fluorescent lighting?

How well does t5 lighting and other tube fluoros work?

I don't know much about them but what would an optimal amount be to flower roughly 4 plants?

Gonna be building a new grow cabinet soon and fluoros would be a lot easier to work with (would still have cfl lighting around the sides of the plants).

Any input would be appreciated.

t5s are getting great reviews from growers using the correctly. Mine are on order. Hard to say how much you need, depends more on sq ft of grow area than number of plants. And more in flower than in veg. I'm putting 200w of t5 overhead and another 250w of cfls on the side in flower.

im doing the same thing smile im taking down my 430w dual ballast and selling it with 8 bulbs i need to save electric .11 per kwh here

From my understanding T5's are good but dont hold me to that as I am a YoungJedi learning the ways of the force. I would say more info would be necessary as far as the grow space is concerned. A Master Jedi told me that I need to stay within the 40 to 60W of light per Foot of space in the grow area. so multiply the L by the W and then you will arrive at the point of how strong your lights need to be. I hope this helps but if not my bad B... Much Respect

use cfl's myself, but been scoping a few of the t5 experiences - things seem mighty expensive by cfl standards

I have been using t12 so far, they have been great for sprouting the seeds, but from what i have been hearing t12 is no good for veg and flowering. So i think i will try to switch to t5 or if i cant , at least go down to t8. Be sure to check the specifications of you're ballast in regards to you're fluorescent tube

growone said:

use cfl's myself, but been scoping a few of the t5 experiences - things seem mighty expensive by cfl standards

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I don't know. I just bought two fixtures with 4 24 inch bulbs each for $242 shipped. Yes, I could get 200w of cfls in reflectors for much less, but this gives me more vertical space and the t5s produce about 85 lumens per watt while the cfls are 65 per watt. So they gradually save on electricity too.

just a thought, why not put your t5 lighting on the sides, on the walls and just adjust the CFLS on top? i guess it would depend on how big yoour room is gonig to be. but if its only for a couple plants why not?