Pleione under lights?

[John Curran]

Would appreciate information about the possibility of growing Pleione successfully under fluorescent lights, thank you.

[mark smyth]

John, where do you live?

[Maggi Young]

Mark, I have editied John' profile to show his location on all his posts.... he had told us previously that  he is in New Jersey, near the Atlantic Coast, USA  Zone 6/7

[mark smyth]

John why would you want to grow them under lights? I'm zone 8 and can flower them OK with a great deal of neglect Do you have a green house? If you are too cold couldnt you keep them refrigerated until a more suitable time?

[LarsB]

The only reason i can imagine for growing Pleione under light is the lack of a garden to put them in. SOme of the winterflowering might also be a problem in with the climate you have. As far as i recall you have some pretty cold winters. Ours are a lot milders here in Denmark, more so in UK and Ireland. I know that there is a guy in the UK orchid forum who grows autunm and winterflowering under light in the winter. I jsut can't remember who it is. You might try to ask there.

http://www.ukorchidforum.com/

[John Curran]

Zone 8 is much milder than borderline of 6/7.  People in the USA most often grow Pleione as windowsill orchids; they would succumb to our freezing and thawing cycles, and wet winters and springs. 

The house does not have windows placed in such a way that growing plants in them is possible.

I am already set up for lights, where I most often overwinter tropical plants.

No, no greenhouse; there is an unheated but glassed-in cold porch where I often "winter-sow" perennial seeds.  This is not much warmer (if at all) than the outside, but of course provides shelter from the elements, and a certain amount of temperature modulation.

Thank you Mark, Maggi and Lars for your replies.

[JPB]

John, I find the regular T8 with a good cap for reflection the best and the cheapest. The T5 did't impress me considering the higher price and the hype... Many manufacturers (also in the US), supply so called full-spectrum lamps (Like the True-Lite I use, but they're only in Europe?). They come closest to natural sunlight for fluorescent lamps. They don't have those high emission-peaks as the regular tubes have. Also, a fair amount of blue and red and even some UV in an acceptable amount. But in contrast to specific plant lamps (with the reddish/purple glow), they emit also a fair amount in the yellow/green region so a natural color is achieved with a CRI of 96 (!) and a colortemperature of 5500 Kelvin. This is very natural light for the eyes.

I have very good results with them and put out a Photon Fluence Rate as much as 90 mmol.m-2.s-1 with the sensor as in the picture below, which is more than enough for growing Pleiones.

If you look for US-available brands like Duro-Test ("Vita-Lite"), GE (Chroma-75), and Sylvania you will find more info.

Hope this helps,

Hans

[John Curran]

Hans, thank you for the excellent information.  I will print it out, and go shopping.  Now, if I could only find a great source in the US for the Pleione...