I have six 85w CFLs, three 24w CFLs, then ten 14w CFL (red and blue colored). NOTE: I'm not using them all I just have them to select from. My question is how many watts can I total up to before I need to use a ballast??? My grow box setup will be built based on this answer.
cfl's have ballasts built in, so you dont need a ballast for them, just plug in and grow. Use 200watts per plant!
When you say red and blue colored, i hope you dont mean like party lights but instead you mean the following: Cool Daylight(Light Blueish when looking at it when turned on) - 6500k Warm White(Yellowish when looking at it when turned on) - 2700k Not the bulbs with a colored outside etc. Ballasts are used with HID's and HPS's and such. Unless you purchase one of these you wont need it.
@garfiled ...thanks man @hyperstream ...thanks also. And yes I mean party lights, but only time I use those are during their 6 hr night cycle (4 blues only, the rest of lights turned off) bc I heard that it promotes stouter stems/branching ("Marijuana Grower's Handbook by Ed Rosenthal"). Is this true?
Yes I mean party lights, but only time I use those are during their 6 hr night cycle (4 blues only, the rest of lights turned off) bc I heard that it promotes stouter stems/branching ("Marijuana Grower's Handbook by Ed Rosenthal"). Is this true?
Okay first of all, lose the party lights. By blue lighting, he means the 6500k "Daylight" spectrum CFL's which put out a blue tinted light. They're preferred in veg as they limit the stretch (ie, stouter stems). Try plugging all of your CFL'S in, if you have different color temperatures, you'll be able to notice immediately. The more blue color is what you want for veg, and the more yellow looking light is what you want for flower.
let me mention that you can use blue for flower and yellow for veg too, so really, I'd just use them all except the party lights.