Hi, I’ve been reading the ILGM “bible”, articles and forum and I know that most questions were already asked (especially on the last one) and answered. Anyway, I still have some doubts.
I’m going to try and grow 2 plants (White Widow [fem]). The setup will be something like 2.3ft by 1.15ft (base) by 4.6ft. I know it’s small, but it’s the first time. So, I was checking lights and thinking about buying 5 20w CFL lights, but they cost the same price as 1 125w CFL grow light. The local shop gives me three options for the 125w CFL light: 6400K (on the shop, they call it growing light), 2700K (flowering light) and 2100K (flowering light).
Now, I saw this topic http://www.ilovegrowingmarijuana.com/community/topic/sprouts-stringy-and-seem-to-have-slow-growth/
and I’m afraid that the light is not suitable. Is any of the ones I presented before suitable? If yes, which? Or should I go back to the 5x20w idea? And I know HPS would be better, but they cost more and for two plants I don’t want to invest that much for a 400w to which I would have to add a CFL for early stages.
And btw, is that enough for the area/nbr of plants I said?
That is a totally different kind of light, it is an incandescent, and your question is a bit different. It is ok, lights for a new person is a whole lot to learn just on its own.
If you are needing to save some money and want to get only one light get the one 125 watt CFL (compact fluorscent light) and get it in the 6500 K spectrum, it will do fine in blooming flowering as well as vegetative growing. Yes it should do very well for that size canopy/floor space. With CFL lights you can do a real easy in your head estimation of about a minimum of 40 to 50 watts per square foot, and so actually about 125 watt. actually might be over kill, but it depends on how you are to mount the light, how much vertical space it will take up and if you can keep the temps down in such a small space. Even in a fluorescent light, 125 watts will put out quite an amount of heat.
The five 20 watt CFLs might be a better option for such a small grow but you might not save anything on heat. And in fact it may create more heat. Most of the heat with fluorescent lights comes from the ballast. In a CFL, this ballast is inside the vented plastic base. With so many lights, you have a whole lot of little ballasts that total wattage is 100 watts but the extra numbers of ballasts might create more heat than the one ballast in the 125 watt bulb. You might want to look into finding one 100 watt CFL in the 6500K for you size grow.
Here is some more information on fluorescent lights:
BTW, 6400k -6500k is considered a blue white light (mostly), 5000 - 5500 k is considered pure white or neutral white and anything below, usually you’ll see maybe something close to 3000, 2700, and sometimes the 2100 as red-ish white, if you will. Technically 5000k to 6500 k can be considered “full” spectrum and will work for any part of the grow, vegging/growing or blooming/flowering.
on amazon u can get a 400 watt hps system with ratchet hangers a timer and a mh bulb for veg with hps for flowering that puts off ten times as many lumens as a 125 watt cfl for 125 bucks by ipower or apollo horticulture im in the same situation myself but according to my friends the yield is the tell tale between hps and cfl but if cfl is how u wanna go amazon also has a 250 watt cfl with reflector and hangers for 56 dollars
Thank you very much for your reply, MacGyver Stoner. Those were more or less the estimates (50w / square foot) I had done, based on what I saw on the guides and around the forum. When I was considering the 5 x 20w system, one of the other reasons to change to a single 125w was also the heat, because although I have no experience in this kind of lighting, I have done maintenance of (CFL) lights for a relative who has an office and I did notice that they produce a considerable amount of heat.
Regarding newby420’s post, I do know that an HPS system is well more suitable and I can also get such a 400w system in my local area for about the same price you’re saying (which is 2.5x the CFL’s). The problem is that 400w is well beyond how much I should have for the area/nbr of plants and that would force me to also buy one CFL. The only way I could use such a strong light would be to have roughly a 3.5ft x 3.5ft area (4x the one I’m planning on doing) and as it is the first time I’ll be growing, I do not think it’s wise to do that.
jugend, you are correct, a 400 watt HID system would likely be way too hot and overkill for such a small grow – 2.3ft by 1.15ft (base) by 4.6ft tall. Maybe two 40 to 50 watt CFLs or one 80 to 100 watt CFL in the 6500K spectrum seems most appropriate and most cost effective for you. You can easily find the 45 watt CFLs at big box stores and you can find the 80 to 100 watt CFL lights at specialty photography outlets or on amazon or e-bay for very affordable prices. Your local grow shop might even be able to special order this wattage if they don’t regularly carry it. But with enough ventilation and a horizontally mounted 125 w CFL it might be able to be placed high up in the grow space w/o taking up too much room and giving you enough distance from the top of the plants to keep the heat down and make things work. Also your vegetative growth/propagation/ nursery could be done with a very small CFL, 20 - 30 watt, in a different area or the same area and then switch to the higher wattage for vegetative growth to fill up the area before switching to a bloom/flower light cycle of 12 hours of uninterrupted darkness.
So, I’ve been searching for those 40w to 50w, but nothing (the maximum I got was 30w). Anyway, the local shop also has 105w CFLs. They are the same as the 125w ones (obviously except for the wattage) and they cost the same. So, this fact of costing the same led me into wanting the 125w (20 more watts for the same price).
