Home growers can easily cultivate orchids like a professional by using one of several horticultural artificial lighting systems commercially available.
For ease of conversation we will refer to them generally as orchid lights.
Please note that I am referring to supplementing natural daylight with the addition of orchid lights.
The cultivation of orchids in a completely artificial environment, where natural daylight is never present, is not within the scope of this article.
Growing beautiful, stately orchids was once thought to be the exclusive domain of professional horticulturists armed with expensive greenhouses, special and complicate equipment.
Everyone knows that's no longer true and orchids can be cultivated in the average home.
In particular when located in geographical areas where during winter daylight exposure diminish below the twelve hours daily, the orchid home grower would not be able to maintain orchids in healthy condition.
The plants will not die but they would not be strong enough to boom properly.
Supplementing natural light with orchid lights is the only way to stretch the duration of daylight exposure and keep the orchids in good health.
One of the best ways to ascertain the requirements of particular orchid species is by talking to the person or greenhouse personnel where you plan to purchase your orchid.
Unfortunately, some outlets treat orchids as just another product to sell and have little or no specialized knowledge pertaining to orchids.
If you are under the impression that your supplier might not have the experience necessary to dispense pertinent advice about orchids care, you might want to consider a different supplier.
There are a number of orchid organizations and clubs.
Most maintain online sites which provide a wealth of information about all aspects of orchid cultivation.
Contacting your local orchid or horticultural club may be the safest and quickest way to find out which are the species of orchids that grow best where you live and, most likely, they would also be able to recommend an orchids' supplier.
Fulfilling your plants light requirements with the help of orchid lights will prolong the duration of the exposure but duration is not the only concern about light.
Priority has to be given to ascertain the type of light is appropriate.
In order to understand we need to explore orchids' natural habitat.
Orchids are found growing naturally mainly in tropical areas of the world.
They receive light as filtered by the trees canopy but that does not mean that all orchids' species have the same light requirements.
It is important to research the specifics of the orchid specie you plan to purchase before you buy.
When growing in the wild orchids position themselves to receive cooler morning light while avoiding being burned by the scorching afternoon sun.
In the home orchids should be placed near an eastern facing window in order to maximize the duration of daylight exposure but attention should be paid to the kind of light they receive.
Many novice orchids' growers are surprised to discover that daylight does not mean 'direct sunlight'.
Orchids should never be placed in open direct sunlight, that would almost certainly burn their delicate leaves.
Naturally orchids love sunlight when it is 'filtered' through the trees canopy.
Optimally you would want to mimic those light conditions by placing your plants where there is direct sunlight but protecting your orchids from persistent direct sunlight with some sort of screening device.
It could be as simple as slotted blinds which 'slice' the sunlight therefore reducing its persistence.
Some orchids thrive in relatively low light but most orchid species want at least twelve hours of daylight each day.
This is evidence that light requirements are factored by a combination of intensity and duration.
The intensity varies depending on the orchid particular specie but the duration is given by the native geographical location typical day duration.
Experienced orchid growers utilize a simple method for determining if an orchid requires high or low light.
Those plants with soft growing parts require lower light conditions.
Hard growing orchids with woody stems thrive in sunnier conditions.
Orchids that require low and diffused light usually bloom infrequently and have smaller blossoms.
Plants are typically lush and full.
Those which thrive in sunnier conditions produce less foliage but have more and larger blooms.
Having given priority to making sure the quality of light is appropriate we than need to focus on the duration of the exposure.
It is at this point that orchids home growers located further away from equatorial regions may have to consider using orchid lights.
These lights are specially designed to reproduce the sun light spectrum, as we human understand it.
Fortunately, for orchid growers, a light bulbs do not have the mass of the sun; therefore very rarely emit enough heat to become as dangerous for the plant as real sunlight is.
Having said that thought you should still pay attention to the positioning of your orchid lights.
If you are using incandescent light bulbs and you place them at less than a foot, approximately thirty centimeters, from the leaves you may cause some damage.
The solution is quite simple; place your hand where the orchid leaves are and if you feel heat similar to placing your hand in the sunlight it means your light/s are too close.
In moving the light source further away you may diminish the amount of light received by the plant, in which case you may have to add another light bulb to compensate.
The scope of this article is to touch on the importance of proper lighting conditions in general form.
Detailed information on how to measure the light intensity and guidelines about orchids species light requirements can be found at my website (link at the end).
In order to insure consistent daily exposure orchid lights are often combined with a timer switch to conveniently turn the lights on and off automatically.
Orchid lights can be incandescent or fluorescent, both kinds can be used and some of the more experienced growers actually suggest both should, or may, be used.
The reason is a little on the scientific side but the general concept is easy to understand.
The light produced by incandescent bulbs is 'hot'.
Mostly on the red portion of the light spectrum, while the fluorescent 'cool' type of light is more 'bluish' and the two in combination produce a better, more appropriate, type of orchid light.
With the help of orchid lights, a little research and attention to detail, you can enjoy orchid's flowers in locations, or rooms, where they would not bloom otherwise.
Recent advances in technology and the advent of the World Wide Web, which renders what used to be specialized information easily accessible, have given home growers the means to experience the joy and beauty of one of nature's most exceptional plants.