Hey all im trying to start a micro grow in my closet. me and the wifey want to start a little grow 1-2 plants. its going to be in the back corner dimensions are 3x3x1. im worried about the heat that the light bulb would emit. what would be the best option as a grow light for me? thanks
personally i'm running an aquaponics system, using florescent grow lamps. they are 17w each (24 inch bulbs) they are low heat. i also am using dryer duct and a pc fan to suck the heat from the closet itself and dump it into the room outside the closet door. my grow box is 39inch width X 40inch length X 26 inch depth.
Either CFLs or LEDs. HPI lamps are claimed to be the best for growing but they get really hot and the plants have to be far away from them. With CFLs and LEDs the aim of the game is to get the plants as close as possible 1-3 inches. So that makes them much better for small grows because there is no space wasted and you can still get decent results. You can click on the link and see my 125w CFL PC GROW if you want.
250w If you can afford it the 400w dimmable switchable kit with hood and bulbs run about $145 and the 250w hps is only $15 less. With the 400w being dimmable I believe you can dim the ballast to 200w if needed. If you can afford a cool tube that's the way to go. Just don't slack on the fans. Go with a 8" booster for exhaust and a 4" booster fan for intake. There cheap and work great but you can't run passive intake you have to run forced intake.
thanks! because im only doing a few plants i think im gunna stick to cfl's. is it usually 125w per plant for a cfl?
100w for 1 plant, and additional 50w per any additional plants. I would recommend t5's over cfls and there's always LED but that expensive and wouldn't bother unless you could afford a large watt fixture because the 90w UFO's kind of blow. Or check out the larger 125w-250w true watt cfl bulbs, they normally come with reflector.
if you haven't really started yet..get 2-4 clones or if you must, start 8 seeds..figure 50% losses as boys..get 1..just 1 .. 23-100 watt CFL and a cheap alumin hood with clamp,,10 bucks or so..thats all you need to get them started on a shelf in a closet..now you have about 2 weeks or more to learn all you can about micro grows..if i had waited a month or even 2 weeks before building the 1st grow box i'd have bought the dimmable ,switchable,MH,HPS-HID..250-400-600... Just my 2 cents worth
I had the exact feelings after contructing my box and spending around $100 for 2 sets of veg and bloom cfls and everything it needed to mount.. When I could have gone with a 400w dimmable kit not much more.. And now that I'm out of my micro box and trying to set up my tent now I am about to purchase a 600w dimmable.
Exactly...the only reason i don't upgrade now is my box is in a garden shed and in 2 more months it'll just be way to hot to use at all