Michael,
Actually, I think that should be fine. I grow Masdevallias in my
unheated basement under fluorescent lights and they bloom regularly. My
summer max is approximately as you describe (68-70F) with a winter
average of probably 55F. I don't know what the minimum is, but I think
in the winter the day/night differential is minimal.
Julia
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Message: 5
Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2007 01:13:51 +0100 (BST)
From: Michael Benedito <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [OGD] Cultivating cool-growing orchids exclusively under
lights
To: [email protected]
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Hi everyone
I want to start growing cool orchids (specially Masdevallia), but my
climate is too mild (even during winter) to grow them in a greenhouse or
outside. Instead of buying a lot of expensive equipment to cool down the
greenhouse, i was thinking of growing them exclusively under lights
inside a cave that was used when i was a kid to raise chickens (hehe).
The humidity and air flow in there seems fine to me, because there is a
very wet wall with water constantly dripping (that can provide
additional moisture) and 2 entrances on opposite sides of the cave, so
air is continuously flowing and aerating it.
Now i wanted to know if the temperatures in there were suitable to
grow those orchids, specially now on summer. This week was probably the
hottest of the year (temperatures outside of 33?C (91?F) and inside that
cave the temperature was around 20?C (68?F). As far as i know, the
temperature seems fine, but the problem is that i dont have any
experience at all on how to grow plants under lights. And the
information over the internet is very limited. Can i use normal
fluorescent lamps to grow them? And can the plants be grown healthy and
flower without ever needing to see the sunlight? (I will try to immitate
the natural lenght of the photoperiod of my area not to confuse the
plants)
Other question is about the temperature drop. The cave seems to act
like a temperature deposit, so the temperature flutuations will not be
that big. Is this a problem?
Lastly i would like to mention Masdevallia caesia and M. ignea as
being my favourites of that genus. Any particular problems with these,
by growing them the way i said?
Many thanks
Michael Benedito
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