I am only growing one plant and it is growing very slow because i don't have a proper light. I am thinking about buying multiple bulbs and growing some different strains. I don't know if this bulb will grow the plant by itself, or if i will need to put 2 of them on one plant. Will this bulb work ? 60WATT NATURAL LIGHT PLANT GROW LIGHT BULB STANDARD A19 | eBay
I'm not an indoor expert, but you need more like 150 watts per plant. Two of those would still only put you at 120 watts. CFL's or T5's work well if you're on a budget. A 4 ft 4 bulb T5 is about $150 and you can fit about 12 plants under it in a SOG.
At least 100 actual watts of cfl per plant. Don't use those bulbs, just use regular white CFLs to veg and the warm CFLs to flower.
Agree, forget that "grow bulb", that's designed for completely different kinds of plants. You can use CFLs or else upgrade to HID (MH and HPS). For CFLs you want at least 100 actual watts per plant, more is better. Keep in mind that if a bulb is hanging very close to more than one plant then it can do double duty. A couple of other pointers with CFLs: first, they are marketed by something called "replacement watts" or "equivalent watts." Completely ignore these numbers, they are irrelevant for growing, only pay attention to actual watts, which will be on the package somewhere and definitely printed on the base of the bulb itself. Actual wattage is about 25% of the "replacement" or "equivalent" watts. Second, CFLs need to be extremely close to the plants, literally as close as possible without actually touching. So anything that is more than 2" from the bulb is getting little usable light from that bulb.
I decided to upgrade. Will this work for one plant ? adapter: [ame]http://www.amazon.com/Photo-Basics-413-4-Socket-Adapter/dp/B0028K2TXQ/ref=lh_ni_t_mi[/ame] stand:[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Adorama-Socket-Adapter-Umbrella-Holder/dp/B0038U9JOM/ref=lh_ni_t_mi[/ame] Lights: [ame]http://www.amazon.com/ALZO-Digital-Full-Spectrum-Light/dp/B00198U6U6/ref=lh_ni_t_mi[/ame] I figure with that setup i could always upgrade the bulbs and grow more plants.
You can do it cheaper at Home Depot or similar place. You can get 3 Y-adapters for sockets, each splits a socket into two so screw one into the lamp socket then the other two into each side of the first adapter, and you'll have 4 sockets that way. $2-$3 apiece. You can use any type of socket, the one you found has an umbrella adapter you don't need but will be paying for, just get a cheap lamp or build one with a socket and a blue electrical box for $3-$4. And 42 actual watt CFLs are a good choice, you can get those at Home Depot or Walmart for $4-$5 apiece.
Thanks for the advice, i'm going to lowes tomorrow to see if i can find all the parts i'm going to need. Maybe i will update this thread with pics once i have everything setup.
42watt cfls are over $10 at homedepot and lowes. They do have good deals on 23watt cfls, a 4 pack for $5. Goodluck on your hunt
I recently started my first grow and I placed to many watts of Cfls to close to my seedling and the light was to intense for her, she had 2x42w and 2x23w on here and due to my ventilation I was able to get them very close without heat burn but the light was so intense that the leaves started drooping. After reducing the lights to just 2x23w for a bit of recover and moving her to about 4" away she's starting to do soo much better. Hope that helps you avoid the initial scare I had.