I need to switch to a cooler lighting setup. I'm thinking of switching to T5s. I've read a bit about them, and about light in general, and I just wondered if anyone wanted to give me their opinions about T5s? Good or bad, I want to hear about it. I would also like to ask if any of you would mind checking out the link I've provided? It's to a T5 grow light set. It puts out 8000 lumens. I'm thinking of buying two of these rather than one larger unit. I'll never grow more than four plants to maturity at a time. Do you think the lights in that link are enough for a grow like mine? Are there better T5 setups I should check out first? I looked into Bad Boy and they're pretty damn nice. They're also double and triple the price. So y'all let me know what you think. I'd really appreciate it. T5 HO FLUORESCENT 24 2' 2ft 4 LAMP GROW LIGHT BULBS NEW | eBay
You will actually notice the difference if you go for 4 foot tubes rather than these 2 foot tubes, better light coverage and more lumen per watt, use daylight for veg then move to a 400w or 600w HPS for budding after say 2 months, or you may go for warm white tubes that gives for the light color for budding, and give you pop corn buds or immature colas, sparse small buds, depending on the strain you grow. Don't forget these plants grow ...will get big, and need room take a look in my library in my blog "V"
those t5s on you link look janky as fuck. Id spend a little more and get a quality sun blaze or hydrofarm setup. if you are planning on flowering with the t5, a 2' 4 bulb is not gonna be big enough. I can only fit 2 plants in gallon pots plus a few starters under my 2' 4 bulb. They are great for vegging but id imagine your plants will quickly outgrow them in flower
I think theres a indoor grow journal where a guy used these from start to finish and had some pretty good results. I use them for clones, seedlings and short term veg growth. I vegged some clones to about 2 1/2 tall or so and noticed that the lower parts of the plant and sides were lacking the light penetration, they kinda looked like christmass trees but they were more of an experiment. They were our first batch of clones from a new bubble cloner we made and it was more of a side project. The space we had to work with was limited, tall but only about 2 feet wide. We didnt use any side supplemental light which I believe would have really helped with both the lower and side veg growth plus they were kinda of close together, more like crammed in there. I use the Hydrofarm Designer ones, you can hang them, mount them to the wall and daisy chain them together for plugging them in. Hydrofarm - Hydrofarm FLP48 T5 4Ft/8-Tube Designer System w/ Bulbs
So I should def. look into one large unit as opposed to two smaller units. I've read some people don't change out their bulbs for veg and flower cycles. Instead, they use a combination of warm and bright through both cycles. I wonder which method is best? I should probably try it myself to make that decision though. Ya think?
If you plan on flowering with the t5's you probably want like a 4' 6 or 8 bulb unit. I am thinking about flowering one plant with my 2' 8 bulb and gonna switch out 4 bulbs to the warm spectrum to have a more complete light spectrum. Someone said they had better results with using just the bright bulbs (5700k) but i think a combination of the two would be optimal, as that is closer to mother nature. Also, you should def. study the LST and ScrOG tutorial threads if you havent already. I think keeping a short but wide canopy is optimal for t5's so the light can penetrate further. You're not gonna grow 4 ft. tall plants with t5's and have anything worth smoking on the lower branches.
I've read lots and lots about lsting and scrog growing. Lst was the first thing that came to my mind after I started reading about flowering with t5s. I think lsting would be a must if I went with t5s. Thanks, y'all, I appreciate the feedback.
I like them for seedlings, clones and short term vegging. Like you mentioned I noticed that once the plants get to a certain hieght they simply lack the light penetration. I think the short and wide canopy area is an excelent idea. We get ours started and going under T5`s then switch to 1000 watt MH for a little bit longer then finish out under 1000 watt HPS.
What about this rig. I'd like to buy extra bulbs in different spectrums to get a variety of spectrums on my plants at once. This one is 4 foot, w/ 6 high output bulbs, 28,200 lumens, 342 watts. Amazon.com: T5 4FT 6 Tube High Output Fluorescent Grow Light w/bulbs: Patio, Lawn & Garden