Question About 1000 Watt Bulbs

[dopeyG]

How much would a 1000 watt bulb affect my power bill??? Will one bulb generate lots of heat?? How many plants could i grow under one bulb??? i was going to grow porbably 10-15. Sorry for all the questions, i'm a cfl grower and looking to switch to hps. Any help would be great!

 

[alphawolf.hack]

the average in America is about .10 cents a kilowatt hour (kwh). a 1000 watt ballast and bulb runs 1000 kwh. (1000 watts steadily over an hour = 1kwh) so 24x.10=2.4$ a day 2.4x30=72$ a mo. that's just one light and remember most circuit breakers are 15 amp and a 1000 watt light runs 9amps of them and ideally you only want to run a breaker at 80% of its load. so make sure you run multiple circuits so youll have room for fans and other electronics.

 

[dopeyG]

hmm, this doesn't sound very good lol. Whats a good alternative?? I currently am a cfl grower but i'm just not sure about growing 15 plants under cfl's. i would need alot. What should i do???

 

[stumpjumper]

Youd need around 65 23w CFL's to cover 15 plants lol... You better downsize your plan or upgrade your wiring and plan on a bigger bill every month because either way you're gonna be sucking some juice. Not sure which would be less of a load on your breaker, I would bet the 1000w HID would be the lesser of having 65 CFL's all plugged in??

Ohhh, and 1000w HID should only be good for 10 plants is you follow the 100W per plant rule. You could do 15 probably and just have a few that didn't turn out AS good as the others that got more of the light. I think 10 plants is really MAX you'd want to try under one light.. that's a lot man. So in that case you could get better coverage for that many plants with 1000w of CFL's VS 1 HID..

 

[dopeyG]

That sounds shitty. Do i need that much for that many plants?? i'm looking to get about a lb or 2 a month do i need that many plants to get that???

 

[racerboy71]

yah, why don't you cut down on your number of plants, and just grow bigger sized plants instead?? this would allow you to run a smaller sized lamp like a 600 or so, and would also cut down on your electricity costs..
and don't forget that in the dudes example, he put it as if you're running your lamps 24 hours a day, 30 days a month... i don't know many people who are running hids for 24 hours a day in veg, and once you hit flowering, you're going to cut that number in half with only 12 hours a day instead.. you can rerun his number and plug in 18 and or 12 to get a better idea of what it would cost to run in veg and in flowering..

 

[dopeyG]

Ya i caught that. I only run at 18/6 during veg. i believe plants need to rest to. i could cut down in number of plants i have no problem with that. its the time it takes to grow and flower them. i would like to grow a minimum of a lb a month

 

[nickman]

me too ...

 

[Gary Busey]

You're gonna need more than a 1000 watt HPS for 1-2 LBS per month. One of the 1000s could potentially do 1-2 LBS every 2 months (depending on strain).

If you do sog, you can get away with many smaller plants under that light. The less you veg, the more plants you'll need to fill your canopy, the more you veg, the less plants you need to fill the canopy.

That sounds shitty. Do i need that much for that many plants?? i'm looking to get about a lb or 2 a month do i need that many plants to get that???

 

[dopeyG]

but do plants that have vegged longer produce bigger buds?? i would imagine so

 

[Gary Busey]

Yields will be the same, at least in my experience. Do you want bigger buds, or more buds that weigh the same in total, and grown in less time?

You said you wanted 1-2 LBS a month, so long veg with less plants would require you to use more energy during veg times.

Personally, if I went with a 1000 watt HPS, I'd do it in a 4 x 4 space, and do one plant per square foot, and veg for about 2-3 weeks with another light, preferably something in the blue spectrum, in another room separate from the flowering area.

 

[dopeyG]

Dont really care about the size of the buds as much of the weight i get out of the harvest. i just thought the bigger the buds the heavier the crop out. It doesnt have to be hps if there is something better or more energy efficient. what about MH? or other bulbs?? are there 1000w cfls???

 

[TheOrganic]

Pound a month is pushing it. Maybe scrogging you can but your gonna need high yielding strains. Your worring about power cost too much to get a pound a month. Unless you have perpetual or some cloning system.

