Good evening blades! I'm planning on starting a grow of one plant soon and have a question about my lighting Here is my lighting set up and was wondering if it would be sufficient? I'm planning on using 3 26 watt warm cfl for vegging and then switching the lighting to 6 alternating warm cool cfls. Also another question, what measurement can you look at to tell wether the bulb is cool or warm? Is it the k?lol thank you guys!
And also is there some sort of strip that all or most of the bulbs can screw into so they can hang on the wall? Sorry of these questions are ridic
With CFL's you look at kelvin, so for a plant that is in the veg growth cycle you want a mix of 5500k-6700k CFL's, these will be a nice bright blue/white color. For the flowering cycle you want the warmer red spectrum of light, which is 2700k-3300k. Some people like to mix the spectrums during flowering, I did when I grew with cfl's. During veg most people stay with 5500k-6700k, but in flower it can be beneficial to actually mix the two spectrums. More on the warmer 2700k side, since the plants respond best to warmer light at this time.
Amazon.com: Socket Cord Set for Vertical Hanging CFL Grow Light: Patio, Lawn & Garden Amazon.com: Photo Basics 413 4-Socket Adapter: Camera & Photo Amazon.com: Feliz 125 Watt CFL Grow Light 2700K: Patio, Lawn & Garden Amazon.com: Leviton 128-I 15-Amp 660-Watt Twin Light-Socket Adapter, Ivory: Home Improvement Here are some things I used for my cfl grow.
Haha okay so basically my set up is alright for now with my 3 6500 for veg and 6 26 w half and half warm cool for my flowering one more question though and I really appreciate your feedback, is 216 watts in total with my 6 bulbs overkill in anyway as long as they are hung a couple inches away from the plants?
More light in this case is not overkill...if your plant isn't showing signs of heat stress and the temps are around 75-80 degrees, you should have no problem with that light. Maybe even consider a 150w hps, not much more heat if you can cool it down with a few more fans, but it will give off a ton of lumens, and your nugs will get nice and dense and it will be consistent all over...I might be speaking ahead of myself. But 216w is no problem, you'll be fine man!
Nah I'm gonna stick with my cfls I don't want the extra power hps bulbs take to show up on the bill or anything. So I'll stick with this since cfls are the cheapest right? Lol I hope so. Thanks for your help man
Do not waste your time on cfl's for flower. What is your reasoning for not using HPS? I havent heard a good one yet.
The cost is what's straying me away from using hps. They use more power don't they? I don't want it showing up on the bill. Needa keep this as cheap and as low key as possible
I run a 250w hps, only cost $20 extra a month. Cost was my biggest fear, then I made the switch to a 150w hps, then I was like wtf...I only went from paying $7.50-$11 for CFL's to $10.50-$13 for a 150w hps...it's not that bad. Which is why I made the switch to a 250w hps...now I might go higher
Hmmm that's not too bad of a spike actually. All I'd need is one bulb instead of 6 and for only a few bucks extra? Time to go look into hps now lol
It really is not that bad man, look at it this way, I have an older central air unit that runs most the day in the summer. It's puts out almost 3500-4000watts, a basic fridge is like 500watts (running all the time), 700watts when left open. So a 150w hps will be no issue. Again it's always scary at first, when I made the switch to hps I started freaking out about the fly overs and being able to see if you have the light running....this is just paranoia, it's what keeps us growers safe, but it can make us go mad. Haha, have fun with the switch, you're yield will increase quite a bit!
Holy shit I thought these bulbs were a lot more expensive than ones I'm finding online lol http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-FLORALUX-150w-HPS-Mini-Grow-Light.asp This seems like a good deal, or am I mistaken? Also do hps and cfls use the same socket to light up? Or would I need se sort of special socket/set up if I were rigging this myself instead of purchasing that?
Theres no such thing as "overkill" in terms of lighting. Remember your trying to replicate the sun but inside for your lights. The Sun burns through 600 million tons of hydrogen every second . As for your energy bill use this to figure out how it will impact your bill but in reality all the lighting solutions out there do not impact it that much. You need to know the price per kilowatt hour your utility charges you...its on your bill. Costs Calculator What you may or may not realize in terms of energy your DVR uses 100-200 watts on or off, Xbox up to 400 watts, Microwave 1000 or more usually, oven 2000-4000 watts when you have it on etc. No ones going to care about your little lights.
Just be careful, this light has the ballast inside the light itself. Ballasts can get hot, it's always a good idea to have the ballast outside of the grow room to keep the hot temps of the ballast out of the tent. So if you think you can cool down your grow space with this unit, then go for it. I had sun system 150w hps with ballast built inside. Here's a link to my last grow to show you how I dealt with heat issues...it was super hard because of space, but it gives you an idea. Good luck.