Hey guys Im growing 2 bubblegum babies.. My light currently is just 2 "cool white" (though possibly a little yellow) 24w CFL lamps, positioned about 4-5 cm from the 2 plants.. Each lamp is 1500 lumens. If this is enough, how long will it be enough for? Are "cool white" CFLs even any useful for growing? I can afford 1 or 2 lamps more this month, though it will be hard to fit them to the plants. Next month I can buy a 600w hps, if I save a little this month. What should I do?.. I feel 600w HPS might be too much for a small homegrow like mine..
"Cool White" is what you want for vegging. Not all "Cool Whites" are the same though. What you're looking for in vegging is around 6500 K. You can always take a look at your CFLS and find out exactly what K temperature they are. And cool white CFLS are perfect for vegging IMO. They keep the plants nice, short and bushy usually. Some people even mix it up and throw a couple of warm CFLS in their veg cabinet, though there should always be more Cool whites than warms when vegging, IMO. If you're only growing two plants, then in my opinion 2 CFLS for each plant would do an ok job for vegging at least. More is always better of course, but it also depends how you mount the lamps and how close they are to the plants and if you use reflectors or not and if your room has reflective walls for example. If you're going to pick up a couple more CFLS, then try to get a little higher wattage than you currently have. The more lumens your plants get, the better. As for the HPS lamp, if you're only growing two plants, then yeah, the 600 watt HPS will be more than enough. It might even be too much. Remember, HPS lamps give out heat, especially the higher wattage ones, and you will have to have good vertical space to place the lamp far enough from the plants, and you will need pretty good ventilation. 600 is pretty hardcore in my opinion. If you're only growing for your own personal use in a small space, then I'd go lower than that. It depends how many plants you're looking to grow and how much you're looking to end up with in the end as far as amount is concerned.
Yeah I can't get any lamps with higher lumen output, I buy them from the equivalent of walmart here.. These 1500 lumen/24 watt ones cost $10 each for just the bulb. I guess I'll see how it turns out with these 2, if it's good I'll get a few more. I hope to clone one of these a few times and get 4-5 plants.. Hoping on just 100 g from those 5 to start out with
Once you have a good mother..... you could set up a "SOG perpetual harvest CFL grow box" for a few $$$ that would supply you with plenty of smoke