 

[dopeyG]

i didnt think it would be so hard to get an oz off of one plant per month if there was some kind of cycle from mother to clone to veg to flower. Like somehow put your veg plants into flower a month before you harvest so that a month after you harvest you harvest. i didnt think it would matter so much if u had a good cycle going.

 

[Gary Busey]

The biggest CFL is 300 watts, but is impractical for growing because CFLs have very little penetration, and you will only be illuminating a small part of the plant. It would be better to use a bunch of smaller CFLs, like 23-42 watt ones. But it would take an impractical amount of CFLs to grow a pound every month. It takes at least 2k watts of CFL to equal 1k watts of HPS, so you would need like 3-4k watts of CFL to achieve your goals.

LEDs are a decent way to go if you can afford a good one. You would still need 1k watts plus to achieve your goal. LEDs run cooler than HPS, and you will save a lot of money on exhausting the extra heat from your grow area, and you may also need an a/c with 1-2k of HPS. Lots of energy just for cooling.

I use LEDs, and do enjoy them. I have 2X 135 watt panels, and 1X 90 watt panel, and a separate cab with 272 watts CFL. I have a total of 542 watts for flowering, and I get a little over 3oz per 135 watt LED, and about a 1/4 LB with my CFLs. So about 10oz every 8-9 weeks. I use the 90 watt LED for veg.

My setup (just for lights) cost me almost $1000.

Dont really care about the size of the buds as much of the weight i get out of the harvest. i just thought the bigger the buds the heavier the crop out. It doesnt have to be hps if there is something better or more energy efficient. what about MH? or other bulbs?? are there 1000w cfls???

 

[dopeyG]

hmm, i totally forgot about LED. ya i dont really care about the price of things so much as what its going to look like on my electricity bill. I'm worried i'll get red flagged or something for high usage or lots heat venting. thats my biggest worry. cash flow is not the problem at all.

 

[Gary Busey]

LEDs may be the way for you to go then.

I'd look at LEDs from Blackstar, or GLH. I use Blackstar, GLH are a little nicer, but cost 2Xs more. Isis and Pro Gro are also good. Stay away from HGL, the person behind that company is a scam artist. Google Cammie McKenzie and you will see what I am talking about.

And make sure you get panels with 3 watt diodes. 1 isn't really enough (most of the negative things you hear about LEDs, are because of 1 watt diodes) 2 watt are okay, but 3 is the way to go.

You will probably end up spending a little over 3k on lights, then all the other stuff that goes with it, you'll still need exhaust (though not as big as needed for HPS or MH), possibly a tent, I'd suggest hydro (just because I like hydro, it's easier for me, no used soil to get rid of, and you have total control of what's going on), soil is fine too though. It's all a personal preference when it comes to soil or hydro. I've done both, and will never go back to soil.

4X 500 watts (actual wattage is 304) Blackstar will cost you 2k, and can grow what you're looking to do. Providing you know what you're doing, and have a high yielding strain.

 

[dopeyG]

im not familiar with hydro altho i am looking to mess around a little bit with it.i think i will give it a go with LED's sound like a lot to get set up but hey, i think it will be worth it in the long run

 

[Gary Busey]

It will be an expensive adventure. I've tried most lighting options out there over the past almost 20 years, and so far, LED is my favorite, well, next to the sun. I do miss my outdoor growing.... Best light ever, and it's free.

Hydro is so simple. I made my own system, for quite cheap. All they are, are buckets with lids, net pots, aquarium air pump and air stones, air tubing and clay pellets and that's it. Cost me about $20 per bucket.

This is me from another site building my DWC buckets, (I have yet to start a journal here):

Will use a Dremel to cut the hols in the bucket lids for the net pots

Make sure to rinse the clay pellets really good. Rinse again and again until clear water is coming off of them, then rinse some more.

Veg cab

Make sure you have enough bubbles so the roots wont drown

 

[dopeyG]

i was also planning on just building something kinda similar, but i was going to use some rubbermaid tubs for my hydro system sounds like it might be better to do it i buckets tho. For some reason i cant see you pics but you seemed to explain it fairly ok. i love outdoor growing as well but i am looking for a constant supply. I have a house to pay for and don't want to have to rent out rooms and have roommates.