The 20-30 watt nursery tip is a great idea! I think I’ll do that.
Regarding the heat that the 125w might produce, I’m going to have two PC fans on the walls and I think it will be enough.
A special thank you to MacGyver Stoner (and also to latewood*) for having thoroughly answered my questions (*not only the ones on this topic, but also those I share with others who’ve already asked).
You might want to think about looking on-line. I’m all for supporting your local specialty grow shop, but you might be able to save around as much as 50% on the same brand fluorescent light. You can find some really good LED systems on e-bay for about $100 that could possibly cover a much larger area and would not create hardly any heat in comparison. Or a name brand LED that would suit that size space nicely for around the same amount, even 400 watt HID systems are as low as $100 bucks and they can easily light a 3ft x 3 ft space or even up to 4ft x 4ft.
I’m thinking the ideal florescent light setup in such a small set up would be two foot long T5s, with two to four on the top and four, one in each corner vertically or just two on each long side horizontally. You can get these around $25 to $30 bucks online and you can add them slowly over time, start with just two for the early seedling development and then add a couple more slowly.
Something more like this, and these types of fluorescent would take up the least amount of room.
Well, I’m both looking on-line and on the “local store”, since the local store is national chain (I’m currently living in France). And what I’ve found out from their website is that their prices are more or less (±5e) what you’ve showed me on amazon/ebay for the US, so I think it’s ok.
Here is the link (it’s in french, but easy to understand)
So, there I’ve found all types of lamps for the usual prices: HPS, CFL, T5, etc.
I do know that cost efficiently wise, the LED would be the best solution, but only for the long run and since I might move due to jobs, it’s not worth it. The second best choice would be the HPS and I really thought about buying one of these, but as I said, this is the first try and so, for such a small set, it would have no use. If after the first try, everything goes well and I like growing, I’ll definitely buy an HPS. The third option for me was the CFL since I had the idea (from what I gathered) that it would be the best choice for this phase.
Because seriously, this is just a try and if I like it, I’ll put up the money to buy an HPS and all that’s necessary, leaving no room for the material I’ll buy right now.
Anyway, why would you change the 100-125 watt CFL system for a T5 one? Just due to heat or is it more efficient as well?
I see, you want it really small and maybe almost disposable as you might not be able to take it with you, if I’m understanding you.
High Output T5s are generally more efficient than CFLs. They usually have much more lumens per watt than most CFLs. Less watts means less heat, and more lumens is the name of the game.
I’m kinda thinking more than 3 T5s across the top might be too much. and two about two feet from the top, maybe a bit lower, on the sides horizontally is plenty and should get you good results in such a small space, mylar or flat white the walls as well.
It looks like with two of the higher power ones only, on the top, would give you plenty of light and this light gives excellent penetration and you might not need any side lighting.
This is my first grow. I am using 6 19watt full spectrum CFL bulbs in a grow box and they are doing great, they came back from a disaster. The box is 20 x 16 x 3 foot. Is this too many watts for this small space.? I am thinking of going to a 3 ft. x 4 ft. x 7 ft. closet. How much light is needed for this type space? I read where you said 40-50 watts per sq. ft. Is that for the floor footage 12sf or overall 84sf. I assume its for the 12sf since the lights move up and down. Is a 450 watt LED going to be any good or should I stay with the CFLs and get larger wattage bulbs?
Yes, you want the floor space or the canopy square feet as you can bring the lights closer.
No matter the light, if you can find the exact specs for its lumens/FLUX per square foot you can use this as a guide:
Seedlings and clones require about 400-1000 lumens per square foot.
Vegetative growth requires about a minimum of 2,000 to 3,000 lumens per square foot
Flowering requires about 5,000 to 10,000 lumens per square foot, ideally, and can take possibly much more.
It’s not idea, but you can make do with 2000 lumens for an entire grow if necessary.
10,000 lumens is supposed to be about the average power of the sun at sea level on a lightly cloudy/hazy day at high noon, or something like that, lol.
So a closet 3 ft. x 4 ft. x 7 ft. would be considered 12 square feet canopy or floor-space and a 400 watt HID MH/HPS would work perfect in that space. A LED that is equivalent to a 400-450 HID is probably also great fit.
It depends on what kind of light you want to get. For LEDs I would suggest Mars hydro 300w. I grow in a small box like you also n it did me well until I let my grow grow too tall (first timer mistakes lol). So now to finish I’m switching to this This item is unavailable - Etsy it’s a 400w CFL hanging set up. I’m still a noob but I know those 2 options will work in the space you have
My box is 18"x13" n 48" tall so you might run in the same problem I had with the plants getting to close to the led causing light burn issues… I really like LEDs though so maybe get a cheap 150w LED for top light n then t-5 or cfls for side lighting
Ya so you could run in to the same problem as me. I would go with a LED n try to top the plant n keep it bushy so you don’t run in to the same problem as me xD. Remember what I forgot. The plant can triple in size when you flip to 12/12 on the light
