Okay, I I have a fixture for four 4-ft fluorescent tubes which I used in a previous grow, but it won't fit in my new 32" x 40" grow closet. I'm wanting to start with two autos. Can I get by with vegging them under two 40w CFL's? They would be switched to a 150w hps PLUS the CFL's for flowering. Thanks in advance.
Stick the HPS over 'em along with the CFL's during vegging. 80w isn't enough to get a decent yield at all. There's nothing wrong with going dual spectrum. Just keep an eye on the heat.
80w (actual and not equivalent I'm assuming) isn't even enough for one plant. 50w is the minimum recommended per plant, but preferred is 100w per plant or more. Remember, the more light you have, the happier your girls will be. I honestly don't think you'd get much off two plants only vegged under 80w, even if you were to switch to 150+ during flower. Just do what I did, work with what you have for now, and add more lights as you can afford to. I started with a mere 50w for four plants, one died when I moved so I'm now running a 284w system for a three plant grow. Super dank looking buds too, I'm coming up on week 9 of flower.
Thanks guys! I really appreciate the advice I get from here. Alright, I discovered they have 55 watt (actual) CFL's at Wal-Mart. So, for my array, I'm going to start with three CFL's; a 55, 40, and 20.... plus, I'm going to try to figure out how to squeeze my 150 hps in there too. Do you think I could get by using the hps for 12 hour cycles while the CFL's stay on for 18? I'm just trying to cut costs wherever I can, without damaging my ladies too much, of course Btw, I'm only growing for personal use. Honestly, I would be thrilled to get 100 grams per plant with ScroG! Thanks again!
You can definitely stick the hps in there for dual spectrum lighting. Keep the CFLs about 1-2" away from the plants, but be careful with the hps. I'd say more like 12" away for that light to avoid heat stress/burning your plants.