Lighting Design Question
I'm an orchid grower but you guys have the best terrarium/lighting forum I have seen.
So, I have plants growing in my SW facing window but it's shaded by trees. Condo so I have no garage, basement, or outside growiing area. Greenhouse is out of the question.
The plants in my window could use some additional lighting but the lighting discussions I have seen here so far all talk about placing lamps overhead so that if the plants undeneath are 10-12 " tall, then the lamps will be 18-20" above the pot. Seems that 1/2 of the leaves would lose out on good light. And, as the plants increase in height, then the lights need to be moved up so that more and more, only the crown of the plant is illuminated.
So, I was thinking that if I mounted f5, f8, or f12 bulbs vertically, spaced at 18" then the plants gathered around them would have light up their entire height and no plant would be more than 9" from the light. I planned to strip the parts from the fixture so that the tube was emit light all 'round the tube. I could mount 2 or 3 shelves, pierced by the tube, up the height of a 4' tube.
Thoughts?
Thanks