Best closet grow lights

ObiJwon

ObiJwon

Well-Known Member
I am going to start a small grow in my closet. My closet measures 28'' x 43''. I was hoping to be able to put six plants in there. My question is what light should I use? I am on a pretty tight budget for this grow. With that being said, I am curious as to what would be the best choice for lighting? I have talked to a few people and a couple have told me to go with large cfl's (200-250w @1-2 each veg and bud), or LED's (2). I wanted to go with HPS (400w), but I do not have a reliable ventilation option. Would the HPS create too much heat without proper ventilation? I am leaning towards CFL, but have not convinced myself 100% yet. Would love to hear all of your opinions. Please keep in mind that I am on a budget. I CAN NOT spend more than $200 on lights.

Happy Growing :leaf:
 
djlifeline

djlifeline

Well-Known Member
Sounds like a decent budget from where I'm sitting. I would say HPS just give out too much heat you will have it easier controlling heat from a CFL. This will still take a lol bit of trial and errror to get your temps where you want them : hope this helps
 
dank nug

dank nug

Active Member
so is it impossible to get good ventalation? if its not i would say get a couple "low" watt hps. i don't know how much bulbs are because i got mine less than legally but you can find pretty inexpensive ballast at 1000bulbs.com. 35$ for a 150w ballast isnt bad at all imo. just my .02
 
Coolvibes

Coolvibes

Well-Known Member
Notice the 350w extra CFL’s I whipped up, get this with a hot glue gun I stripped some wire then attached directly to the bulb (As I had no connecters). I found an old hanging basket metal frame and used this to attach the bulbs too. When I finished, checking each bulb as I went I wired them all together. Underneath the lamp I fixed a plug socket so I can run fans and other lights of it too. I used the bulb boxes and some hot glue to make cover then hot glued some foil over it and fixed it in place. It is now providing light for the underneath of the canopy and cost me not a penny to make 350w CFL FREE.
 
estesj

estesj

Well-Known Member
ObiJwon said:
I am going to start a small grow in my closet. My closet measures 28'' x 43''. I was hoping to be able to put six plants in there. My question is what light should I use? I am on a pretty tight budget for this grow. With that being said, I am curious as to what would be the best choice for lighting? I have talked to a few people and a couple have told me to go with large cfl's (200-250w @1-2 each veg and bud), or LED's (2). I wanted to go with HPS (400w), but I do not have a reliable ventilation option. Would the HPS create too much heat without proper ventilation? I am leaning towards CFL, but have not convinced myself 100% yet. Would love to hear all of your opinions. Please keep in mind that I am on a budget. I CAN NOT spend more than $200 on lights.

Happy Growing :leaf:
Click to expand...
I would at least go 400 watt metal halide hps combo which you can get for 200. But that wont do 6 plants very well. I would do 4 plants in 5 gallon pots and allow them to branch out more. Look up uncle bens topping technique to learn how to get 4 main colas. You really need to save up a little more and get an exhaust and then get a 600 watt hps. Cfl just suck to me. They dont produce tight buds unless you got a shit load of them. Good luck!
 
ObiJwon

ObiJwon

Well-Known Member
I would love to use a HPS. I believe the best quality of bud would come from a HPS, but I dont have a good ventilation opportunity. I am on the bottom floor of an apt complex. Dont know if the heat would be too bad or not with a small HPS (250-400w). My apt stays around 72-80 year round, so I dont know how hot it would get in that little closet.
 
ObiJwon

ObiJwon

Well-Known Member
estesj said:
I would at least go 400 watt metal halide hps combo which you can get for 200. But that wont do 6 plants very well. I would do 4 plants in 5 gallon pots and allow them to branch out more. Look up uncle bens topping technique to learn how to get 4 main colas. You really need to save up a little more and get an exhaust and then get a 600 watt hps. Cfl just suck to me. They dont produce tight buds unless you got a shit load of them. Good luck!
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I will check out the topping technique. Thanks for that one. You think 5 gallon pots in a small closet? I was thinking more like 3. Why 5 gallon?
 
C

cougdude67

Active Member
Make sure you spend enough money on ventilation. I have a 400w HPS system for six plants and my condo will start to stank about three weeks into flowering. My roommates give me a pretty hard time even though I have a homemade carbon filter in place. My output is just fine with ten inch pots. Good Luck!
 
