1. JANUARY 2011

2. LIGHT PRISM WHEN THE SUNS RAYS HIT A PRISM THE VISIBLE LIGHT SPECTRUM IS REVEALED

3. LIGHT CAN INFLUENCE ALL ASPECTS OF ORCHID PLANT GROWTH AND FLOWERING. LIGHT PROVIDES THE ENERGY FOR PHOTOSYNTHESIS WHICH IS THE PLANTS ABLILITY TO CONVERT CARBON DIOXIDE (CO2) AND WATER (H2O) INTO SUGARS AND OXYGEN (O2). LIGHT (AS STEVE HELBLING SAYS) IS FOOD FOR ORCHIDS.

4. DURATION OF LIGHT IN A 24 HOUR PERIOD IS KNOWN AS DAYLENGTH OR PHOTOPERIOD. PHOTOPERIOD CHANGES THROUGHOUT THE YEAR. MAGNITUDE OF CHANGE DEPENDS ON LATITUDE: AT THE EQUATOR THE CHANGE IS LESS (ABOUT 40 MINUTES) FROM WINTER TO SUMMER. IN CINCINNATI (40 DEGREE NORTH LATITUDE) THE PHOTOPERIOD CHANGE IS ABOUT 7 HOURS (9 HOURS DAY LENGTH IN WINTER AND 16 HOURS DAY LENGTH IN SUMMER).

5. PHOTOPERIODS ARE A CONSISTANT ENVIRONMENTAL PARAMETER WHEN GROWING ORCHIDS. YOU CAN PLAN HOW AND WHAT YOU WANT TO GROW BASED ON YOUR REGION. MANY ORCHIDS USE THE CHANGE IN PHOTOPERIOD AS A FACTOR IN SIGNALING THE INDUCEMENT OF FLOWERING.

6. ORCHID GROWERS HAVE MANIPULATED THE PHOTOPERIOD BY THE USE OF ARTIFICIAL LIGHT EITHER TO SUPPLEMENT NATURAL LIGHT OR AS THE SOLE LIGHT SOURCE AS IN BASEMENT GROWING. BY CONTROLLING THE AMOUNT OF LIGHT, BOTH IN INTENSITY AND DURATION, THE ORCHID GROWER CAN CONTROL THE AMOUNT OF FOOT CANDLES, COLOR, AND PHOTOPERIOD REQUIRED FOR A PARTICULAR ORCHID TO GROW AND THRIVE. SUNLIGHT (IN TOTAL OR IN PART) IS THE FIRST CHOICE FOR GROWING OPTIMALLY.

7. THERE IS NO ONE ANSWER. IT DEPENDS ON THE PARTICULAR ORCHID YOU ARE GROWING AND ITS CULTURAL REQUIREMENTS. CONTINUOUS ARTIFICIAL LIGHTING (24 HOUR) IS NOT RECOMMENDED FOR ORCHIDS. THEY REQUIRE AT LEAST A 6 HOUR DARK PERIOD AT EACH 24 HOUR INTERVAL.

8. LIGHT CONSISTS OF INDIVIDUAL PARTICLES OF ENERGY CALLED PHOTONS. EACH PHOTON WITHIN THE VISIBLE LIGHT SPECTRUM HAS THE POTENTIAL TO DRIVE PHOTOSYNTHESIS. LIGHT QUALITY REFERS TO THE SPECTRAL DISTRIBUTION OF LIGHT RAYS HITTING THE PLANT.

9. THE ENERGY OF EACH PHOTON IS DEPENDENT ON ITS WAVELENGTH. FOR EXAMPLE, RED LIGHT HAS A LONG WAVELENGTH BUT LESS ENERGY PER PHOTON; BLUE LIGHT HAS A SHORTER WAVELENGTH BUT MORE ENERGY PER PHOTON. APPROXIMATELY ONE HALF OF THE ENERGY OF THE SUNS RAYS FALLS WITHIN THE PLANTS ABILITY TO PRODUCE PHOTOSYNTHESIS. THIS OCCURS MAINLY IN THE VISIBLE SPECTRUM OF LIGHT. THE REMAINING AMOUNTS ARE NON-VISIBLE SHORTER WAVELENGTHS SUCH AS UV LIGHT, OR LONGER WAVELENGTHS SUCH AS INFRA-RED RADIATION.

10. PLANTS HAVE A GREEN PIGMENT CALLED CHLOROPHYLL WHICH ABSORBS THE LIGHT ENERGY AND THEN TRANSFERS THIS ENERGY TO DRIVE PHOTOSYNTHESIS. CHLOROPHYLL MAINLY ABSORBS BLUE AND RED LIGHT. THE REASON LEAVES LOOK GREEN IS THAT GREEN LIGHT IS NOT ABSORBED, BUT RATHER REFLECTED BACK OUT. THAT IS WHY YOU SEE LEAVES AS GREEN.

