So i am buying a 1000 watt light from my friend, not to certain on if its hps or hid but im getting it for 75$ with ballasts n hood so i know its a good deal and a friend hooking me up. but do i need to use it in veg state for my clones? or can i use 8 60watt cfl'sto veg and than use the 1000watt to flower? i will be using a 5×5 room for flowering but a separate smaller veg tent if possible, which is why i want to use the cfl's in the smaller tent cuz a 1000watt is just to big to have in that tent. i will have 3-4 clones for my first time grow and want them to be about 4-5ft tall. also any nutrients you would recommend? (your personal favorites) any tips? first time grower lol
I'm no pro, but you would be better off with cfl. HPS is more for flowering. You plant won't need that much light during veg state. You could us it I believe, but why waste money on the cost to run it. Plus the wearing of the bulb. I could be wrong. Anyone else. Sent from my SM-G925W8 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Are the cfl's a true 60w, or are they 60w replacement bulbs which would only be 13 or 14 true watts which wouldn't be enough. If they're true 60w, that's 480w which would be enough light and the 1000hps would probably be overkill especially for the beginning. If they're the 60w replacements, that's barely 100w and not enough for 3 or 4 plants. Rule of thumb is 100w first plant, 50w for every plant thereafter, and that's a minimum. I'm no expert, just going by what I've read and been recommended. Good luck.
Everything about that plant will be determined by the strength and quality of lighting it's grown under throughout it's life. I would use CFLs for veg, simply because they don't put off a lot of heat and work well for veg. The plant can grow right up into them almost without light bleaching or burning of any sort. But you need to use a premium quality CFL and put as much of the lighting over them as possible. When it comes to flowering, hope that your friend is selling you a 1000 watt hps. If this is the case, you'll need to plan for an in-line fan, ducting, etc., to carry the heat away from the lamp/hood and vent out of your room. We flower with 1000 watt hps lamps and they grow some terriffic buds, but you have to be realistic about how many plants you can truly grow and get the most out of under one lamp. I've found that about 4 is as far as I want to go with 1 lamp and we usually flower between 16-20 each time. Because I've got 4 hanging in one room, I get enough reflection from them that I get almost total sq. footage coverage in the room and this strength lighting grows the buds that everybody is shooting for. The better the lighting, the better the outcome in every way. Nutes are simply plant food and if you use good potting technique and good soil to grow in, the soil will do the majority of the work for you and you don't have to add a bunch of extra nutes throughout the veg cycle. We give at 1/4 the recommended soil dosage throughout the flower cycle, but much stronger and my plants get burned....because we use great soil. Good luck! TWW
Hello Widow White, if you dont mind i'd like to ask you a couple questions, I have a 5ft length x 4ft 9in width x 6 ft height room i am putting together (will attach picture) first off is this a safe enough size room to work with? Also pictured is the light bulbs im ising for this veg, but im sure they are the wrong ones after reading your description. An in-line fan, ducting, carbon filter, im thinkin 2-3 mini fans, anything else you can recommend? Also 16-20 oz's? im looking to do 5 plants. Also im looking to use as little butrients as pssible whats your recommendations? Im using Happy Frog for seeding and vegging than want to transfer into a mix of ocean forest and happy frog for flowering. Any other knowledge you can shoot my way is extremely appreciated.
When you are adding up watts, you count the true watts, or watts used, which those are 14w bulbs not 60w when it comes to growing with them. 8 of those will get you a total of 112w, enough for one plant (100w first plant, 50w for each additional, minimum, more is better). You need 10,000 lumens, 8 of those bring you 7200. For veg you want the 6500k, for flower the 2700k, you can mix them and they actually like getting both thru both cycles but you want more of the ones I listed for each cycle. I start my 3 plants under cfl's before it's warm enough to put them outside, I use 12 of the 23w, which gets me to the minimum watts and over the 10,000 lumen mark. I use 8 @6500k and 4@2700k to get a nice blend of spectrum. Now with this setup I get a bit of stretching, but it's enough to get them going. I would definitely recommend more lights, and also a mix of the two spectrums with 2/3 being the spectrum for the cycle you're in. Also, cfl's put their light off the sides, either use reflectors like the clamp ons or position them to shine from the side of the bulb onto the plant. There's some diy CFL reflector hoods that would be cheap and relatively easy to make so you end up with the lights mounted sideways in the hood, shining on your plants from the side of the bulb and the opposite side of the bulb shining up into the reflector and back down on your plants.