Alright guys, ive got some diesel (1 plant) growin and im only using two 26 watt cfls at 12/12. the natural light temp... Im about 6-7 weeks from seed, and everything is going smoooth. Bout 10-11 inches tall so far, the lights are just about 2-3 inches above the tallest leaves. IN a small 2.5-3 gallon plastic pot in a homemade mediium with perlite & vermec.. Bear with me until i get some pics pls. its currently working on its 6th set. i can see the 7th starting to sprout out as well. at each one of the nodes there is more leaves coming out, no signs of sex yet.. everything is gorgeous and everyday i look at it, the leaves on every set get bigger. using only water right now, i do have some (shunned) mir gro bloom booster that im going to use soon... time for the question, i hear a lot of talk about having at least 100-150 ACTUAL watts per plant. ive only got 52w and my babys doing fine. i was definitely planning on getting a 6700k bulb for flowering and that would take my total wattage to just below 100 when i add that in. not looking for a super giant bush although it would be nice, i just dont have the space for it right now. can i go the whole way through with the 2 bulbs, 3 when flowering comes? i dont wanna hear the talk about 100w this or 150w that... will i yield a decent amount with what ive got? moneys tight although the recession ended last june hahah. first grow for me so ill be happy with whatever i yield but i would like to know for future clones and to get the best outta what ive got.. open to any and all suggestions as well. thx a million guys n gals
I'll answer your question with a story: I grew 5 LowerRyder#2's(Fem) In a 2 1/2(ish) by 2 1/2(ish) cabinet. I only had 2 125watt(actual watts) CFL's. And although I admit that I did pull them a little early, I still only got around 14 grams(if that) in total from all plants. The bud was DANK and they don't lie when they say LR2 has lots of resin. My point and opinion is that you will probably get some good bud, just not a lot of it. When your babies start to flower they are gonna need a lot of food: light and nutes. What kind of space are you growing in? Just a FYI, search ebay for 125 watt cfls. They go for around 80 bucks and some will include the mogul socket and cord needed. Or you can get an air cooled 150 watt HPS fairly cheep as well. Around 100$. Get some nutes. I used and am going to use in my current grow: BioBloom made by BioBizz. I got it off of ebay. It was like 20 bucks or something. Easy to use. I just filled up a milk jug with water and added the right amount. But if you can't afford anymore than what you have I would make sure your plant doesn't get too big. Keep it small. You also may be able to get the lights closer to the plants. I keep mine 1-2 inches away and it was fine. Would love to see some pics btw. -Bob
yea im at work now ill see what i can do about pics when i get home, i need em anyway for my first grow timeline haha.. i was also planning on using molasses with watering ive read it does the plant good. its a closet grow, sitting in a tinfoil browine pan for runoff.. when closed barely any light comes out and when lights off its dark as a mother f in there. about 2x2 and i have about 3.5 feet vertically, still got clothes to hang! im off at 10, ill see if i can get some decent pics for you guys to go off of and see what i see. ive got these cfls in an outdoor garden spotlight, they have a stake that has an angle range of 180 (flat) to way less than 90, right angle.. both are at a right angle andi have them taped together to stay at the same angle distance etc.. hanging by the tri ext cord from the hanging shelf haha. very ghetto but it works im also fortunate enough to get my hands on some 20wcfls that have the more blue light that i am missing from my spectrum, so im thinking of getting two and then just getting a y-spliiter for the two.. id have 92 actual watts that way, which is pretty close to that 100 mark that everybody keeps talking about... + rep for the info fa sho
so that bulb is 125 watt equivalent puts out 8500 lumens. you could have spent 30 bucks at home depot and bought a 68/300 watt cfl that puts out more lumens 4900 each to be correct. looks like you bought intop the industry...i have 6 68/300 watts on 2 plants in a 2x2 that started flowering last week.. ill keep you tuned.
For me it's more about the size of the plant rather than "each plant needs X watts of..." Just figure that each bulb is casting energy in a kind of "sphere" around the bulb. If your plant is within that sphere then it is getting enough energy for photosynthesis. The larger the plant, the more sphere's (bulbs) it's going to take to cover the plant. So, a shorter plant can be grown with 75w of light without any issue at all. A large plant might need a good 400w of light just to fill it out. There is a lot of wiggle room with CFL bulbs and it's up to the grower to utilize the energy properly. With that in mind I suggest the medium sized clamp light reflectors rather than having open bulbs. CFL's throw energy in every direction, and if that light is not reflected or focused in a specific direction you are going to lose some of that energy. With 27w bulbs every little bit helps. The medium clamp light reflector will be large enough to reflect all the lost energy but not larger than the bulbs "sphere" so you can just keep adding more reflectors. The large ones are too big to put enough bulbs close together. The small ones won't contain the entire bulb. I did 5 Kandy Kush x Skunk plants earlier this year and harvested nearly 3 ounces off of them with just 200w of lighting. CFL bulbs, especially the blue ones, kick ass when it comes to trichome production. The same plants (clones) under a 400w HPS didn't come out 1/2 as delicous.
