I got a question about the new CFL replacement bulb called the GE LED Bright Stik. I just need to know if you can have those farther away from the plants than CFL's? I read they produce more heat so wouldn't that mean they gotta be further away? They're not even a whole 100 lumens less than the 23w CFL's but still got less lumens. Please help me with this cuz I can't afford the actual LED Grow lights right now so I just got a pack of the bright sticks.
It's in my closet that's a lil over 4ft long and around 3ft wide plus I can have the door open. I usually keep the door open cuz there's an air vent right above my closet door. I got it completely emptied out and only gonna use it to grow from this point forward lol. If I take the shelves out and a Sativa needs some room it's like between 8-10ft to the ceiling. I got a 12in desk fan too for extra airflow. The soil I'm using is FoxFarm Happy Frog. I got an all organic cow manure called Black Kow that I might use on one of my 3 plants just to see how it goes. I got it for free and a few people already said I won't need it if I got that Happy Frog soil. I do need more fertilizers especially for flowering cuz all I got for that stage so far is that Bush Doctor Flowers Kiss. The kind of lights I have are 2 5000k LED's with 1520 lumens each and 4 5000k CFL's with 16000 lumens each. I just need 3 more utility lamps to cover all 3 plants and really could only top/fim one plant. I don't think I'll top any of them cuz they all Kush Indicas. Well the oldest could surprise me and be another kind of Indica. If the LED's are better imma get some more. For flowering I got 2 2700k LED's w/ 1520 lumens each and one 40w soft white CFL with 2600 lumens. Imma get another pack of each colored LED's cuz I know imma need a lot of bulbs til I can afford like a 300-400w LED grow light
So 3 plants in that 12 sq foot space, I would say you need about 30watts/sq ' min. assuming you are growing them large (4+ foot). So to do it proper you are going to need to put some wattage in there to get your desired ppfd, maybe some side lighting as well. Say 120 watts of LED strips in the corners and a decent 250 watt COB or couple of Quantum Boards. (actual wattage not marketing bullshit) Removing heat from the space and odour control will be your next challengers. You are just wasting time and money chasing CFLs and residential lighting products.
I actually just found some 45w LED grow light panels for only 30-$40 and they work just as good as the high wattage lights. I'll just need 2 or 3 and definitely gonna use those LED strips for side lighting now that you mention it cuz I've seen those before but never knew if they were strong enough. Thanks for the advice and I do need to get better airflow in there lol