I'm sorry if this has been answered 1000X; I searched but couldn't find an answer. I've been growing in a shed with tube flours and a 400W HPS but I'm thinking about a cabinet setup so I can grow year-round. The cabinet I have is 1.5 feet deep by 3.5 feet wide by 7 feet tall. I have above average carpentry, electrician, and growing skills so I can easily make modifications or build to suit. I can put in plenty of venilation so heat isn't a huge problem. I'm thinking about a SCROG setup. For flowering, should I go with CFL, LED or work the HPS into the cabinet? If I go with CLF or LED, how many watts should I use? I was thinking of wiring for six CFLs.
thats a really awkward cabinet for this... id say 4' t-5 setup, but it wont fit. hps would be tough in 1.5foot depth. 2' 4 bulb t'5 setup and use the space on the sides to hang cfl suplimentally? idk. if youre a handy man, id build one from ground up in a 3.5x3.5x7 configuration and hang the 400... my 2c.
I really like LED. You can hang the LED and then hang a carbon filter above it. Great for space and heat. While I am a believer in LEDs for growing and have had them over my reef tanks for a few years now, I can't really back up anything about them over a plant as I've only had my LED growlight for a week now. Either way, LED is better than CFL. And dispite what most people like to say about only expensive quality LEDs being good, Some of the higher and most expensive LED rigs use the same bridgelux LEDs as some of the cheapest LED rigs. It's not gonna hurt to go with a cheap rig, especially if you can do anything with electronic wiring. Then you can always buy new drivers for the rig. I've got a 300w LED that cost $147 on ebay. It pulls about 200w which is about the same way the highest quality rig would be. If the driver ever fails, I'll just order new LED drivers and get it to actually pull closer to 300w.
Thanks for the information. I'd really like to use that cabinet because I'm not using it for anything. So would a 300w LED be the best choice for me?