I am currently growing with CFLs, but I'm starting to realize this is going to be insufficient for my grow. I want to grow two plants in my storage closest, which is 30"x30"x6' and I'm weighing my options. I considered T5's, but the flowering looks to be subpar, which lead me to either 150w HPS or 250w HPS. My main issue is going to be heat and ventilation. I can't cut holes in the walls, so what I currently do is leave the door opened slightly and let a small fan push the heat out, and with over 120w of CFLs, that's been giving me a range of 75-82F and constant 55% humidity. What I'm wondering is if I would be better off going with a 150w HPS and supplementing with CFL or going with a 250w HPS?
have a ventalated hood over the hps? vent the light threw the door? depending on if you dont mind having a hole in the door... haha just throwin ideas out to help yu out man
I have tried this, and unless you can route the heat to a different area than the room you are trying to cool a portble AC is pointless. AKA you need to have a flange that exits the heat of the machine to a wall or a window, not just trying to recirculate hot air in a room. Just remember the extreme heat that an HPS bulb emits and the fact that you're in a closet. You WILL need a way to extract the heat eaither from your air-cooled hood or your box itself. You will need proper air/heat exchant, not reusing old hot air in your closet. That being said, you could always consider LED lighting. An added benefit with this alternative is that you don't have to worry about heat extraction, and you can place plants much closer. What I mean is you will not need to drill a hole in closet like you *MIGHT* need to do if you buy an HPS...and there is no ballast to create heat beyond that of the bulb. You can literally put the plants direcly under the light! While many people haven't tried of advocated much, it is a VERY good way to go in a closest or small growing space. The only problem I see is that I wouldn't recommend this necessarily for a 5' tall space. But, the thing is with your CFLs you're still pulling upwards of 82 degrees. I've been there and tried to upgrade a closet grow into a 150w HPS and I hat extreme heat problems because I was in a fucking closet. That being said, I'll give you a link to a good lighting company/system by Blackstar and maybe you'll want to take a look. I'd recommend the 240w or above if you're making your space 5' tall, if not a 180w would work if you're box was shorter than 4' feet. (New 240w Lighthouse Blackstar LED Grow light 3w LED's | eBay) All in all, you might want to consider not as a tall of a grow space and LED lighting as you would not have to worry about the most detrimental thing about a closet.. IT HAS NO AIR EXCHANGE!
Right now, the two top choices for me are either just leaving the door open while lights are on, which is working great under CFL, constant 75-78 and 55% humidity and if this does not work under 150-250 watts of HPS, I'm going to removes the door, hang up panda plastic and put vents into it. I'm trying to maintain as much stealth as possible, and so far the location of my grow (in my basement bedroom, beside a window) is working out well for heat removal using a fan pointed upward and out the window.
Also, I did not mean to steer you wrong with with HID lighting. (You can also look into the high-power CFL bulbs that go above 100w [actual]) Just make sure you're expecting the light to be significantly hotter than the CFLs, and work your room accordingly. For instance, make sure you have proper ventilation (good extraction fan with neg air pressure) and get and air-cooled hood for SURE if you get an HPS. Heat extraction is really the key to HID lighting, keeping your room free from the heat of the HPS bulb and ballast. You really DO NEED to keep the heat from these separate to effectively grow your crop, so I hope that your room is ventilated or in an air-tight room because this makes it 100 tiems easier. This is because you can promote negative air pressure and a controlled environment inside your room even though mad heat is being extracted outside. You also need to make sure you have ducting to extract/remove the heat directly, especially with your air cooled hood.. Rather than a fan pushing air our without much negative air pressure and ducting to control heat leaving your room. In the posts before, I kinda went heavy with LED, but it is an overlooked eara when heat/air exchange is an issue. I was growing in an upstairs closet in Texas in the summer--so I know of the problems of a closet that can't exchange heat. Because of this, I have started to *slowly* move to LED lighting and lower my growspace size to keep it stealthy..as well. (Also, smaller room can sometimes be easier work with... granted you work with LED or CFL--just smaller size for plants can throw people off)
Thank you for your insight. At this point, I'm going to try a 150w HPS and supplement with CFLs. From the research I've been doing, and some of the results I'm seeing with 150w HPS, I'm thinking that's going to be all I need. I'm growing for personal use, so maximum gram per watt is not too much of a concern, just some good smoke.