"Frank Coppolino's greenhouses at Tindara's Orchid Supplies in Georgetown [Massachusetts] use industrial-strength artificial lights to keep the flowers blooming and plants growing.
... when it comes to Coppolino's personal gardens, he uses a plain fluorescent bulb that screws into an ordinary light socket. And sometimes he doesn't even use that. "I'm in my office," Coppolino said. "I have 10 orchids in bloom. I'm surrounded by them. They are just under regular fluorescent lighting, just regular office lighting." Artificial light can get flowering houseplants to bloom in winter, make up for low sunlight in a house or apartment... Garden supply catalogs will happily sell you hundreds of dollars worth of growing lights, carts and timers, but there are much cheaper ways to do it. "For small growers and for home hobbyists - someone who's not doing a large scale production of plants - you don't really need to spend a lot of money," Coppolino said. Joan Blackett, a member of the Indoor Gardeners of New England, is growing about 100 orchids on her enclosed front porch with ordinary shop lights, 4-foot-long rectangular lights that are suspended from the ceiling. The lights are connected to a simple timer set to run them from 4 to 9 p.m., and she turns them on early on cloudy days. "I'm just growing them and seeing if I can get them to bloom," she said... Most people get into growing lights as casual houseplant owners, Blackett said, despite the common misperception that lights on timers are for drug dealers growing illegal plants... Home gardeners who want to grow houseplants indoors over the winter should start small, Blackett advises. "You usually start with a windowsill and something simple," she said. "When you have enough plants or too many plants and you want to get serious about it, you decide you may need to do something else." People also use growing lights to start seedlings indoors, said Eagle-Tribune gardening columnist Barbara Barger. This, too, can be expensive if you order special light carts from garden suppliers, she said, or it can be as inexpensive as using fluorescent light fixtures from a hardware store. "You can put (the light) on a chain or rope and hang it from something so you can raise it or lower it," she said. Many orchids do well under growing lights, Barger said... Coppolino continues to grow orchids under lights indoors as a hobby, even as his business moves toward selling supplies rather than live plants... "I need plants around me all the time, especially in the middle of the winter months here in New England," he said. "Indoor gardening, I personally find it relaxing and therapeutic and it's kind of an escape for me." Tips for growing under lights * Ordinary fluorescent lights provide plenty of artificial sunlight for most plants. Use any shop light fixture. Install bulbs in pairs: one cool white fluorescent tube and one warm white tube. This is just as effective as fluorescent grow lights, and cheaper, say gardening experts. * Artificial lights make it possible to keep the "sun" on your plants 24 hours a day, but you shouldn't. Plants get worn out if they don't have dark periods to rest. Most plants like about 12 to 14 hours of light and 10 to 12 hours of darkness every day. A simple timer on the outlet where the lights are plugged in will help with the schedule. * When placing plants, beware that there are two-inch dead spots at the end of the tubes and the light is more concentrated in the center. The dead spots are the same length regardless of the length of the tube, so it is more efficient to buy 4-foot tubes [or 8-foot] rather than 2-foot tubes. * Fluorescent lights have expiration dates. The bulb may still light up but not provide enough light for your plants. To keep track of which of your lights are fresh, write the date you bought the bulb on the fixture. * Be careful - leaves or flowers should not touch the fluorescent light. If they do, or they get too close, they can burn. * Don't set the plants too far from the light, either. Light intensity drops dramatically as you move the plant away from light. If placed too far away, plants will reach for it and become leggy. An ideal distance is four to six inches from the tip of the leaves to the bottom of the light. * Plants under lights are going to grow faster than your other houseplants, which means they will need more fertilizer in the winter and more frequent watering. ... Shortcuts to indoor gardening You don't need hundreds of dollars worth of equipment to get started with growing lights. Here are ways to tap into artificial sun at minimal or no cost. Grow plants at work - The fluorescent lights in a typical office are enough to sustain many varieties of plants. If possible, place the plants within two or three feet of the lights, said Frank Coppolino... Try putting them on top of file cabinets. Slipper orchids do well under office lights... Use cheap light fixtures - If you already have a fluorescent fixture in your house, try growing under that. Shop lights work well. If you don't have a fluorescent shop light, but you do have a clamp light (a cheap reflective fixture with a socket for an incandescent bulb), you can buy a fluorescent grow light to screw into that socket. A 160-watt fluorescent bulb that plugs into an ordinary incandescent socket goes for about $50. ... Indoor gardening is a process of experimentation, Coppolino said. When a plant is doing very well indoors, forget the rules. Don't move it. Keep doing what you've been doing. It probably doesn't need growing lights or any other fancy equipment." article URL : http://www.eagletribune.com/pulife/local_story_014102526?keyword=topstory *********** Regards, VB _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) [email protected] http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
