Background: In the past I have always been a window sill grower, more for the hobby than the product. But arising suspicions and a want to pursue (and save money in the long run) has driven me to start growing indoors. Right now I have a 4'w x 4'h x 2'd cabinet divided into two 2' x 2' light-tight sections coated in Mylar. I can't afford to have massive lights running all the time and don't really want to have overheating and fire as a concern, anyway, so I'm stuck with Compact Fluorescent. I recently ordered this beast. Will this be enough for a 4 ft² SOG style grow? Also, can anyone link me to a site that offers a flowering counterpart to this bulb? Thanks for taking the time to read through this, I have everything ready to go so I'm very anxious!
well that site doesnt even say how many lumens and it says not to use with digital timers...so thats a problem right there lol id say 3 of those per box and you might get decent buds
yeah, that will grow buds i have seen some decent trees under a 135watt CF. Just get the 1, you will be surprised
I does say no digital timers and I assume that doesn't include analogue, if it does I guess I'll be returning it. I did plan on supplementing it with a few more lower wattage bulbs, I just wanted one big one to cut down on the number of mogul sockets I'll need to install. Honestly, I don't think I'll be needing three of them. A friend of mine had two plants in a cardboard box lined with duct taped aluminum foil under 2 full spectrum 2000 lumen compact fluorescents and they grew to nearly three feet in 2 months before they died from a pest infestation. I was thinking two more 20-40 watt bulbs to have full coverage.
I agree you should only need one of those for a 2x2 footprint. As you note, that color temp is good for veg but not for flower. Unfortunately I don't know that you are going to find a high-powered CFL that is good for flower, you may need a small HPS.
I was thinking of trying to reach around 180 watts on the vegetation side, so I'll probably drop another 30 watt CFL in it. Also, and I'm sure it doesn't matter, will having 6400k and 6500k together cause any problems? For the flowering chamber I'm looking at getting a couple 2700K CFL. Everything sound OK? (Is it possible to overdue fluorescent lighting..?)
Flower chamber = HPS... youl thank us later! You dont gotta worry about different K's, as long as theyr warm spectrums, their good for flower. And of course the cool ones for veg.(even tho i use HPS to veg) I wish i coulda tooken all the money back from the cfls i grew with, alot burnt out after being on for a year straight, money wasted. HPS makes the stem and nodes THICK like crazy, and in budding stage it makes em even MORE THICKER. It is possible to overdue lighting but ive never heard of it, or expeirienced it. The point with fluro's is to keep the bulb really close to the plants leaves so it penetrates. Which is the main problem with fluro's, you gotta constantly adjust them to your plants. Just remember 2" away from the light is perfect, the leaves wont burn unless they touch the light for a period of time.
Thanks for passing on to me a little of your experience. At this point, unfortunately, HPS really isn't looking like a viable option. I don't know... anyone else have an opinion on the matter?
you do NOT need HPS to flower... HPS will make your plant grow bigger and shit, but it isnt needed. CFL's can produce KILLER buds, there just wont be as much. Trust me... from personal experience... that 1 big ass bulb will probably handle 2 plants, but i would add a couple smaller watt ones on the sides during flower. I used 3 65-watt CFL's for veg and part of flower... the plants grew fine, they were just a little shorter then MOST people would like to have... but i was also trying to keep my plants short ((you should look into LST because it really helps out on CFL grows))
I would be wary of shamanshop.com and kalyx.com (same operation). I wasn't scammed by them, but they are so incredibly slow to respond that I didn't even learn that my item was out of stock until about a week after I sent my money order. It took another week or two to make it's way back to me. Regardless, I used TopBulb.com and picked up a couple 105 watt CFLs for about $70.00. They got here today and I have to share them, they're friggin' huge! Look! These should be plenty for my 2x2 grow space, it's like a magical chest that when opened shines a gleaming lights from within.
I would really like to know what fixtures people are putting there bulbs in. Would you have to get the ballast kit? I've heard of people putting 4 or 8 in a room and wonder how.
I just went to Ace Hardware and grabbed some of those portable light fixtures. If you have a bulb with balast all you need is a standard mogul socket (like the one in most table lamps) that is rated for it's wattage. Just make sure it's not a 3-Way lamp (multiple brightness settings).