okay so im trying to find the right lights but i need cost effective lights.. im thinking cfls but should i got with tubes or spiral cfls? any help would be appreciated and what exactlly does the ballast do for a mh/hps light?
you need a ballast to run hps/mh ights. im not exactly sure how they work but it just converts electrcity into usable energy for the lights. you can use cfls the spirl ones. you want 100w per plant. 5500-6500k for veg and 2700k for flower. i highly reccomend getting a hps/mh system. a 150w will do one plant and you will have 100% better results then cfls
okay so ik this is gonna sound dumb hahahah but i got about 18k in lumens for my cfls and and its plenty above about a 100 watts a plant.. this is my first grow so im trying to keep it simple until further on down the line do you think thats good for now?
100 watts equivalent wattage per plant, or 100 watts actual wattage per plant. Eg. Cfl's say that a 13 w bulb is equivalent to a 6o watt incandescent. You need to go by the 13 w, NOT the equivalent rating of 100 watts. I will also recommend going HID.....especially if you are serious about this hobby, as you will want to upgrade after this grow regardless. Cfl's take an extra 2-6 weeks to flower cannabis and your yield will be far less with airier buds than if you were to use HPS. The cost of a good light and the power it consumes will more than repay itself in a significantly. Over yield.