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Need Help with First Grow

Discussion in 'First Time Marijuana Growers' started by ltm2007, Aug 18, 2007.

  1. I need to know, what exactly would be the light watts i would need to grow 2 plants in a 5'X3'X2' dresser?
     
  2. I don't think there is an "Exact" answer.

    A garden needs "footcandles" not watts, so you will want to calculate how many "lumens per square foot" you will have in your garden. As a general rule, you will need at least 2,500 lumens of High Intensity Discharge (H.I.D.) light per square foot of garden. To get the square footage of your garden, simply measure the floor space where your garden will be and multiply the length by the width. So a 400 watt HPS (50,000 lumens) will light a 4' x 5' garden adequately. Remember, 2,500 lumens per square feet is the minimum amount of light you'll need. Typically the brighter the garden is, the faster the growth and the bigger the yield should be. Some growers suggest a 400 watt light for an area as little as 9 square feet (3' x 3').

    In addition to lumens, the spectrum of the light used is important. You could have 50000 lumens of light in the green spectrum and little of any of that light would be used by the plants for photosynthesis.

    Chlorophyll a absorbs its energy from the Violet-Blue and Reddish orange-Red wavelengths, and little from the intermediate (Green-Yellow-Orange) wavelengths.

    All that said, I have had good success with mini-twist compact fluorescent lamps (CFL). I'm using 4 ea. 27 Watt Bright white bulbs (light output in the blue range of the spectrum, 1850 lumens each) and 2 ea. 23 Watt Soft White bulbs (light output in the orange/red end of the spectrum, 1600 lumens each) in my 3.125 square foot grow-box.

    One final observation, if that dresser is only 2' tall, you will have to train your plants down to keep them in the box and away from your lights. Also make sure you have adequate ventilation to keep the heat from the lamps down, discourage fungus, and strengthen the plants. Good luck.

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