hi new grower here this is my current set up ideas on what to do when plants start getting bigger things you would change just looking for honest opinions im usung 40 watt and 60 watt CFLs cana coco A&B nutes and growing in coco coir
When u get real lights. U are pretty much running 60 watts for each plant. That is not enough. Growth will take forever.
Are those actual watts or equivelent watts? Have you also researched on how to maintain the plants PH levels?
[quote name='"tplat"'] Are those actual watts or equivelent watts? Have you also researched on how to maintain the plants PH levels?[/quote] Yes I do have a PH level kit and do maintain 5.5-6.5 ph level when I water them and those are equivalent bulbs there actually like 13-14 watt
[quote name='"BYOweed"']I recommend just getting a 600w HID system w/ a cooltube.[/quote] What about electricity costs won't what does it cost monthly to run one of those?
The min actual watt is 100 for first plant and 50 each other..you're going to need way more lights or less plants
A lot of people say it is like running a large computer all day everyday. So, not too much more a month.
That all depends on your electrical rates and how many watts your running. Since your running a coco based medium and nutes I would suggest checking out the coco forum. As for lights your fine for getting them started but in the long run you dont have enough light. How bigh is your grow area. When using CFL`s you want 100 actual watts of light for the first plant and an additional 50 watts of light for each additional plant. Once you reach so many watts of CFL lighting your better off going with HID lighting but that also adds additional cost of dealing with the increased heat that HID lighting generates. For 8 plants you would need aorund 600 watts of light. The 600 watt digital ballasts are the most efficient when it comes to watts of electricity used per lumen of light generated.
[quote name='"Bmxodysseymike"'] What about electricity costs won't what does it cost monthly to run one of those?[/quote] 600 hps inline fine 1 box fan and a 10000 btu ac unit running from time to time made mine go up about 40-60 bucks.
Forget equivalent all that matters is actual wattage, and 14 watt bulbs wont grow you jack. They will sprout etc but then you'll have this tiny little plant that is starved for light. Rule of thumb seems to be 100watts 1st plant and 50 for each additional. As for your other question on costs. Heres a handy calculator to figure that out. Input the wattage and your areas price per kilowatt. Its on your bill if not google it. For my area for instance its like .12 cents but in some its double triple so dont go by .12 cents. Costs Calculator
Your plants will most likely never get bigger with that low wattage set up. Your have alot of plants...for a new grower taking on alot first go around.
well the reason i got low wattage bulbs is cause i got confused when i was told what bulbs to get i thought the equivalent wattage was what i was looking for but apparently i was wrong. and i have so many plants to start out with so it increases my odds of getting female plants cause i just had seeds from the herb ive buying you know so idk what im getting
Well tell us your budget and we can suggest lights..a couple shop lights will do well for a month or so if you need to save money for flowering lights..t5s work for veg or flower and have less heat than a hps
That equivalent is there for one reason...there is a ban on incandescent light bulbs and idiot Americans (myself included) who have spent say a life time buying 75 watt light bulbs would be confused so they list what there "equivalent" to. Thats really all thats there for. Yea random chance on the sex thing. They say 5050 but theres nothing stoping it from being all male or all female. Check out your local hydro store or htgsupply.com. If your trying to keep the energy bill low T5s would be the way to go.
dont really have a budjet i just wanna know what its gonna run me i have a ton of those shop lights but i also have the splitters you can put 2 bulbs in one so i f i could make those work that would be ideal and just get better bulbs im only planning on like 4 actual plants cause the space im working with is only like 3x4
yeah i got ya now ill keep a better eye out when buying bulbs and hopefully at least half of these are female that would be perfect cause i only want like 4 anyway