Don't even bother with HID lights under 400W. Most experienced growers seem to share that sentiment. I see better results from CFLs at low wattages (150/250). T5s better yet. T5s' big disadvantage is lack of compactness, so they lose out somewhat when you're trying to throw a lot of light in a limited area (sort of... I solve this by arranging them on all sides of the plants). Of course a 250W HPS will outdo your ~100W of CFLs. I'd recommend adding a T5 fixture or one of the large 125W CFLs. And yeah, I vegged my last round under 1 125W 6500k with a good reflector. I was incredibly surprised it worked as well as it did. edit: and always remember that for HID, you need a real cooling fan. That means another $150-250 for the setup to do it right, otherwise you're going to have heat problems galore.
I think i'll stick with CFLs for the time being, because i just don't have enough money to throw in for a MH/HPS ballast or light. As well as buying a cooling duct for it. But i hope to be able to try something like that down the road.
has anyone tried to flower using a 2700k 250w CFL grow light? the owner of my local hydro store tells me they work great and she was right about the one i use for vegging
I've flowered under 125 watters @ 2700K. It worked decently well, but it seems the plants like my T5s more. My buds are starting to get lopsided towards the T5s.
I haven't even heard of CFLs even having that much wattage, it must be huge. anyway, i like a lot of smaller lights, because than you can distribue the energy to all sides of the plants, and i think thats better off overall.
I just moved my plants fron the CFL's they were under to a 400W MH and the bew growth is amazing. The nodes are much closer with the MH than with the CFL's
I am running a single 200w cfl 6500k in my vegging cabinet. only had it a little over a week but so far i think it is as good as the led it replaced. Its about the size of a baseball bat. the guy i bought it from said it was only good for one hit
U guys are lucky u can afford those 125 watters. :\ I got around 140 watts on one stressed out bagseed grow but recently growth has been astounding. and the leaves look great. Its about 2 1/2 months old, but like i said it was stunted bad during the transplant(clay to soil) so it hasnt much foliage. If anyone can tell me how to get some pics up here? Im new