I was thinking of taking in 2, foot tall female plants from a friend they would be placed in a 5ft wide 2 feet deep and 9ft high closet. I was now woundering if i were to get two 150watt compact flourecents that go for $10 each or If i got a 6 pack 60 watt which would be 360 watts whick would be better to go with and would this be enough to flower and any thing else i should know. I have grown before but only outside with good results but this indoor stuff is new.
Where do you get 150 watt compact flouros? I am growing under one 1ft flouro, and 2 4ft tubes but I don't think they are sufficient enough and it is starting to piss me off. I cant afford/deal with an HPS right now but I could do those 150s you are talking about. Some info please. thanks
Home Depot has them for real cheap. I looked at lowes and the highest they had was 100's but home depot has huge ones that have a true 5 spiral 150 watt and are under $10
You're looking at the replacement watts. There's no way it actually puts out 150 watts. I just went to Wal-Mart tonight and bought two CFL's that are rated at 30 watts and they were $8 a piece. On the box it says it replaces a 135 watt regular bulb, that's where you're getting confused.
2 is not enough for 2 plants. Especially if they really are the 30 watters. I use 4 on one plant for my mother. There is no way the plants could make it through flowering. They might even stretch themselves out in veg and end up falling over. You might be better off splurging and buying a 250w hps from insidesun.com
To be clear, lightbulbs don't put out watts, they consume watts. They output lumens (and heat and other radiation). You are correct that cfl makers use the concept of "equivalent" or "relacement" in terms of watts because that is the way we are used to thinking of light bulbs, but ultimately it is inaccurate. The 150w cfl talked about in this thread probably is a 42w cfl that has the lumen output roughly equivalent to a 150w incandescent bulb, that is the actual comparison they are trying to reference on the label.
If you want good light on the cheap, get a 65W Flourex lamp. They are REALLY bright. They put out over 4500 lumens and have a color temp of 6500K (which is what you want) plus have a little extra blue in them for vegging. I did a grow with two of these just fine.
A good bro of mine owns a hydro store. He also just started one of those Ebay stores but it doesn't have much of his inventory up yet so I have to call him or e-mail to see if he carries something (he usually does or can get it). The lights I bought are $45 for the lamp, the bulb and the mount. If you buy more than one, then he discounts it. There are also kits that mount several of them together. Anyway, I looked on ebay and see the same lights going for $58-65 so I figured I got a good deal.
when I looked for them at e-bay, the $20 ones were the lower output. The ones I bought were $49 at my store
Its betterget 1 high wattage bulb then couple lower wattage bulbs. Higher watts usually produce more lumens per watt. So choose whichever produces the most lumens.