I have these two fluorescent light fixtures laying around from when I first messed around with lighting photographic scenes in random "studio" setups. They taught me a little bit photographically but sense then they've just been in storage. I took em out not too long ago and both bulbs on each lamp work. They say they're 32 w each and they're bright as hell. Does anyone use these at all? I haven't seen a grow or even heard of anyone using these. I just want to know if it's possible, would it be any good? And if they just won't work for growing, why? My thought was since my plant is a sativa and if I don't train it and let it just grow straight up I was gonna hang one on each side of the plant vertically. Thoughts? Here's the exact fixtures I'm talking about:
Yes, many people use them. It is possible. Pros : cheap, low wattage cost, no heat generated. Cons : Less intense light. Basically your plants will be shorter and have smaller buds. Great to learn with. My advice would be to top it a lot, and train it so more light gets in.
I was thinking LST but I just found out about the scrog method, which is NUTS. But I honestly don't have the room a scrog grow takes up haha. what do you think? and I'm sure you could load this up with a fair amount of watts. I bet 32w bulbs are not the largest these can hold. I'll have to look and see though. ALSO, do tube fluorescents come in both softwhite and daylight bulbs like cfls?
Yes you can your them. Your growth will be slower than with other lighting sources, but they will keep a plant alive. If you use those on top and add some CFL's around the side, you should be good. The best thing about those is they're the lowest heat lighting you can get. You're plants can grow right up into them without burning the leaves at all. Even T5's and CFL's put out way more heat than these shop lights. They're perfect for growing in the hottest part of summer if you have problems with temps.
for best results use T12 bulbs (more lumens) with the reddest spectrum you can, there are like 4 different color temps at walmart alone, I did a study about a year ago, and the plants will grow towards the red spectrum lights of floro tubes.
T5 is more powerful than T12. You can get red or blue spectrum for either. If your going for cheap, use what you have, if you are going to spend a little money, get T5's or HPS.
T5's are more efficient not more powerful than a T12, however for their size ratio they are more powerful.
I use 2' T5's for Veg. They are wonderful. You'll get really tight nodes and a healthy plant, plus your electricity costs will run significantly lower than it would under MH/HPS. I would not recommend them for flowering though. If you want a worthwhile yield HID is the way to go.
I am using 2 4' T12 fixture just like what you have, and in each one i have 1 of the "hydrofarm agrosun full spectrum 5850k" and 1 cool white shop bulb from lowes. I noticed a definite difference when i switched out 1 shop bulb for 1 grow bulb (On each fixture). I should probably replace the other 2 dead beat bulbs Hanging in the middle of them I have a 1, 4' hydrofarm High output T5 Growlight 6500k 'Jump Start'. I noticed a definite difference when I added this too. Prior to these bulbs I was just using the 4' shop lights from lowes and holy crap was it slow growing. Like 1 month only grew like 3-4"... I use this setup for vegging. It works well, virtually no heat, cheap, low electricity, and it puts out enough to get me to flower. Then its LED (I kinda like low heat)
I'm also using the same fixtures (2 each 4 footers, 2 bulbs each fixture). I picked up sylvania bulbs at Home Depot. I found 40watt vegging (6500) and flowering (2700) bulbs in packs of 2 or 10. This is my first indoor, so I'm still figuring it out, but they're growing pretty decent with them. Check out my pics in the link with my sig for my 1st indoor. Best of luck.