Hi there, I've been researching stuff on GC among other places for a while now, I currently have one plant vegging under 95 watts of daylight cfl combined with two small LED panels. I've read that you don't need as much light for vegging as flowering, and I plan on starting one more plant as soon as I successfully germinate another seed. My plan has been to increase the lighting once I start flowering to about 150 watts. Almost all the grows I've seen on here use a much higher wattage, but I don't want to go much higher than 150 because of electricity costs mainly. I was just going to add prolly two more cfls and change them all to the red end spectrum bulbs for flowering, but I've also been thinking about buying a 150 watt hps setup instead and using either my two 14 watt LED panels or maybe 2 cfls as supplemental lighting. My question is would it be worth it to buy a hps setup for about $80 or just buy cfls for about $20? I realize that 150 watts is not much for any type of lighting system, which is why I propose the question. I know the lumens on the hps are much higher than that of the cfls and LEDs that I'm currently using, so it seems like that might be a better deal. I'm just wondering if I would notice a difference in bud size and or quality from cfls to hps of that small a watttage? Any thoughts/advice/experience you can impart on me would be appreciated
Aceof spades941: for what it's worth, I don't like the Edison company's rates so I switched over to T-5's about a year ago and I haven't looked back since. I'm on my second grow from sprouting to flowering and I like the cost versus the results. You won't have tight dense flowers/buds like you get with HID but you won't shutter when the light bill comes either. I guess it depends on what you can comfortably afford. Hank
How much wattage do you run with your setup? You're saying its not too expensive though, and you get good yields? I've been planning on just having about 150 watts of cfl but I really want to go a little bigger so I can hopefully have a legit harvest
Ace: my four lamp fixture is equal to about 80 watts of draw. Once I taught the wife how to turn the lights OFF I didn't even notice it on the bill. Hank
your T5s are they HO VHO or standard output? The buds are they just "airy" or sparse with nothing there? Im running a heck of a lot of cfls and would love to clip it back if I could....
Mildmansmoker: you asked me a technical question that I can't answer. My tubes came with my fixtures. My four footer came with 4 blue grow tubes in it and a set of red flowering tubes for when that came about. I got it from Discount Hydroponics in Riverise, California. I know they're on line so they might be able to answer your question. All I can tell you is that they do everything I need. The fixture was around $140 to $150. Compared to my friend's crop, who uses HID, my buds are soft and not as dense as his but they have the same anesthetic effect in the vaporizer and mine are a lot smoother tasting. I hope that helps. Hank
A 150w HPS doesn't use much electric at all and will grow some nice buds. I'd go with that. And as you said use the other lights as supplemental lighting. 150w cfl vs 150 w hps? No question. I've seen nice CFL grows but the HPS will perform better hands down. You can get a 150w hps floodlight on econolight for like 55 shipped.
Several people have mentioned having a 150 hps with cfl bulbs as supplemental lighting, I may do that for this first grow, get 4-6 26 watt cfls with small hps and grow 2-3 plants. See how the electricity cost vs. bud production goes and decide if I could maybe go with something like a 400 watt hps in the future
It is all comes down to HOW MUCH OF GREEN GOODNESS DO YOU WANT TO GET. If you looking only for few grams per plant then go with CFL, if you looking for couple to few OZ per plant then go with HPS.
Well I certainly want to get as much green goodness off my 2-3 plants as I can I was under the impression that I could perhaps get an oz off 200 or so watts of cfl if vegged for a while and trained, but I do believe ill end up getting some sort of smaller hps setup and help with more cfls and or the small LED panels I have. But I do want the best quality bud I can get so I am all ears to suggestions
200W CFL not going to deliver as much light as same wattage MH or HPS . So cost of energy will be the same but result will be totally different. The most efficient light (LUMEN per WATT) is 600W HPS .
I would recommend you to look at some of the grow journals to see what people have( light) and how much they got at the end . Look at some older , completed journals.
You can get a C.A.P. or Sun Systems 150w HPS with fixture and everything for about $75-90 shipped, on eBay. For about $115, you can buy a generic 150w electronic ballast HPS/MH, with bulbs, and reflector... I don't think you can buy the CFL bulbs, and the supporting hardware (sockets, cords, reflectors etc.) for less than that. Keeping a 150 watt bulb on isn't going to break the bank with the electric bill either. You'll, no doubt, get better results than with CFL, for the investment. One of these HID systems will give you the best qualityrice ratio for any lighting options out there.
Is a 400 watt or 600 watt setup affordable to run? I do want to do my grow the right way as much as I can within my limits, if those setups aren't outrageous maybe its not out of the question
Yes. Here is the chart for you to see average energy consumption by household appliances.Average Power Consumption of Household Appliances | Alternative & Renewable Energy - ABS Alaskan, Inc.
I have another question for GC. So I've read that you want the humidity level to be as low as possible because the plant makes more resin to cope with the dry climate. I was wondering if its a good idea to buy a dehumidifying product, like those beads that you put in a gun safe of something to keep out moisture? It seems like it would be a relatively inexpensive way to help keep the grow tent less humid. Any thoughts?
Here:Growery - Optimal Humidity (rH) and Temperature Ranges for Cannabis P.S.Read a book or find all the answers before spending any money and you will definitely save your self some money.
Ace: it might well depend on the 'shape' of your grow. If it's rectangular, as are most of the fixtures, a florescent fixture might do better but if it's square you might do better with something else or a combination of them. Mine's in a 2 by 4 tent and the 4' T-5 fixture does a good job I just wish it was a six or eight tube fixture to cover more of the depth of my tent. Hank
I don't get the folks who try and save money on the power bill by sacrificing yield. Does not make much sense to me at all. Cutting back the watts used and quality of the lamp will cause you to grow twice as long to yield the same.. It's like the guy who thinks twenty nickles is more then ten dimes. I would rather grow it all at once as fast as possible, no matter what the electricity cost. It will be way less then buying your weed (ten fold). Use the CFLs in your bathroom and kitchen, or walk around with a flash light, but don't light starve your hard work to save a dime. Stick as many HID watts as your space will allow you to cool. I would make room for the 250 watt digital ballast and use the florescents for a reading lamp (or a clone room). This can be done by just about anyone on any budget if you get creative. Can't afford it? Then think about not smoking weed until you get your life on track. Your lucky Christmas is here because the two 14 watt LEDs you have on that plant are only good for Christmas lights. Waste of space unless it's on a tree, get rid of them and start looking at doing this right. I am not being harsh with you my brother, I'm telling the truth. My 400 watt HID costs me a little over $20 a month (on average) in California. But the amount it saves me on a weed is well into the hundreds. Grow as much as you can as fast as you can in the space that you have. Need help doing it right? You are in the right place. Look, if you really want to save on your power bill, go buy your weed from a dealer (but ride a bike). R.