You misunderstand. Its 125 actual watts, not equivalent. They are horticultural grow lights and you can find them in 125 200 and 250 watts. Mine is suppose to put out around 7,000 lumen s. I'm not sure on how the math works out with comparing the 68/300 vs the 125 but I'm gonna look into it. Maybe I can save some money in the future if I have to replace a light. Here's the link for the bulb I have NEW 125 watt Feliz CFL 6500K GROW LIGHT with REFLECTOR - eBay (item 200519373683 end time Oct-13-10 13:12:16 PDT) A good company to buy from as well.
holy hell dissident i was literally just on your thread... ive got two 26 watt (100watt equiv each), so right now i only have 52 total actual watts. they each put out 1750 lumens (so 3500 lumens now) and ive read that the plant needs at least 2000 to grow/photosynthesis... ill def get the 68w if it puts out 4900 lumens.. researching.... im sticking to cfls bc theyre cool and i have simple access to them. only one plant so nothing crazy, i understand how more light =more lumens=bigger plant/colas. BUT id like to keep it small while also yielding as much as possible.. i also understand that since i started 12/12 i will more than likely have one main cola, which i dont mind.. 2lsc, thank you mucho for that, finally someone who doesnt hammer the other about having x amount of watts.. you did make my brain work and actually think of a question, being that the cfls have this "sphere" (youll have to see my pics in a couple hours to understand me here) wouldnt it just be possible to have the two 26w 2700k bulbs on each side of the plant, rotating evry cycle or evry other cycle, and then have the big 68w 6500k cfl straight from the top? I am pretty sure that will help create a full spectrum, and all would only be about 6 inches from each other.. all of my bulbs will be hung upside down in this ghetto closet rig ive got going... it may be an electricians worst nightmare.. I personally feel after looking at other grobros pics n crops that mine is growing slower, thx to 12/12.. could this work out for me in a decent way? ive heard of ppl only yieldng about 7 gs using 12/12 from seedling.. i dont want it to get real big bc those of you that have grown sr d before know that it really does stink..
ive seen alot of people atempt what you do but where they screw up on is there plants streching for light and ventilation and thicker stems
dont bust my bubble man, im on a real hi horse... i have no fan.. its a very, how do i say? cheap, ghetto, DIY grow.. stem is actually pretty nice and gets a little thicker after the seedling leaves.. ive kinda got it chasing the light.. every couple of days i need to move it up an inch or so. but i would say the lights are within 3 inches to the top of the plant. what exactly do you mean ppl mess up by the plant stretching for light??? im planning on getting a fan but being in such a small area i dont want a fan that will dominate on its lowest speed setting, hopefully ill be able to find an old comp bc my local stores dont have any comp fans!!!! my closet doors are bi fold and there is some space underneath the door that lets in quite a bit of air due to a/c suction through out my place.. i actually got in the closet when i first moved in to see how big etc etc, my feet felt a helluva draft when inside and closed so im not too worried at the moment.. ive got an old amp box im using to block the light coming in from the bottom when the dark cycle is on, and i remove it when the lights are on so it gets this draft.
there plants are searching for light getting taller and taller for it you can tell when a plant is steched by the space in beetween the nodes and i dont have pc fans eather im doing a micro grow and i have a 14 inch tower fan and a normal 6 inch fan but as long as your plant can hold up its own weight + the weight of buds youll be fine and try to get pics up and how big is your grow space
you got me there, when i get these pics up im pretty sure you will show mean what you mean.. it is kinda spaced.. what does this ultimately mean/do?
each node/set of leaves is a budding site so the will be some gaps whitch takes up space and limits the budding sites because they can get to talll and it means your plant wont grow as much bud and it makes it easier for it to fall over because it is so streched but idk where your plant is if its a gap thats is to big or if its normal
dope.. now i was thinking of spreading those two bulbs out a few inches to be wide enough to fit on each side of the plant. and then have a 6700k 68watt cfl right on the top. i was thinking that would be a decent spectrum and it would be 120 actual watts.
sounds good but i wouldnt put more plants in untill you get the 68 watt installed and would you be starting it from seed or would you have a conection on a clone or seedling
no no no, this is my first and probably as big as ill go. this is strictly personal so id like for it to turn out nice. like any hobby, you want your outcome to be as top notch as it possibly can be. my problem is a limitation of funds. if i do anything ill clone it and keep one or two, but im not trying to do anything big. ive got clothes hanging about a foot and a half above the lights so they cant get big..
now? i fucked up with dates, this thing is only 28 days old. been 12/12 the whole time. i think im gonna wait to clone it bc idk if its male or fem yet.