How many cfl's to grow 6 plants?

My grow box is about 24 inches long, 18 inches deep and 36 inches high.It has mylar covering the entire inside.All I need to do now is save enough money for the clf's and fans.I'm hoping to have a decent grow box up and running by the end of January.

Also Does anyone have any recommendations for some light fixtures?
 

cjishigh

Well-Known Member
My grow box is about 24 inches long, 18 inches deep and 36 inches high.It has mylar covering the entire inside.All I need to do now is save enough money for the clf's and fans.I'm hoping to have a decent grow box up and running by the end of January.

Also Does anyone have any recommendations for some light fixtures?
you should get 2 46 watt cfls for each plant. It wont be max potential but there will be bud.
 

jordisgarden

Well-Known Member
you will need a shit ton of cfls for 6 plants if you wanna get anything from em in the end. seriously invest in a 400 watt hps they are only 150.00
 
jordisgarden can you recommend a good $150.00 hps?I was kinda worried a bought heat in a grow box but if a hps can safley go inside my grow box I have no problem dropping $150.00.I want my plants to have the best chance at growing as fast and as much bud as possible.I have a lot of anxiety problems and weed seems to be the only thing that's worked as of yet(tried a bunch of antidepressants ,none worked).But the amount of weed I need is starting to get to expensive to buy ,plus I have a shitty dealer trying to charge $10 a gram and he's unreliable,so growing my own seems to be the only solution.
 

chronichaze

Well-Known Member
That grow box size will not hold a 400hps. With 36 inches you will only have about a foot of grow space. More like a 150 or 250 HPS tops I think. Or you could just get a bigger box and put a 400 in it
 
How big of a space does a 400 watt hps need for its heat not to be a problem?Cause a 250 hps might be better since I do need this to be a stealthy growbox
 

nikk

Active Member
How many cfl's for 6 plants....hmmmmm...about 623...cfl's...not watts

just playing

but seriously for the price of loading up on cfl's you could really just get a 600watt hps ,growing medium and nutes for the money you would wind up spending on all those bulbs
 

straw

Well-Known Member
i have your same measurements and i have 8 2700k and 4 6500k and doing fine. i switched to 12/12 7 days ago and i can see white hairs. it's all in how you place your lights arround your plants. by the way i sarted with six plants also now down to five
 

MrBlanco

Active Member
WalMart also has $.92 lights and Lowes (mine at least) has a sale on four packs of 2700k bulbs for under $1.

I'm going with 78w (3x26w) per square foot right now with my cfl grow. When I'm not killing them with stupid newbie mistakes, the plants grow well.
 

skervy

Active Member
thats damn near the same size as my setup but yours is 7 inches shorter width and 2 inches more depth. im using 312w of cfls with 12 plants planning to cut atleast in half from males so around 6 plants or less flowering all the way. no way your squeezin a 400hps in there unless you have some badass expensive cooling setup then maybe lol. you can light up that area nice for about 50$ of 26w bulbs at wally world unless you can get 42w bulbs cheap. price wise i found the 26w to be the best route
 
So would I be better off getting one 250hps light or a bunch of cfl's?Would a 250hps be to hot for that amount of space?I want the best crop I can get and am a little torn between cfl and a hps now.I plan on spending about $400-500 to build a hopefully ok setup and I want to get the most out of my money.So what should I do?
 

bigbudmike

Active Member
So would I be better off getting one 250hps light or a bunch of cfl's?Would a 250hps be to hot for that amount of space?I want the best crop I can get and am a little torn between cfl and a hps now.I plan on spending about $400-500 to build a hopefully ok setup and I want to get the most out of my money.So what should I do?
I love using cfls they are easy to manipulate around the plants and dont require being a rigging expert to hang them. I get a $1 6foot extension cord, 2 Water proof sockets $2.50ea, 2 y socket splitters $2.50ea, and a pack of 2700k 23w cfls for about $8. Grand total $19 for 92w of cfl (400w equiv.). if you have an extra $20 one week you could simply add more if unhappy. Works great for me. :mrgreen:
 

daleh717

Well-Known Member
i have a 250 watt mh/hps conversion light,in a 2ftx3x5 grow space plants ,i started out with cfls ,found out how much of a pain in the ass cfls are very quickly .you have to keep moving lights to keep them close to the plant.also you can run a 250 watt cheaper than running the shit load of cfls needed for flowering.my plants freakin exploded with growth after putting the 250 mh bulb on them,so much nicer just raising one light than screwing around with those cfls.also your going to need more space if you use a good light trust me.
 
How much space would I need to use a 250hps without heat becoming a issue?It does need to be stealthy grow box,so keep that in mind.I have access to lots of free plywood so building a new box isn't to much of a problem.
 

skervy

Active Member
if you runa hps your gonna need extra cooling no ifs ands or buts which means more money more noise more heat more cooling
 

daleh717

Well-Known Member
with my 250 watt set up all i need to run for cooling is a small circulation fan,you dont need an expensive inline fan .what are your ambient room temps,this is a big factor in determining how warm your light will make your grow space.my temps run from 65 at night with light off to 80-85 deg.with light on and circulation fan on.my grow space is 2ftx3x5ft high ,i built a divider in a closet to make it 3 feet wide.i would suggest no smaller than this for a 250 watt without an inline fan.cfls do put off heat ,sure not much with only a few but run a bunch of them and they will heat up a small grow space as well ,ive been there done that.
 

daleh717

Well-Known Member
i got my mh hps grow light on ebay new for $198.00 from htg supply, shipping included ,theres some great deals on lights there .my main point is if the money isnt a problem than go with a good light .the better the light the better the yield,sure you can grow bud with cfls,but they wont be as big or heavy as those with a good light.also i have four plants in this area and there turning into monsters,plants need room my fellow toker,bigger is better.i may have to make my space bigger for my next grow.goodluck
 

skervy

Active Member
My grow box is about 24 inches long, 18 inches deep and 36 inches high.It has mylar covering the entire inside.All I need to do now is save enough money for the clf's and fans.I'm hoping to have a decent grow box up and running by the end of January.

Also Does anyone have any recommendations for some light fixtures?

i dont see 1 mention of a hps in his original post lol. he started asking about them after someone else said he should get one
 
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