Just curious...I've been growing for about 2 1/2 weeks now. Plants are 6" in height and looking lovely. But I'm using 4 fluoro's that are putting out about 1500 lumens each. Was wondering if I can keep using fluoro's throughout veg and just buy more or If I should switch to CFL or something else? Has anyone used fluoro's throughout the whole growing period? Also contemplating on just buying HPS but I can't seem to find them anywhere around here... -Joseph
Edit :: I am using the fluoro's that hang .. so they are about 2 1/2' long, 4" above plants, and are covering about a 3x4 area. Seems to be working great so far though.
I figured your using the ones that hang, otherwise you would have said cfl. I suggested adding cfls in the parts that dont get a lot of light (lower area) but if you think things are working great then I guess why ask
Asking because I read on a different forum that you should only use fluoro's during the time that the seed gets the tap root until its about 2" out of the soil. Said that if you keep using them it makes the plant use all of its strength to try and get the light and makes it very weak and spread out and hard to grow from that point on.
everything I've read says that tubes produce more lumens per watt than CFL. The difference is that those lumens are spread out the length of the tube. Bright White T5 tubes are highly recommended. Most hard-core growers insist on HID lighting, but I'm having pretty good success with CFL.
Well I'm using the T8's right now... just went out and bought a single 24" 1000 lumen fluoro for the sides of the plants. Also transferred the plants into bigger pots and a different type of soil.