So I'm experimenting with a very small micro grow and I'm having a ton of trouble finding a light that is small enough. Basically I'm just looking for a point in the right direction as to what kind of light and where I need to look. I have about a 2" hole at the top of my mini box that will be used for the light to give you an idea of the size. Any help is greatly appreciated!
How big is the box? You need a temperature range between 70 and 80F! In a micro grow in a small box, or cabinet; heat is your main problem. Try putting a 23watt daylight CFL that you can get at your grocery store in the box with a thermometer, and a computer fan, wait a couple of hours and see what the temperature says; then add another one, wait a couple of hours, and see how hot it got. This would be different with LED's, and HIDS. This is really a question that nobody can answer for you; because there are many factors, like where your grow box is. A living quarters, garage, or cellar have big temperature differences. For instance. My mother plants are in a closet in the house, which has air conditioning. But my flowering box is in my garage, where winter temperatures can reach freezing, and summer ones in the high nineties. So I had to provide both cooling, and heating to by flowering box. My suggestion would be to get a HPS light, from 70, to a 150 watts. The reason I choose a high pressure sodium light, is because I find that any HPS below 250watts gives more blue light then the higher wattage lights ones do; giving you more compact plants which is what you need in a micro grow. And HPS's have a much higher lumen number then metal halite for the same wattage. That translates to more light getting to the bottom of your plants for the same wattage! After you get the light; then try to figure out how to solve your heat problems . You are about to become a scientist. Your first goal should be to create an environment that the plants can live well in! Your second goal is to find plants that do exceptionally well in the environment you gave them. Then you need to look for the bad boys. Most of my flowering plants are females from clones. but I always have a few plants in the grow box that were started from seed. Why? Well look at your own family. Some of them are tall, some of them are short; some fat, and some skinny; some are wimps, and some are ass kickers! It's the ass kickers whose genes you want to pass on!
hey man. I just started my own micro grow as well. I just bought two little clip on desk lamp/lights from target. Both only cost 3.99 each. then I bought my spiral CFL lights. Everything barely cost me a dime. Check out my thread! http://forum.grasscity.com/micro-gr...ver-grow-please-help-me-along-my-journey.html
i have a micro box and i use 6 light sockets that i mounted on a 2x2 each socket is about 3 inchs apart my box is 16x16 inchs and so far it works good my plants are still seedlings 2-3 inchs tall