Lights in the Basement

It's getting that time again. The Summer is gone, and we're progressing through Autumn. Soon, the orchids outdoors will need to be moved into the basement to over-Winter.

I have two, 250 Watt SunSystem II lights to maintain the orchids for several months in the basement. Last year, they were static. But presently, I'm in the process of installing mover system, using LightRail 3.5. Once all the equipment arrived, it only took a few hours to screw things together. I've asked a local electrician to install dedicated wires to run the lights and lightmover motors, and user/equipment-friendly outlets that will allow for the lights to move up and down the 6-foot track without becoming unplugged.














With the new light meter, I can now get a better measurement of exposure under these conditions. While I don't expect to fully mimic the sun's intensity, I do expect that I can improve the indoor culture conditions.

As a first exercise, I took some light readings around the backyard shade frame, this last Saturday. It was mid-day, around 1pm, and sunny. The light meter read around 90,000 lux on top of the shadeframe, and around 50,000 lux underneath the shadecloth (advertised as 40% shade). I got too busy with other chores to take measurements once the shadeframe was shaded by the trees...