for the use of vegetative growth. High pressure sodium lights can be more cost effective and will facilitate increased flowering. However, this light has a limited range in the spectrum. With this limitation these will best function when incorporated with metal halide lights to complement them. The best application of artificial orchid grow lights will be in the form of a combination of lights. Mixing high pressure sodium lamps with metal halide lamps will give the orchid the absolute best lighting.
Caring for orchids indoors with lights does present a challenge, how to get equal coverage to all of the plants. The answer to this is a light mover. Basically this is a railing system in which the light or lights can move or be moved to cover a larger area. The rails come in a variety of lengths; four, six and eight foot. The whole reason behind a light mover system is to supply the maximum amount of proper spectrum light to the greatest number of orchids.
While an HID light mover system and an area of correct size in your home is wonderful, the cost to set this up for your orchids comes into consideration. To cover a grow area of 10x10 you will need the following equipment and supplies:
· 400-1000 wattage metal-halide lamp with ballast ($200-$400)
· High-pressure sodium lamp with ballast ($200-$400)
· Light Mover 8’ rail ($150-$300)
· Timers with grounds ($50-$80)
· Large air circulation fans ($70-$160)
· Growing benches 2 ($200-$400)
· Humidifier ($150-$300)
· Light meter ($25-$50)
· Thermometer, minimum-maximum type ($20-$50)
· Humidity gauge ($10-$30)
This does add up and could be done for around a $1000. Also, the lights should be on a separate electrical circuit. While this may seem excessive to some, this could be a long term solution to growing your orchids and increasing the joy in having constant blooming plants in your home. Make your orchids a happy place to thrive and they will return the favor to you many times over.
Marty Lewis
Marty Lewis has been an avid horticulturist for over 30 years. Working in greenhouses allowed Marty to witness firsthand the needs of growers. Marty has been nationally recognized in horticulture competition. This most recent book, Orchid Care Plus gives insight to orchid owners regarding absolutely everything they need to know about care for their Orchids. Marty would like to share an additional Article about Orchid Lights with you.
Thermometer height for both the cool&warm side of the terrarium i have set up for my recently acquired CRTB?
How high up off the bottom of the tank should the thermometer be ?? ... i have a 30" Lx 12" Wx 12" H terrarium for my red tail boa and there is Aspen bedding about 2" off the bottom of the tank .. i have a thermometer & humidity meter for both the cool and the warm side .. should they be off the ground the same height for both sides ?? (RTB is about 6 1/2 months old and is a lil over 18" in length ....
about two inches or so from the top, where ever you can see it best.
J3133-Thermometer Hygrometer Temperature Gauge Humidity Meter
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