Lighting question

[sup@baked]

Loooooong time smoker here , but noob grower . I have read the stickies on lighting and the other stickied lighting post . It states you can use regular CFL light bulbs to grow . Can we really grow GOOD bud with regular light bulbs ? Or is that just pissing in the wind ? Would it be better to buy 1 grow light and grow less ? Or will we be OK with a string of house lights using the CFLs? Also the single post sticky said 5 125W CFLs = 1 halide light . Are the CFLs going to give the same results ?
tia

 

[keico]

Loooooong time smoker here , but noob grower . I have read the stickies on lighting and the other stickied lighting post . It states you can use regular CFL light bulbs to grow . Can we really grow GOOD bud with regular light bulbs ? Or is that just pissing in the wind ? Would it be better to buy 1 grow light and grow less ? Or will we be OK with a string of house lights using the CFLs? Also the single post sticky said 5 125W CFLs = 1 halide light . Are the CFLs going to give the same results ?
tia

There is a big debate over the effectiveness of growing with cfl.

It all depends on who you are talking to

My advice would be to read this post https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/723-things-know-about-lighting.html

 

[SHOTTY6868]

Coming at you from experience, you're going go through all the trouble with those cfl and get a descent harvest. If you just dont cut corners from the beginning, get you a 600w hid light, you'll be alot more happy 3 months from now, trust me. You'll see

 

[frmrboi]

Are the CFLs going to give the same results ?
tia

my $.02:
the quality is the same if not better, the quantity is much lower per watt of light.
CFLs (and tubes for that matter) are unbeatable for starting seeds or clones if you care about your carbon footprint.

 

[StinkBud]

Loooooong time smoker here , but noob grower . I have read the stickies on lighting and the other stickied lighting post . It states you can use regular CFL light bulbs to grow . Can we really grow GOOD bud with regular light bulbs ? Or is that just pissing in the wind ? Would it be better to buy 1 grow light and grow less ? Or will we be OK with a string of house lights using the CFLs? Also the single post sticky said 5 125W CFLs = 1 halide light . Are the CFLs going to give the same results ?
tia

Get the biggest light you can afford. Light is everything. If you want rock hard buds you need a lot more light than you could ever imagine.

600W HPS are great but you just can't beat the light penetration of a 1000W light.

Heat will be your main concern. You will need vented hoods and a fan. No big deal.

CFL's are great for clones and veg but don't let anyone talk you into using them for flowering.

If you have been smoking for awhile you will appreciate the quality of the buds grown under strong light. I've been harvesting over 16+ oz. every three weeks for a long time now.

I have 2 - 1000W HPS and a 1000W MH in my 7x8 flowering room (closet). They are setup in a triangle pattern so there are no dark areas in the room.

Needless to say the plants love all the light and reward me with huge dense buds. Check out the photos...

 

[sup@baked]

Thanx a lot guys ! We are going to get at least the 1000w metal halide . How much will that increase the PG&E bill in the bay area ? We are located in an industrial area where everyone shares electricity . Is it going to be noticeable ? Thanx again .

 

[stumps]

Thanx a lot guys ! We are going to get at least the 1000w metal halide . How much will that increase the PG&E bill in the bay area ? We are located in an industrial area where everyone shares electricity . Is it going to be noticeable ? Thanx again .

What Light will you use to flower?? You might go with a 4 0r 600w mh for veg and 1000w hps for flower.

 

[sup@baked]

oh , you just doubled my cost . lol So is there an "all around " light suggestion ? Or was everyone assuming I was going to buy 2 lights ? I see Craig's List ads with both for sale in the same ad $100 each .

 

[johnny961]

You will never get buds like Stink Bud with cfls.

 

[stumps]

get a balist you can switch form mh to hps. then you just need two bulbs. I did this for awhile but had to wait to long betwen grows/harvests.

 

[xboxplayer]

Hey stinkbud, nice buds!
Just curious if you had any pics of your light setup? also is there a nice quite fan model anybody knows about that is good(great)?
and why did you decide to use mylar walls? people keep telling me to paint my whole room white?

 

[stumps]

some pic's of my set up. veg is 180w's of cfl. flower is 400w hps with 2- 42w cfls

 

[stumps]

Here is something to help when picking lights.
Color Temperature (CT) - Color temperature, which is measured in Kelvin, indicates whether a lamp has a warm, midrange or cool color appearance. "Warm" light sources have a low color temperature (2000-3000K) and feature more light in the red/orange/yellow range. Light with a higher color temperature (>5000K) features more blue light and is referred to as "cool."

 

[sup@baked]

nice pics stink and stumps
Ya , what fans do you guys recommend ? Quiet is important .

 

[sup@baked]

nice pics stink and stumps
Ya , what fans do you guys recommend ? Quiet is important .

 

[stumps]

inline fans Don't seem to make much noise. most fans have a db rating on them.

 

[sup@baked]

How do you guys feel about LED lights ? And if we go with LEDs do we need 2 different lights for growing/flowering ?

 

[StinkBud]

Hey stinkbud, nice buds!
Just curious if you had any pics of your light setup? also is there a nice quite fan model anybody knows about that is good(great)?
and why did you decide to use mylar walls? people keep telling me to paint my whole room white?

Sure, check it out. All the big inline fans sound like a fucking jet taking off when they start up. They are loud!

You would have to put the fan inside some kind of sound insulated box or something.

Mylar space blankets work great. The little folds actually give you a million points of light. Go to the camping section of Wally's and get some. It makes a huge difference!

 

[sup@baked]

Amazing album you have there Stink !!!!
What wattage and lights do you recommend for a small set up ? Are you in agreement with Stumps ? Or do you have any other pointers for a couple of noob growers ?
I think we need at minimum one of the switchable ballasts , but am leaning towards getting 2 lights . We are looking at used lights . They come with bulbs , but who knows how long the bulbs will be god for ? May be the guy knows they are about to go dead and is unloading them for that reason . Any way to tell how much life a bulb has ?

 

[smoote1987]

get a balist you can switch form mh to hps. then you just need two bulbs. I did this for awhile but had to wait to long betwen grows/harvests.

I've grown with CFL's

Currently growing with HPS and MH

If you're only going to buy one of the two HID lights go for the HPS it will be better for the over all grow than the MH. You absolutely can't beat the HPS four flower.

From personal experience CFLs are alright, but there's nothing light the HID bulbs for growing weed. If you want to grow some serious weight you'll need HID. My set up when i was using CFLs was four 27 watters in soil, stealth rubbermaid tub, no nutrients, no real care, and i got about 2 gram per plant. At the time i was really growing for the pure novelty of it and wasn't serious in the least bit.

The switchable digital ballast is a great idea if you have the money. All the equipment is the same for both lights other than the ballast. As for the 1000w compared to 600w... the 600 watters are more efficient overall than the 1000 watters (more lumens per watt)

On the electricity front it's really simple to figure out what your electricity usage is. Here's a formula:

(watts of light/1000) x Time(amount of hours the light is run for a month) x KWH rating (it will be written on your electric bill) = cost to run light for an entire month.

To give you a reference point i use 250w of light and it costs me a little less than $12 a month to run. 250w is less than most tvs well probably not the new flat screens anymore.

oh and led's they're not there yet. i'll get into for you but thats for another post.

GL

Oh and ps. if you're looking for a small set up that could suffice for two moderate smokers or so check out my grow in my my grow room album in my profile. I've also got a brand new journal... link's in my sig