Hey guys, I'm trying to grow in my basement and i'm on a budget. Is it better to grow with fluorescent, or get a 1000 watt and run a few plants under it??
Hi Phil, The first thing I would suggest is alot of reading. Even with a whole bunch of reading I still ran into many problems. Being on my second growI'm finding solutions are comming easier with the problems I'm running into. Hit the stickies/ http://forum.grasscity.com/absolute...s-guide-get-you-started-growing-cannabis.html Cheers, bruce
I've been trying to find out how many watts does it take to grow in a 5x5x5 basement. I wanna use fluorescent lights to save on power. I have a number of grow books and sites, I just cant seem to find out how many watts i'm going to need. I've seen that T5 lights are the way to go, but why not go to T12??
t5 are more effeceint t12s are old get a 4 foot with 4 t5s in it and you should be good 6500k if you know how to wire you could run to home depot and pick up some t5 fixtures and wire it your self cheaper or buy one online and you want 100w for first plant and 50 for each addition plant something like this http://www.ebay.com/itm/48-4-ft-T5-Fluorescent-Grow-Light-12-Lamps-6500K-Bulbs-Veg-Hydroponics-Sun-648W-/260912983072?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cbfa02c20
I have no experience with those lights. I use a 1000 wt MH/HPS with switchable ballast in an 8X8X8 room. Currently with 10 plants & no lighting problems. The footprint on a 1000 watt is about a square meter or so. If I had it to do over again I'd go with 2 - 600 watt lights, more coverage, less heat issues. With 5 feet of height to work with it sounds like you might have overhead problems. I've used CFL's on seedlings & clones only. Some folks swear by them. I'd head over to the lighting section. Cheers, bruce
mite just want to go with the 1000w and get a mh conversion bulb..or get a digital ballest. but i wouldnt try to flower that big of room with cflfs
If you want to utilize all 5 x 5 of floor space you would be better off with at least a 600w mh / hps light. Running 100's of watts in flouros doesnt make much sense. Given the same wattage consumption the hid's put out more lumens. Heat isnt that hard to control with good research and planning.
Thank you so much for all the feed back and help, with a 5x5x5 basement it does feel a little crowded, I planned on growing some 2 or 3 feet bushes. I have a box of 32 watt fluorescent bulbs but no overhead is homedepot the best place to go, or should i try a local grow shop.
i think you be able to get a better price on lighting at the depot. i work there =) we sell tons of fixtures get t5 or t8 fixtures
Go with the 1000w hps, or 4x 400w CMH bulbs to cover 5x5. 1000w HPS is an easy sure-thing, the CMH work much better for veg, and about the same for bloom. You will hate yourself if you try to CFL the whole thing.