Problems with lighting

Discussion in 'Lighting' started by potbrownies, Sep 26, 2010.

  1. Hey. I'm attempting growing indoors in a 14 gallon bucket with 2 very small plants. All I can get my hands on is the curved 13 watt cfl bulbs and I was wondering if one would work and I can have at most two. Any other ideas on hidden lighting would be helpful and anything like an ideal veg height for that low of lighting would be helpful. Spread the love and no hating- potbrownies...
     
  2. #2 Imalittleteapot, Sep 26, 2010
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 26, 2010
    your going to need more then 13w to get 2 plants all the way through flowering.

    what are your restrictions?

    I have never used CFL's so im not sure what is a good set up but i know that even 26w isnt going to do it for 2 plants.
     
  3. They are cfl's so they use 13 watts but give off as much as a 100 watt lightbulb. They are 897 lumens ech and I'm lining my box with aluminum foil. How high should I veg before flowering?
     
  4. how much hight do you have total in the box? there are a lot of variables. your going to need way more then 13w of light. when they say they are equal to 100w they mean a standard lightbulb. And you cant grow under those. Your going to need to run 3-4 cfls if you want to get any bud.
     
  5. Yeah man when looking at CFL wattage, just look at the main wattage, not the incandescent equivalent. And there's no way 13 watts is enough for even one plant, you'll need at least a few more.
     
  6. 13w CFLs are not good for growing, they are so weak that they give virtually no light penetration beyond the first inch away from the bulb. And forget "equivalent" watts, means nothing for growers. BTW 13w CFLs aren't equivalent to 100 watt incandescents, more like 60 watt equivalents.

    Ideally you want at least 5,000 lumens per plant, so you are under 10% of the light you need (and with the wrong bulbs).

    Get yourself a 250w MH/HPS kit or at least 8-10 of the 23-26w CFLs (those are the ones marketed as 100 watt "equivalent"). If you use CFLs you will do best with one set of daylight 6500k bulbs for vegging and one set of soft white 2700k bulbs for flowering.
     

  7. I am keeping this thing in a small 24" by 36" by 18" box in my room. My landlord is totally together with the cops so I need it all in that one little box and I don't have much money either so the big 1000w lights don't qualify for either. I think I might just try and find a really powerful cfl and go from there.
     
  8. there are a lot of different cfls. and you dont have to get a 1000w set up. just like what was mentioned before you could run a 150w and it would be great for your set up. If you want to do cfl's they make big ones too. but your going to want to buy different bulbs with different spectrums of light. a few for flowering and a few for vegging.

    search through the cfl grow journals. you will learn a lot.
     

  9. Yes. For 80 bucks I am about to buy two 105w daylights for vegging and two 105w pure whites for flowering. They are cfl's and they should work nicely for my two plants. By the way, is vegging to 9 inches with a few
    Plants acceptible?
     
  10. that sounds good as long as those arent the incandescent equivalent numbers.. should be plenty. im only running two 26 watt cfls at the moment for one plant. i plan on getting a 68 watt 6500k (more white than those yellow standard bulbs) very soon actually. I needs it. just like toasty said you ideally want 5000 lumens per plant. look on the box or the website for lumens. each of my 26 watters put out 1750 lumens so im working with 3500 lumens right now.. and apparently the 68 watters put out as much as 4900 lumens according to (i forget) on my thread you were just on.. they dont give off much heat so they can stay pretty close to the plant. just make sure you light as much of the plant as possible..

    pics please!
     


  11. you do that and you will be on your way to 1 ounce per plant.
     

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