Coolvibes

Coolvibes

Well-Known Member
ObiJwon said:
I would love to use a HPS. I believe the best quality of bud would come from a HPS, but I dont have a good ventilation opportunity. I am on the bottom floor of an apt complex. Dont know if the heat would be too bad or not with a small HPS (250-400w). My apt stays around 72-80 year round, so I dont know how hot it would get in that little closet.
Click to expand...
As long as the light frequencies are right EG 2700k (BUD) the watts translates to lumens EG 60w 540 lumens the 2700K is the light needed for bud the more lumens the better for the bud now they can be CFL or High power sodium they both produce light in the 2700k range the watts is proportional to lumens so 10x100w CFL produces the same lumens in the same frequency as 1x1000w High power sodium except the sodium’s produce more heat which keeps most grow rooms stable 72 76f but I do think you have it wrong about tight buds maybe some other factor other than source of light and quality. i use both CFL, High power Sodiums, And metal halide for veg the cfls can be placed lower down to help bud growth under the canopy
 
jondamon

jondamon

Well-Known Member
if you want a closed environment with a good growing mh/hps lamp then you have to ventilate some how. i have a closet grow and have had to ventilate as an 7x8x3 feet closet with 600w hps made my temps exceed 34C 93F now with venting a stable 28C 82F

VENTILATION IS KEY TO A CLOSED GROW!!!!!!!!!!
 
ObiJwon

ObiJwon

Well-Known Member
Coolvibes said:
As long as the light frequencies are right EG 2700k (BUD) the watts translates to lumens EG 60w 540 lumens the 2700K is the light needed for bud the more lumens the better for the bud now they can be CFL or High power sodium they both produce light in the 2700k range the watts is proportional to lumens so 10x100w CFL produces the same lumens in the same frequency as 1x1000w High power sodium except the sodium’s produce more heat which keeps most grow rooms stable 72 76f but I do think you have it wrong about tight buds maybe some other factor other than source of light and quality. i use both CFL, High power Sodiums, And metal halide for veg the cfls can be placed lower down to help bud growth under the canopy
Click to expand...
So then, in your opinion, you think that it would be fine to bud with the CFL's? What about the veg stage? I know the spectrum range will need to be around 6500k. As far as the tight bud comment.. it was just what I have heard from others. They have all pretty much agreed that the buds when using CFL's are a little more leggy and less dense to the touch. I dont know from experience yet. Can you clarify? I know CFL's are the cheaper way to go. Have you had any experience with LED's?
 
Coolvibes

Coolvibes

Well-Known Member
82f is not stable decreases resin slows things down check the forum for pop concen 72 - 78 f 78 being the most
 
Coolvibes

Coolvibes

Well-Known Member
ObiJwon said:
So then, in your opinion, you think that it would be fine to bud with the CFL's? What about the veg stage? I know the spectrum range will need to be around 6500k. As far as the tight bud comment.. it was just what I have heard from others. They have all pretty much agreed that the buds when using CFL's are a little more leggy and less dense to the touch. I dont know from experience yet. Can you clarify? I know CFL's are the cheaper way to go. Have you had any experience with LED's?
Click to expand...
It’s a great thing technology lucky for me I am a technology freak and when I get my head round some subject that interest me well I can’t stop researching it. 6500k is the light needed to veg http://www.eartheasy.com/shop/lighting_cfl.html S.A.D is a disorder due to lack of sunlight they never use to make 6500k as 5000k was enough but they have pushed it up to 6500k as they say it helps people with S.A.D’s. so answer is as long as you have 1000 watts in both ranges your 8-10 plants will be fine 24/0 for 4 weeks 18/6 for 2 8-9 weeks bud no reason why your crop should not be bad boy and as for LED

Long-lasting - LED bulbs last up to 10 times as long as compact fluorescents, and far longer than typical incandescents.
Durable- since LEDs do not have a filament, they are not damaged under circumstances when a regular incandescent bulb would be broken. Because they are solid, LED bulbs hold up well to jarring and bumping.
Cool- these bulbs do not cause heat build-up; LEDs produce 3.4 btu's/hour, compared to 85 for incandescent bulbs. This also cuts down on air conditioning costs in the home.
Mercury-free- no mercury is used in the manufacturing of LEDs.
More efficient- LED light bulbs use only 2-10 watts of electricity (1/3rd to 1/30th of Incandescent or CFL) Small LED flashlight bulbs will extend battery life 10 to 15 times longer than with incandescent bulbs. Also, because these bulbs last for years, energy is saved in maintenance and replacement costs. For example, many cities in the US are replacing their incandescent traffic lights with LED arrays because the electricity costs can be reduced by 80% or more.
Cost-effective- although LEDs are expensive, the cost is recouped over time and in battery savings. For the AC bulbs and large cluster arrays, the best value comes from commercial use where maintenance and replacement costs are expensive.
Light for remote areas- because of the low power requirement for LEDs, using solar panels becomes more practical and less expensive than running an electric line or using a generator for lighting. All in All like CFL’s they will become the standard one day hope this helps.
 
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