Is there a reason for running them only at night. Will they get daylight where you have them? I am following because I really like that set up and I have a few plants that don't like our winters

I am running them at night because the electric rates drop a bit here in Michigan during the "off-peak" or night time hours. I guess that I am trying to save a little money if I can. However, I have no proof as to just how much money I will actually save, if any.
I have a billing period coming up soon so I can see just how much it jumped due to the lights. My home is natural gas heated so aside from the boiler running more during the winter using some electricity to run it, most of my increase through May will be due primarily to the lights.
If I only saved twenty cents a day due to the night time hours would $36 be enough of a savings? 180 days X .20 cents
However if I saved at least a dollar a day by running off peak for $180 total, that seems significant.
I will keep updating throughout!

Oh I forgot. Being this far North with a low angle of the sun, I do not think that locating this set up near a window would help me much at all.
Besides, I really do not have a suitable window to even try.

Let me also add that I am going to try and miniaturize my collection a bit. I am going to try to grow more compact growing plants, things less than 10" in height where ever possible. Minus a flower spike of course!

Both plant stands are up an running. I have only three shelves filled with seven more plants to put away. I will have about 40% of the growing space unused for now!

Looking good, Bill!

Nice and neat. Well done!

Jim

These are blooming under my lights.


This first one is Love Sound 'Kurenai' AM/AOS. Blooming in cooler temperatures it is more of a wine-red color and there are 5 flowers on a single inflorescence. Its last blooming in Florida was 5/-/2! Let me introduce you to flower count nomenclature. First number is flowers=5. Second number is buds=0. And the third number is inflorescences. So it is like orchid shorthand, five flowers with zero buds on one inflorescence.


This is the first Paphiopedilum that was repotted in my summer tutorial, Paphiopedilum Hsinying Majakun. It is a nice sized Maudiae type flower, all white with a green striped dorsal. Petals and pouch are also green.


This last flower is Dendrobium Judith Nakayama. It is a nigro-hirsute Dendrobium and was in my tutorial on repotting Dendrobiums. Flower is 3 1/2" across, ivory white with a pumpkin orange center.

Ohh lovely!! I didn't know there was such a thing as a shorthand to spikes and blooms!!

When we start out as student judges, we learn that short cut so we can compare multiple examples a bit quicker.
I use the same formula on the back of my labels to compare one year's bloom to the next.

Here we are once again. I had Judging today and my team looked closely at only 2 plants. This first one was granted an AM of 81 points.
It is now properly known as Phalaenopsis pulcherrima var. champarensis.



It had 20 flowers and twelve buds on two inflorescences, one was branched. Flowers were 4.8 cm. X 3.8 cm. , creamy white base color with a pink blush, the lip and peloric petals had coppery orange "side lobes". Flowers were flat, anther cap white, lip deeper blushed pink centrally with four longitudinal dark pink keels.
This used to be Doritis pulcherrima.

I put this second plant in a second post. It is now known as Miltonia mooreliana. It used to be Miltonia spectabilis var. mooreliana. It was separated out as a separate species around 2005.




On first glance when I saw this arrive for judging, and later when it came to my team, I was thinking a culture award. However upon close inspection several flowers had signs of being past their prime. A few more were dead and some appeared to have either thrip or mite damage. Some leaf tips were brown. Still with approximately 80 flowers on this plant that was 45cm. wide and 20cm. high I wished there was something we could have done. A culture award seemed obvious and almost automatic but the more you looked at it the more little issues that you found. Individual flowers were perhaps 9cm. wide X by 12 cm. tall. This is a true warm growing Miltonia from Brazil. It is not a Miltoniopsis.
It ended up being passed but nevertheless I wanted to share it with the group!

I wouldn't turn down either one! Both are unusual colors that I think are pretty.

They are both very nice!

I'm finding this commentary about how these orchids are judged/awarded very interesting, even though I never have had any intention of showing any.

Beautiful plant set up, Bill!
Where did you buy your plant cart shelves? I was thinking of getting standard metal shelving for mine, but I like the idea of having the water contained.

Oh yeah Karen, I love these carts. They ere pricey but I think that the quality is very good.
You can change the height of the lights easily, trays are very sturdy and they hold more plants then I originally thought. I had hoped to get my entire 80 plant collection to fit on 5 shelves with one left over. They actually fit on 4.
I got them from Gardeners Supply. If you google that, they will come up.
Light is very even, no heat build up and after 3 1/2 weeks, they are looking very good.

Thanks very much, Bill. I'll check them out. I'm a bit late getting ready for all the indoor plants during the winter.

Your most welcome! Any questions, just ask me.
I appreciate all of your "thumbs"!!

I just spent a few minutes going over my electric bill for the past two months. I was wondering exactly was the impact of my two light carts being on for twelve hours a day. That is 8- T5 tubes.
Honestly it has remained the same. Prior to the lights I was paying $55-58 per month. Since the lights, one month was 57 and change and last month was $55 and change.
Now I have an electric lights, an electric stove, gas dryer and a gas furnace so nothing has been added. In fact, with the heat on for the last three weeks or so, that did not "move the needle" either.
So without a noticeable change in my bills for gas or electric, I would have to say it seems like these guys have had minimal impact as far as an added expense goes.
But it is only seven weeks with the lights on!
And it is NOT due to having an estimated bill. All bills have been generated due to an actual meter reading. In fact I just got a notice that my gas provider is installing a new meter that can be read without having an on site visit from Consumers Energy.

One observation: tessellations on Paphiopedilums are much more defined, much prettier.

I am sure your report will inspire more people to grow under lights!