Hey everyone. I have 9 ladies in solo cups at the moment under a 300w Mars Hydro Led light. They are about 3 weeks now. But when they get bigger and I transplant them to 3gallon smart pots, the 300w LED won't be enough. My question is, can I add a bunch of CFLs to my grow? I have five 46W CFL bulbs (2700k). Will that work, or should I get another LED light? Thank you
Definitely get another light, if not 3 more. If you look at the specs on that light, the footprint is listed at 2' x 2' for veg, and 1.5' x 1.5' for flower, That's basically space for ONE small plant. There's no way you can cram 9 in that space. The fluoros are not going to be great for flowering. More plants aren't going to equal more weight, you'll end up with stringy, airy buds without much potency. If I were you, I would buy at least on other LED light, and cut down the number of plants to 4 max. Let 'em grow out and see which ones look stronger, you can toss the rest. My last grow was using an LED light with a recommended footprint of 2' x 2.5', and I finished 2 plants, and those were controlled by fimming, trimming, and LST. They filled the whole space and then some.
How big were your pots? Mine are 10"x10". Wouldn't I be able to fit 3 in there? If I do get another LED, and a bunch of CFLs, still not a good idea? This is my very first grow ever. I was planning on doing about 4 or 5, I thought I'd lose more plants lol. But they are still going strong.
Save the CFLs for starting seedlings, they're good for that but not much else. Spend the money on another LED, it will pay for itself on the first harvest compared to the cost of buying weed retail. Most first time growers underestimate the amount of light needed for a given number of plants/space. What is the footprint of your grow area? Is it realistic to fit more than 2 plants? I used 5 gallon pots, but could have gotten away with 3, since the root mass didn't fill the whole pot. Instead of soil, I used a mix of coco coir, perlite, sphagnum moss, and earthworm castings. It drained very well, so I just watered it every day and made sure it didn't dry out. This is a pre-harvest pic of looking down on the full footprint which was 2' x 2.5' Indica strain on left side, hybrid on the right
I can spend about $150-$200. Also, the CFLs that I have are 2700k. They are 46w(150w). Wow, that is beautiful.. And I have a closet that is 2'x6.5'x8'. These are my plants atm. They are on day 23 atm.
imo with that kind of budget, I personally would start investing into quantum board leds or a COB fixture. You can get a fixture that will hold multiple boards and add them at your leisure provided you have the right equipment. these will out perform almost any fixtures you can get off amazon