11. RED LIGHT INFLUENCES STEM ELONGATION AND FLOWERING. BLUE LIGHT INFLUENCES LEAF AND PSEUDOBULB GROWTH ( MOSTLY EVERYTHING EXCEPT THE FLOWER). GREEN, YELLOW, UV, AND INFRA-RED LIGHT DO LITTLE TO INITIATE PHOTOSYNTHESIS.

12. FOOTCANDLE: MEASURABLE UNIT OF ILLUMINANCE (BRIGHTNESS) EQUAL TO ONE LUMEN PER SQUARE FOOT. LUMENS: A QUANTITATIVE MEASURE OF THE HUMAN VISUAL RESPONSE TO OPTICAL POWER. IN OTHER WORDS, LUMENS ARE WHAT A LIGHT BULB EMIT. FOOTCANDLES ARE THE MEASUREMENT THAT CAN BE TAKEN WHEN THE LUMENS STRIKE A PLANT SURFACE. WATTS: A PHYSICAL UNIT OF POWER OR THE FLOW OF ENERGY. MANY TIMES WHEN YOU BUY A LIGHT BULB, IT WILL BE COMPARED TO THE STANDARD INCANDESCENT LIGHT BULB. FOR EXAMPLE: A FOUR FOOT FLUORESCENT BULB MIGHT BE DESCRIBED AS EMITTING LIGHT EQUAL TO A 40 WATT INCANDESCENT LIGHT BULB.

14. INCANDESCENT: A BULB WHICH PRODUCES LIGHT BY THE ELECTRICAL HEATING OF A MATERIAL (INCANDESCENCE). THESE BULBS PRODUCE HEAT AND CONSUME WATTAGE. FLUORESCENT: A BULB WHICH PRODUCES LIGHT BY ELECTRICALLY CHARGING GAS-FILLED TUBES. THESE BULBS PRODUCE LITTLE HEAT, NEED LITTLE WATTAGE, BUT EMIT RELATIVELY WEAK LUMENS. HID: HIGH INTENSITY DISCHARGE: BULBS INCLUDE MERCURY VAPOR, HIGH PRESSURE SODIUM, AND METAL HALIDE. THESE BULBS ARE LONG LASTING, ENERGY EFFICIENT, PRODUCE A LARGE AMOUNT OF LIGHT, BUT GENERATE A LOT OF HEAT AND WATTAGE. LED: LIGHT EMITTING DIODES: THESE BULBS ARE RELATIVELY NEW AND HAVE TREMENDOUS POTENTIAL IN ORCHID GROWING.

15. A Light Emitting Diode (LED) is conceptually a laminate of special chemistry which emits light in response to passing electrons. Different chemistry/filters produce different colors. Todays LEDs are complex, multilayered micro-structures.

16. Light produced can be limited to plant usable spectrums Low heat (without requiring the usual electrically heated filament to bring the elements to heated incandescence) 4- 10 times more usable light per watt Longer life- 5-11 times longer life (50,000-70,000 hours vs. 5,000 + hours)

17. Replace existing supplemental HPS lights in both cool and intermediate sections with 500 watts red and blue LEDs approx (15% of total HPS) watts of used for east facing lean to greenhouse with Odont/Masd growing temperatures and intermediate for Minicats and others. Run lights 15 hours/day with photo cutoff during bright sun.

19. Saved 1000 Kwhrs/month lights and AC cooling for 6 months/year. About half that in the winter. About a 5 year payout with LEDs as purchased. Today LEDs are more powerful and affordable.

20. Oda. Lavender Lace x Aviewood

21. Increasing percent of plants with super sized pseudobulbs and multiple leads.

22. Beginning to get good seedling growth when under bench lights are within inches of leaf tips (awkward watering) Possible unexpected negative or positive- three Odonts out of approx 20 in spike have apical spike from top of pseudobulb in contrast with previous experience of one of about 200 in 30 years.

23. Intermediate side results are good but not quite so obvious

27. Plants do take on a different color at night.

28. 1. LEDs can supplement natural lighting at lower cost than other choices and because of lower heat can very advantageous for cool growing. 2. Red and blue LEDs light supplement combination appears to increase new leads and subsequent flowering and pseudo bulb size 3. For basement cool growing and aquarium growing LED lights appear to be the best choice at this time. 4. Recent performance/cost improvements are real over the last two years.