i'm starting a closet grow room and am curious about the best lighting. It seems I need HPS 600?? Is this necessary or can I get by with HPS 400 OR something like this: 2 50-Watt HPS security lights from Home Depot ($30 each at Home Depot) 8 CFL's (4-Packs for $1 at Rite Aid or Big Lots) ?? Also, how much of a rise in electric bill can I expect to have with the lighting I need for 1-2 plants? What other lighting do I need? I read that it's better to have 2 lights, 1 for flowering and MH for veg? Is this really necessary? I want to stay somewhat on the cheap side. What should I get? I want to go build/pick up some lights soon! Oh my closet is about 6'x4'.
for 1-2 plants i would say use CFL for vegging, and either CFL or 250-400w HPS for flowering. the hps will give more dense buds but will give off more heat and cost more to operate. just depends on which you would rather deal with. i dont know which security lights your talking about so without a link i cant comment. they might not be the right type of lights [right spectrum] yes having a different type of lights for vegging and flowering is very important. use either 65k CFL or MH for vegging, and 27k or HPS for flowering. electric bill wont go up much with a small setup like that. no worries
i just noticed you said those home depot security lights are HPS. there is a thread on here that says using a small wattage HPS under 250w is less efficient than CFL. so if you dont wanna get a 250w or larger HPS i would say use CFLs. ill try to find the link
Re: Beginner lighting for 1-2 plants for 1-2 plants i would say use CFL for vegging, and either CFL or 250-400w HPS for flowering. the hps will give more dense buds but will give off more heat and cost more to operate. just depends on which you would rather deal with. i dont know which security lights your talking about so without a link i cant comment. they might not be the right type of lights [right spectrum] yes having a different type of lights for vegging and flowering is very important. use either 27k CFL or MH for vegging, and 65k or HPS for flowering. electric bill wont go up much with a small setup like that. no worries Not baggin an ya but to get it right, you need 6500k for VEG, and 2700k for FLOWER. It is good to mix spectrums during the grow process, but some do some dont, both with fantastic results! I say wait and invest in a good HPS setup and stick with some cfls for now.
oops! i guess i was typing too fast. thanks for pointing that out. dont wanna give bad advice. ill edit my post now lol
hmm, so are you saying to wait until I can buy an HPS setup or are you saying to start out with just the cfl's for now since their cheaper?? How much difference of a bud yield will i get with the HPS vs cfl? Also, if I do go with HPS which do you recommend for just 1-2 plants - 400 or 600w? How man cfl's? I was thinking about the light setup he is using here: http://forum.grasscity.com/grow-journals/310150-diy-scrog-under-100-yield-1-4lb.html what do you think?
You can get a realtively cheap (for what you get) 400W HPS setup here. There is a MH Conversion bulb option which is good if you plan on using the same setup for veg and flower. They also have a 250w but the 400w is a better value IMO.
Is this light enough for 1-2 plants? I was thinking of using an auto AK47 or auto WHITE RUSSIAN since it's my first time, easy to grow, relatively small, and short grow times... Which lights work best with these strains? Any other recommendations for seeds? I was thinking of something like AK47 since it isn't to stoney but it seems the sativa gets to be tall??? This will be indoor so I don't want a tall plant.
400W is plenty of light if you're doing only 2 plants. I use a MH for vegging and HPS for flowering run off the same ballast & fixture. I'm doing 3 plants currently and have to move them around a bit to get them even light, but it's working out. I was planning for 1 or 2 but I ended up with 3 females. Go figure, only happened cause I didn't want it to hehe. You could try some regular white russian as opposed to an auto strain. One of mine is a white russian and it's only 36" tall after 3 weeks of flowering. Not too big for a closet at all.
Thank you very much! That setup looks pretty good. Any other HPS setups that are pretty good? Any on ebay or somewhere else on the net? I want to stay relatively cheap on the lights. Just asking once more before I order it.
Which HPS + MH conversion would you go with??? I want to go ahead and buy one that has the conversion kit so I can just swap lights...Which is the best light and best bang for the buck? http://cgi.ebay.com/High-Pressure-S...286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66:2|65:15|39:1|240:1318 http://cgi.ebay.com/400-Watt-HPS-Gr...286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66:2|65:15|39:1|240:1318 http://www.insidesun.com/ecc584ec06d4630abdc6908519b10cb2.item http://cgi.ebay.com/400-watt-HPS-GR...286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66:2|65:15|39:1|240:1308
I don't really know much about conversions. I use a 400w Lumatek ballast which will power both HPS and MH. That allows you to just use the standard bulbs. It also supposedly gives you more lumen output, stays fairly cool, and is totally silent. It also has a 5 year warranty. The only downside may be the price. It's about $150. I don't know what you wanted to spend. It's good quality though. A good site to check out is Maryland Hydroponics at www.mdhydro.com They have great prices. Hard to beat even on ebay. You can get a 400w standard HPS bulb for about $10 and the MH bulb is like $13. I got my light setup thru them a few months ago after somebody here (Rumple I think) recommended them. I would do business with them anytime
Try HTGSupply-dot-com. They have 250w and 400w kits that come with both HPS and conversion MH bulbs, everything you need including a timer, ready to plug in out of the box. Many on this site have bought from them, myself included. For 2 plants the 250w would be plenty. You can't go wrong with the 400w, though it will cost more to operate and potentially cause more heat issues to deal with. Keep in mind that many growers expand their ambitions a bit once they get the hang of it, so while the 250w might best meet your stated needs now for 1-2 plants, if you ever think you would expand to say 4 plants then the 400w would be the better way to go now.
I second this statement. HTGsupply has great, cheap equipment. I love the $160 400w conversion kit. Uber
The 250w is enough? What if I ended up with 3-4 plants? I will try to germinate 3-4 seeds starting so potentially I could have 3-4 plants... So all I need to buy is the 250 or 400w kit with hps and mh for now. That's all the light I will need for the whole grow right? I ordered seeds so now want to order lights.
250w is fine for that man, you can go up to 400w if you really want to though. if you can keep the heat under control, your yield will be greater with the 400w.
For 4 plants I think you would want the 400w -- again, if you can handle the heat. I do 4 plants under a 250w MH/HPS, and I supplement with about 200w CFLs around the perimeter.
I went ahead and got a digital 400 from htg. Claims to not b so hot so hopefully not so much heat...which is better greenhouse tech or lumatek? Seem about the same as far as specs and design
Here's my 2 cents: First, I am only personally familiar with lumatek. Five year warranty and excellent customer service. Not sure about greenhouse tech. Hopefully someone else will chime in. Additionally, I have bought $1000's with Jerry and Tony over at HTGSupply.com and been very well taken care of. In fact, when 1 of my "Digital Greenhouse" ballasts died I called them up and they shipped me a new one(warranty) the very same day. When it arrived 3 days later, i simply put the defective one in the repacement's box and shipped it back. I was very impressed to say the least! Now, maybe I can help you out with your understanding of light needs. You need to think of lighting based on area covered and depth of light penetration, not so much on number of plants. Read this: http://www.growfaq.net/index.php?action=artikel&cat=24&id=222&artlang=en