Introduction to Lighting

[jzchillin]

Originally Posted by raatikainen22

ok so i am a newbie with a question i am currently doing a stealth box and am still trying to figure out what i need for bulbs and i am positive i wanna go with CFL's to keep the costs down on electric bills.. well my question is this, how many CFL bulbs will i need for only 2 or 3 plants and what are the wattage's i would wanna get for veg/flowering? I know i will need 2 different sets of bulbs but dont know which 2 to go with for each stage of growth.. Please help me oh wise one!

EDIT: also my space is very small only 22"L X 14"W X 18"H

general rule of thumb is about 90 watts per plant to bloom, but you can get away with 50watts easy in veg



Cool white is for veg
Warm is for bloom
the chart shows what lights spectrum you need.

hope this helps

Originally Posted by Satyva

Hello jzchillin and all -

Read your posts with great interest, but didn't see T-5's mentioned... how do these stack up against others, or do you have any experience with them, anyone?

After much study, I went with T-5's for both veg and bloom (using one fixture, but changing grow/bloom bulbs out when moving from veg to bloom)... I'm a new grower so am very open to listening and reconsidering setup.

T-5's are the shit in the flouro market. They put out more power and are more efficient than their predecessors. You get more lumens per watt of any other light source with the exception of led's.

Now before you go out and drop a bunch of cash on the ones at the hydroshop, you can get the same ones at Home Depot (or Lowes) for 25 bucks. Just not as shiny and you have to put it together yourself, because it comes as a kit. Personally I find it's more fun when I get to do it myself and save a couple hundred bucks in the meantime.
54w t5's are the 4 footers, and they work exceptionally well.

I had 5 of them for a total of 10 Sylvania bulbs. They worked so well for me i never changed them out for the better bulbs at the hydroshop. It's a shame I left them behind when I moved over here, but I just bought another set for my next grow.

If you are going to go about wiring a ballast and shopping for individual parts that is a whole other topic which I could help with if your serious about wiring them yourself. In this manner, though, you don't really save much cash, it would be more for the pleasure of knowing you can do it.

drop by again sometime

JZ

[Satyva]

T-5's are the shit in the flouro market. They put out more power and are more efficient than their predecessors. You get more lumens per watt of any other light source with the exception of led's.

Now before you go out and drop a bunch of cash on the ones at the hydroshop, you can get the same ones at Home Depot (or Lowes) for 25 bucks. Just not as shiny and you have to put it together yourself, because it comes as a kit. Personally I find it's more fun when I get to do it myself and save a couple hundred bucks in the meantime.
54w t5's are the 4 footers, and they work exceptionally well.

I had 5 of them for a total of 10 Sylvania bulbs. They worked so well for me i never changed them out for the better bulbs at the hydroshop. It's a shame I left them behind when I moved over here, but I just bought another set for my next grow.

If you are going to go about wiring a ballast and shopping for individual parts that is a whole other topic which I could help with if your serious about wiring them yourself. In this manner, though, you don't really save much cash, it would be more for the pleasure of knowing you can do it.

drop by again sometime

JZ[/QUOTE]

Sounds very good to me! The more I hear about the t-5's, the gladder I am that I chose them - thank you for another educated opinion on these!

I have a 4' long 4 bulb fixture, the 4 bulbs that come with it, plus 4 extra, (plus shipping) for approx. $165 all together. It is an HTG product; the bulbs are Agromax brand. Once I finish off my first ill-fated grow, I plan on growing two medium-size plants underneath them - I have these started up in an Aerogarden and will let them veg until the other mess is finished. Once the new babies are accustomed to the new environment and get a little more veg growth on them, I'll simply change out the grow bulbs for bloom bulbs and switch to 12/12 when the time comes. Btw, is there any advantage to mixing, say, one grow bulb with 3 bloom bulbs, or a different combination? Or do you think it is best to just go from 4 grows to 4 blooms? I have 4 blooms going for a mess that should be finished in 4-5 weeks (if I'm lucky!)

