help please. I am going to grow three plants in my closet in my apartment, I dont mind using energy but I also dont want a huge noticable rise in my energy consumption...... I am going to get seeds from a club I kno I need cfls they are called mh or hps one is for veg and one is for flowering, a ph tester, soil, three 3 gallon pots and nutes..... im going to buy some mylar for reflection in my closet, I was also wondering what will help so it doesnt smell like weed as soon as you walk in the door. Im a begginer so please try to take it easy on me and just help me out. thanks
CFLs are different than MH or HPS. A CFL is flourescent and MH and HPS are High Pressure Bulb systems that are made for light penetration and growing. IMHO CFLs suck dick. Buy a HPS or MH. They are anywhere from 150 watt to 1000 watt so you should beable to find one that will work for the closet.
Just another beginner here, but you should note that MH and HPS bulbs aren't CFLs they are HIDs. There are big differences between CFLs and HIDs and I suggest you read up on that first so you are able discern what lighting best suits your needs. Personally, I bought a 400w switchable ballast that can run either hps/mh bulbs. To ventilate I bought a good quality fan from plantlightinghydroponics.com. I also bought a 4" carbon filter from them as well. The carbon filter is HUGE, but it alleviated a lot of my concerns regarding smell...I'll be surprised if anything gets past it. You may also want to look into Rumple's thread about his DWC bubble buckets. I was initially going to grow with soil until I discovered his thread. Basically, figure out what growing style best suits your needs before you invest money in this hobby.
I would suggest for a first grower do not use bubble buckets or any hydro it is nice and very fun but soil and soil based applications will be much more forgiving and less stressful for you. And the bud is just as high quality. With hydro you may leave for two days and come back to find everything dead or dying, its scary and sucks and is very disheartening