Cheap lighting
- Thread starter Daf700
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Cajun Grower
Active Member
fixin to ditch my cfls running a mini lotus 2 68watts and 8 42watts the equivalent to almost 2000 watts my plants do very well wth this but you'll get more yield out of a 150 r 250watt hps i hav abt $200 in cfls they wont put out the lumens a plant needs for its full potential unless u get the biggest ones u can find and it still wont compare to an hps system for the same price !
Cajun Grower
Active Member
just saying for the amount of bulbs and wiring to set my room up it would hav been a lot cheaper to go wth a 250 hps and get better results !
WattSaver
Well-Known Member
If there is a farm or ranch supply store in your area, go buy a brooders lamp. It looks just like the clamp aluminum shop lights, but they are a little larger and has a ceramic socket that is rated for a 250w heat lamp, I picked up 4 at the local CO-OP at $13 each. Then put an 85w or 105w in it. The 85 in the reflector will give you more light on the plant than 5 free hanging open 26w. And this is a lot safer set up. Here's a shot with a 105w installed used for supplemental lighting
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crazyhazey
Well-Known Member
not to mention hps puts off more usable light as well as UV spectrum, gotta work in your budget though and thats understandable. cfls are good for just 1 plant too, id just use em for veg cycle. if your short on dough, get a 150 since this is a small grow. if you do get more plants, you could just include it with the other lights or do a vert grow, thats always a better way to get more use out of your light when your dealing with multiple plants, better yet a vertical scrog if you could.
crazyhazey
Well-Known Member
honestly id get a t5 that emits UV rather than those reptile lights, they're made for how much heat, so its kind of a pain in the ass dealing with it. by the time you can afford all those aquarium bulbs youd probably spend enough to buy a 150w honestly, if you got the dough go for the hps.
Doesnt an hps bulb require a ballast and other equipment i was talking about a clamp light that is rated for 250 w and putting a 100w cfl in that i found them online for seven bucks and at like petco they are ten they have built in reflectors aswell,also i have alot more than 50 bucks but thats all i really have free to use on growing i suppose i could take a little more out to cover it cuz unless i get the clamp lights it looks like im going to have to part with some money what equipment would i need to have a hps system? I might go this grow shop that is close to me and see if the have any budget lighting systems the most i would pay is 100 for one other than that i would just do the cfl grow with the clamp light which are rated up to 250w just get two or three of those and put like 2 6400-6500k and one with more of a red spectrum just to have more spectrums so i dont have to buy one for flowering. I have some time to think and decide as my plant is outside at the moment (which i dont like)
crazyhazey
Well-Known Member
check out ebay, you could get all you need for an hps for under 100 bucks if you look hard. like i said earlier, those petco lights are mostly for heat, they will put off usable UV but not over a wide area, youd be spending more if you bought as much of those as a hps would put off, plus youll need multiple and itll produce entirely too much heat if you want to be able to put them close enough so not so many lumens are lost, id just say get a 150w for cheap online. grow shops will charge more for an hps, id go to an industrial lighting store. those CFLs should be fine for veg, if you want get a hortilux compact cfl its about 60 dollars in all, i believe they're about 120w, they put off good spectrum. if not, a few 42w cfls should do the job, y splitters would help to get more light to one area.
gassman126
Member
I am using blue and red L.E.D."s.they are kickin ass and I got em on E-Bay for right around $50.00.Here is a direct link to the company that sells them.http://www.thelashop.com/
I got the clamp lights and 2 42 watt cfls it looks real good! That is about 4000 lumens on one plant went to the local grow shop that is what they recommended.the two fixtures the two bulbs and a bag of new soil 40 bucks,cant beat that! I will take pics in the future and document its growth.thanks for all the help,and keep tokin,peace.
crazyhazey
Well-Known Member
sounds like you got a pretty good deal, hope the setups workin out pretty good have you tried training them yet?
KidneyStoner420
Well-Known Member
Hey bro, here's a great link with pics, prices, part #s, etc.
https://www.rollitup.org/cfl-fluorescent-lighting/233441-can-some-one-tell-me-how-hang-lights-2.html
https://www.rollitup.org/cfl-fluorescent-lighting/233441-can-some-one-tell-me-how-hang-lights-2.html
crazyhazey
Well-Known Member
training means altering the way they grow by tying them down, heres a few examples from a few of my grows. just pinch the stem lightly until the stem is flimsy and forgiving, then once you got em where you want em, tie them down with a twist tie(i use fishing line lol im just ghetto like that).
the main idea of it is to divide out energy evenly, whatever part of the plant is closest to its light source will get the most energy, so by doing this you keep them all level, scrog(screen of green) do this in a different way but its all for the same reason, equal division of energy.