At any rate, let's just say that I'm "mechanically-challenged" ... would much rather have someone put it together for me and give me a warranty, so I can simply plug and play! (lol)

However, I thank you much for offering to help with gathering the parts and assembling

[jzchillin]

No problem Satyva, any time.

You can leave in a bulb for in the veg spectrum but it needs all the evergy it can get from the bloom bulbs. I would just stick with 4 veg bulbs in veg and 4 bloom bulbs in bloom.
in your case, if i had another set of lights, I would leave 1 cool white bulb in each set for the bloom cycle. 3 bloom 1 veg in each set.

[Satyva]

Originally Posted by jzchillin

No problem Satyva, any time.

You can leave in a bulb for in the veg spectrum but it needs all the evergy it can get from the bloom bulbs. I would just stick with 4 veg bulbs in veg and 4 bloom bulbs in bloom.
in your case, if i had another set of lights, I would leave 1 cool white bulb in each set for the bloom cycle. 3 bloom 1 veg in each set.

Thanks again - will leave all 4 bloom bulbs going... would be nice to have another set (or 2, one on each side)... browsing the 2 footers now - and may revisit the idea as they grow larger (and another payday or two won't hurt (lol). However, my goal thus far has been to spend as little as possible without sacrificing efficiency of the setup, and to use as little electricity as possible - another big reason for the t-5 choice.

I'm seriously considering the sog (or scrog) method for my next try, which I'm thinking might possibly be the most efficient for the t-5's I already have. I'm not really limited much on length or height space considering I only want 2, or at the max, 3 medium-sized blooming at once... but depth is only approx. 3' Do you think I would get more bang for my light bucks with the sog/scrog method, regardless of the fact that height is not a problem?

[jzchillin]

Originally Posted by Satyva

I'm seriously considering the sog (or scrog) method for my next try, which I'm thinking might possibly be the most efficient for the t-5's I already have. I'm not really limited much on length or height space considering I only want 2, or at the max, 3 medium-sized blooming at once... but depth is only approx. 3' Do you think I would get more bang for my light bucks with the sog/scrog method, regardless of the fact that height is not a problem?

Sog stands for See of green. Meaning you trim away almost all of the branches and concentrate on the cola. it's good for large ops with a lot of power.

Scrog stands for screen of green. where you take a couple plants and you keep tucking the branches under the screen until it's full. in this manner, all the little branches that would have produced popcorn buds will now make colas. because the entire plant is tucked under a screen, it all gets the same amount of light and will all grow the same. It's good for small closets and, in my opinion, the best all growing method i have seen thus far.

[Satyva]

Originally Posted by jzchillin

Sog stands for See of green. Meaning you trim away almost all of the branches and concentrate on the cola. it's good for large ops with a lot of power.

Scrog stands for screen of green. where you take a couple plants and you keep tucking the branches under the screen until it's full. in this manner, all the little branches that would have produced popcorn buds will now make colas. because the entire plant is tucked under a screen, it all gets the same amount of light and will all grow the same. It's good for small closets and, in my opinion, the best all growing method i have seen thus far.

Sounds like screen of green would be the one for me, then. Will be doing careful research on this method now, supplies/logistics, etc. I've looked at it briefly before, and it doesn't seem too hard to set up, even for me!

Thanks soo very much again, jzchillin! Had to ask someone how to give a member positive rep, but have managed to compliment you, and also someone else who has helped me along with a serious problem - I love this forum! (lol)

[jzchillin]

Originally Posted by Satyva

Sounds like screen of green would be the one for me, then. Will be doing careful research on this method now, supplies/logistics, etc. I've looked at it briefly before, and it doesn't seem too hard to set up, even for me!

Thanks soo very much again, jzchillin! Had to ask someone how to give a member positive rep, but have managed to compliment you, and also someone else who has helped me along with a serious problem - I love this forum! (lol)

like i said, anytime.

And get a grow journal going, so we can all share in the bud porn