Autoflower strains are obviously what I am going for. The space I have decided to grow just allows pure 18 inches of plant provided the pot is 6 inches and the light fixture is 3 inches. Questions: 1. With 18 inches will I need to LST the autoflower? 2. Can you even LST an autoflower? 3. Does LST increase the yeild? 4. Also for 1-2 plants in a space the size of a 2 drawer file cabinet, how many watts of CFL should I put in there? 5. Is there anyone with experience that can tell me their yeild of an autoflower of 16-20 inches of total plant? PS; Happy tokin GC
ive never grown autoflower but im assuming its a type of lowryder. there is a thread in here all about lowryder if thats what your doing
if it was me i would not grow an autoflowering strain... Just go with a decent seed and force flower from sprout or a week after sprout. From there lst and ty it back. As for lighting... depending on your airflow and circulation and preference will be the deciding factor. A few CFL can get a small area very warm just like a HPS light can but... if it were me i would go with a 70w HPS light and call it good. Tell me more about your box and ill help you out the best i can... i have built several smaller boxes for people and have some insight...
yeah i would try and get upwards of 100w in CFL in there, the more light the more bud idk if you wanna try the HPS, youre guaranteed temp issues in that small a space..
a 70w hps would work better than CFL... It will give you a dense bud instead of a fluffy bud. With the light coming from one source it will be easier not harder to control temperatures since it would take many CFL to have enough. If you went CFL you run into having all of those wires run around your cab and also limits grow space... A computer fan blowing across the light towards your exhaust would be fine to cool a 70w HPS.
The box is a set of 3 drawers that I've gutted so they still work but there is a space open for the plant. That's a similar desk that I plan on using. It's not very big at all and most likely will only work for 1 plant at a time but I figured for my budget and the need for a stealth grow, that will do. Plus getting practice for when I go bigger will be great. Edit; I noticed you noted CFLs would take more room because of wiring. I've purchased a surge protector and I plan to hook the CFLs straight to that. I don't think that the light fixture will be very big at all. And I always thought that HPS got much hotter? To be honest the grow area is going to be right by me all the time since I'm on the computer often... I don't want to be cooking in my room because of my little grow.
from experience.. CFL cabs are just as difficult to cool as a HID grow... Its going to take at least 4 CFL to get up to 100W where you could use one 70w HPS light and be fine. Micro-grow computer cases typically use a 70W HPS light over CFL. Over all the same amount of heat is coming off of CFL its just that the spiral allows the heat to be dispersed over a larger area... So when you are all crammed up in an area heat is heat. I would still stick with a 70w HPS and then MAYBE a CFL for supplemental lighting... But hey i just like dense sticky buds and not airy buds... I googled 70w HPS and found Lights of America 70W high pressure sodium outdoor fixture (brown) (3370) THat is an easy light to use and its a great price... Your call...
you do make a good argument Law, and i cant say that i have any experience with HIDs. I just think if you organize it efficiently the CFLs work great (cheap, good on energy cost) as well as the option to direct your lighting to different areas of the grow.. Do you have any experience with those outdoor fixtures? how do they compare to grow systems?
