I have a t5 4 bulb 4 footer. 3 strawberry kush plants (ilgm). Can anyone show me some success they’ve had on t5 lights.
My first grow was with T5’s
Your growth is just slower, and they are not very good for flowering.
I kept my lights an average of two inches above the plant tops, and was constantly having to raise the light.
Just be sure to use 6500k blue lights for veg, then switch to 3000k red for flowering.
If you really seriously want to grow, I highly recommend HPS, and MH lights.
Did you end up with a decent crop still. I want to upgrade to LED. Proably the Viparspectra par700. @Traumamedic
It wasn’t too awful bad. But it was a slow process.
I ended up with 2.5 ounces off of three plants. But that was before I learned about topping to make them grow bushier and have multiple colas.
I currently have four plants with 36 buds.
One one girl I did some topping and lst and she has 6 colas all leveled out nice
@Traumamedic my fixture is 4’ 4 bulb. What did you have?
I am running t5 2ft 4 bulbs and it is working out well. This is my first indoor grow so don’t have end product results. I just added some cfls for side lights so we will see what happens.
Here is some info. on
Fluorescents
Until the early 1980’s most indoor marijuana growers used fluorescent lights to illuminate their garden. These tubes have tremendous advantages over incandescents. They emit about 3 times as much light as an incandescent (given the same wattage), and the light spectrum is one that plants con use more effectively.
However, they do certainly have their limitations. Light is emitted over a large area, so it is not concentrated. Because of this, the lights have to be hung very close to the plants, and constantly moved to accommodate plant growth. This makes garden maintenance rather difficult. Marijuana plants can often grow very quickly increasing the times the lamps need raising. To add to this, in the flowering period, fluorescsent lights are not effective making them a poor choice for lighting marijuana plants.
Lamp # of Lumens Sq. Ft
4’FL (CoolWhite-40W) 2,960 1-2
8’FL (CoolWhite-75W) 5,800 2-4
MH 175W 14,000 5-10
MH 400W 40,000 12-20
HPS 70W 7,600 3-6
HPS 150W 16,000 6-11
HPS 400W 50,000 15-30
Fluorescents are, however, very useful in cloning, and starting seedlings. Because in these stages, a plant is not growing vertically very quickly, the disadvantages of moving the lights are reduced. They also put out a more gentle light than the HID lamps, and release less heat.
If you choose to use fluorescents, it is best to purchase the ‘cool white’ variety or a mix. The ones that are sold as grow lamps (including grow-lux, vitalite, etc.) are much less efficient than a standard fluorescent, and just do not put out enough light to be useful. The slightly different spectrum produced by these lamps does nothing for most plants.
B Safe
Will
Here is a little more I hope it helps. Will
Fluorescents are a great choice for clones, young plants, supplemental lighting and can save you money on electricity in the vegetative stage compared to using high power lights when plants are too young to use it all anyway. They can also be used to flower plants in spaces that are shorter than what’s possible with other grow lights (aka ‘stealth growing’).
That being said, when it comes to the flowering/budding stage, if you can fit a bigger light you will get significantly better yields/watt by using an HID or LED grow light!
I use 4’ tubes to supplement the edges of my grow where the main LED’s are weakest but replaced the lights with LED tubes, seemed like I could get closer to the light spectrum I wanted.
It does require slight rewiring of the fixture but it’s a DIY project and comes with instructions. You basically just need to remove the ballast.
I just wanted pointed to point out the option of LED tubes. Not very powerful keep in mind.
Nope T5 flourescents emit 30% less light than hps or metal halide bulbs, however T5 lights are great for clones