OK so I just grew outdoors, didn't do so well so I decided to try indoors. My question is, What are the most inexpensive lights I can use to grow? I am only looking to grow two plants so what do you guys think?
i have heard people using a security light before. flourecents i think are your best bet. more the watts fatter the plants.
if you're looking for the absolute cheapest lights, then you'll probably want an integrated HPS unit around 175w. i'm pretty sure you can find an all in one light for under $100, but i haven't looked for one. the downside with one of those is that they have magnetic ballasts, so they'd be noisier than a digital one and a little bit less efficient, but if saving every penny is your goal, i think that's likely your best bet. try comparison shopping at this sticky thread to start http://forum.grasscity.com/grow-room-design-setup/26558-cheap-grow-supplies.html go to the last post in it. i updated the info to eliminate duplicate results and dead links and organized it by category. one person posted a link for a general lighting $20 150w unit with ballast! i'm sure it's not a growlight, but it is cheap. there are 250w & 400w grow lights listed there under $100 too. i'm about to research cheap lights myself after narrowing the field down some and will add a few sites to the list in the future. there are up to a dozen more sites that have good deals on lighting. one site sells 400W systems complete with DIGITAL BALLASTS & ventilated hoods with bulbs, vent fittings, glass & cable for just over $200 where many sites want that just for a digital ballast! i'd been looking only for lighting parts, but will narrow my search down to complete systems now because of that. hope you find what you're looking for in the meantime
i think CFL's would work out cheaper, if you spent half the amount the HPS would cost you you'd have loads of light!
hey, glad to help. i thought the whole idea of this site is sharning info, right? a 400w lumatek system starts at $220 at discount-hydro, but the price might not include the bulb as i originally thought, but those $45 add ons are still cheaper than $70+ elsewhere too, and $220 is LESS than what many sites want for just the ballast if you shop around. alot of sites that sell ventilated reflectors around $100 get you when you need to pop another $20 for hose fittings and $20 more for glass too. that luminaire 6 hood is nice and only a $10 upgrade! i'm not sure, but i think this is the site that also guarantees price matching too, so you could save on shipping getting everything from one shop if you find better prices http://discount-hydro.com/productdisp.php?navid=49&pid=435 now if someone could just come up with LEDs that can light a 4X4 space for $500 instead of $2,000+, THAT would be something!
I'm a first time grower here..and just started my first grow journal...but mine seem to be doing quite well with 2 cheap fluorescent bulbs. I spend under $30.... 2 - 24" fluorescent tubes from lowes - (sunshine rated 6500k) 2 - 24" fluoro fixtures - $5 each on sale - cheapo brand..who cares 3 - 10" potting plants - $4 from walmart I also got some organic soil from lowes too. lowered the fluoro's within 2" of the plants and have gotten good results. I hear you can switch out the "sunshine 6500k fluoro's" for "soft white 2700k fluoro's" for flowering stage also.
i HAVE grown under flouros before, but only with plants i contantly pruned for daily leaflette smoke and gotten decent results that were better than bud i was buying from bagseed. there was little couchlock with it. if you are only using shoplights though, you'll need to look into SCROGging because flouros only offer about 1 foot of light penetration. once your plants get over a foot tall, they'll stretch like crazy and be starved for light. i gave the last of my sativa bagseeds to a roomate who tried to grow with just a shoplight in a closet and they had stretched to over 5 feet tall in something like only 3 weeks! if you can train your plants under 1 feet tall, you should get SOMETHING out of shoplights, but every time i bring scrogging with flouros up, everyone says it's a bad ideea. at one point, i wanted to do it just to prove the naysayers wrong. i think to a certain extent, alot of growers are resistant to change. i've seen the same kneejerk rections against digital ballasts and LED lighting too.
hey i have a super cheap setup for ya. i am using it right now and having great results. i have 3 60w cfls soft white 27w sof white cfl and one 30 what daylight cfl. i am 2 weeks into flowering and every plant is well over 14in. all the lights and fixtures cost me under 70 bucks. pretty good and i am expecting 1/2 or more off all the plants which is pretty good for cfls. i ahve a thread on the main page right now that has pics of the plants and everything if you wanna check it out. hope this helps a bit