Where are you located?

When I grew in NY, I used an inexpensive octopus lamp from Target. Put CFL's in each lamp and pointed them at my Phals. They grew well over winter, spiking then flowering. Inexpensive, not fancy, yet worked well.

I never tried LED's, however many have and might give you proper advice. I loved those octopus lights! I used them on many orchids which needed to flower over winter.

Jane

Octopus lamps

My phal overwinters next to an east facing window. No direct sun and no supplemental light and it does fine.

tj

I have east and west light but I also have shade trees so the light is only really good for maybe a couple hours.

Are the trees deciduous? If so, they won’t matter.

tj

They are, but I still didn’t have enough light in the house for plants last winter.

I've been using LED lights in my basement for a while and like them a lot, they keep getting better and cheaper.

I just picked up a small fixture on Amazon for a 3 tier plant stand I have. I has 3 LED strips that are 1 foot long , 1 inch wide , and a quarter inch thick. It's all pre wired and has a built in on / off timer that can be set for 6 or 12 hrs. for about $35. I've only had them for a week so I can comment on how well they work yet but I seems like a nice set up.

There a so many manufactures now, it's hard to know who the good ones are. The marijuana forums are a good place for info on lights and hydroponics. They have lots of experience growing things in hidden places.

If you are growing in your living space, go with a full spectrum light as opposed to the blue and red grow lights.

Thanks Jane and James for your input. Location is Atlanta GA. Current plan is to bring them in when it gets cold and put them on the floor in the area that used to be a carport, and shine a light on or at them. It can be pretty dim except for a couple hours of good western light in the afternoon. Jane, would those octopus lights be too high if I used that and directed them at the orchids on the floor? I don’t really have a good shelf for them. A lamp more like a spotlight would be nice but of course not a real spotlight.

James, nice setup. I wasn't lucky enough to have a unfinished basement. Had to use my living-room which didn't look so great over the winter.

Violet, you should buy cheap plastic standing shelves from Home Depot or Lowes. They don't cost much and come apart when you are finished in the Spring. Its better to have your orchids up off the floor so they drain properly and stay warmer. That's what I used in my living-room. They work well.

The octopus lamps are the perfect height for raised tables. I'll try to find pics and post them.

What I liked about those lamps (and they probably can hold LED's), is that each lamp can point in different directions. They can also be raised and lowered. I liked to display the Phals so I could control the spikes and the buds using the octopus lights. I would get a perfect display of flowers. I would then put them around the house until summer. Phal flowers last forever!

The ideas from James might work better because your plants will not be in the house. But you really need to keep the plants off the floor. Just get inexpensive, plastic, standing shelves.

The link I added shows one unit which can become three shelves. That's what I did. Just separate each one and you'd have plenty of space for your plants. Comes apart in spring and put it away.

Jane

plastic shelves

Thanks for the helpful info and shelf link. I didn’t know they need to be up off the floor.

I use a few versions of LED light for my orchids also, I worry more about functionality than 'pretty'.

I have three 2' 2 light LED shop lights that hang over orchids in cramped/smaller areas.

6-7 20-27 watt LED floods in chicken brooder lamps that hang over a 5'x'5 area. (These may be too large for an octopus style lamp?)

2 20 watt LED floods and an alien purple LED 40watt? grow light that covers an out of the way 3' x 3' area.

I also use 12 - T12 fluorescents on a 3-tiered light cart that I started my orchid growing with @20 years ago, but there are better and cheaper options out there now if starting from scratch.

Look at LED shop lights or LED floods at a big box store, you'll see/figure out something. I do like LEDs that are at least 20 watts to get decent quantity of light.

Good luck,

Bob

I too have all long L.E D lights. 4 foot ones and boy do they do a great job. Cheap too. All of them are full spectrum except for a couple. T12 and T8.

I pretty much got all of my ideas from here. James, Jane and Bob have been a huge help. Thank God for people like that)