i've got a small area to grow in that is 4 feet wide and 2 feet in depth and about 8 feet high that will be split into two levels but i would like to use fluorescent tubes for the vegetative stage but i can't figure out how many i should use i wanted to use 36" tubes but i'm unsure how many i would need and of what watt because i've noticed the wattages tend to be very low. or where i can even find them?
I've seen the tubes at wal mart and home depot. Use as many as you can practically fit, and use daylight bulbs, 6500k. How many plants do you intend on vegging at once? To what height?
i'm thinking i'll only have room for 3-4 plants at most with that area and they're gonna be short ones but its just for my own stash
I'd say a 4 tube setup would be ok, but the more the merrier. I gotta stress using daylight tubes, it makes a big difference in keeping them short and bushy, gets you the most growth for the least height. They don't need a lot of these to veg well either, I used 2x25w CFL's to veg 2 plants a foot tall, the female yielded 2 oz. Read up on LST too, very helpful for small personal grows.
ok i'm thinking i'll go with 6 tubes hopefully t8's. do they need to be high output or will 32w each work? i'm worried about my plants getting enough lumens for the area because of the output of these. i'll definitely be using the daylights spectrum.
People i've known have had descent results using a 2 tube 36", and then adding 3 or 4 other cfl's from all sides for the mid growth. But if you can fit and afford 2 36" fixtures for the top that would probably be much better in addition to the 3 or 4 side cfl's. Good Luck Man;
LST: Low strenght(stress) Training..(tying the plant down in a preferred manor by controlling its growth.) I recommend the four foot tubes, but if you cant squeeze em in??? Cfl's(big ones) are great, just leave them an extra inch away cause they are a little warm(fire hazard too) By the time you start looking into cost for everything let me be the first too recommend making the best choice(HPS).. Sorry guys someone was gonna do it( I loved growin with flouros though.. thats what I prefer for veg... THe whole time- BAR NONE) yes im using a metal halide
I tend to get ver stretchy plants under fluoros but i do have 1 setup which uses 4 4 footers above and 6 2 footers placed vertically on sides and back of space with constant turning they dont stretch as much but the side lighting makes the difference next actually thinking of adding 2 4 footers for underlighting but i am constantly experimenting with it i think i had better luck buying the little 70 watt hps outdoor light home depot sells for so few plants my fluoros all come from thrift stores when i spend money on lights spend it on the good ones ps i might even look into a smallish mh i have a couple 100 and 250s that put out the same heat as mt t8 ballasts
dont t8's run hotter than t5's? I veg with 4 t5's but there are some nice 6 and 8 tube setups that are like 400 watt.
make sure you do the math on the tubes you buy. buy 6500kelvin tubes and try to get over 70 lumens per watt ( this is tricky more easily done with 2700k ). general rule of thumb is 2500-5000 lumens per plant. make sure the lights are no more then 3 inches from the foliage.