Leaning plants??

^^^ Does anyone have any suggestions whether i HSould add some more flo tubes??? If not I would like to go and get the right kind of lighting for my plants but I really don't know where to go or what to buy. I did do a search online and found that there is a hydroponics store like 30-45 minutes away from me, do you think that they would have what I"m looking for?

Fluoros are the cause of your plants' stretchiness that you mentioned in your first post. Adding more flos won't help much.

Go shopping at the local great frigging big hardware store. They'll have HPS security lighting. Check for a 150-250W unit. You're looking for around 50 watts of HPS light per sq ft. 150W will do 3-4 sq ft, 250 of course will do about 5-6 sq ft, both about closet sized.

Security lights are built into weather proof housings- which you don't really need in a grow room. You can take the glass out of the weatherproof enclosure for better cooling and hang them up in your grow room just as you buy them off the shelf.

However, if you're handy with electrical wiring, you can disassemble a security light, remotely mount the ballast transformer and make up a high efficiency reflector for the HPS tube to get more light on your plants. The ballast transformer gets warm to fairly hot- if you are having trouble keeping your room cool, you can remotely mount the ballast outside the room.

^^^ Thanks but that is definitely way too much for me and I'm not trying to create a fire hazard, I'm only working otu of my bedroom afterall.

its worth it to get the hps, even if its a security light.

t1m_mcgrath said:

^^^ Thanks but that is definitely way too much for me and I'm not trying to create a fire hazard, I'm only working otu of my bedroom afterall.

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OK, then buy a small electric heater with a thermostat built in. Cheap heaters' thermostats are not the most accurate things in the world, but hopefully you can use one to keep your temps, at very worst, above 16C/60F.

Al B. Fuct said:

OK, then buy a small electric heater with a thermostat built in. Cheap heaters' thermostats are not the most accurate things in the world, but hopefully you can use one to keep your temps, at very worst, above 16C/60F.

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I'm talking about as far as light is concerned I don't think that the temperature of my room is as much of a problem as the lack of sufficient lighting is...

Yep, agreed that not enough light is a bigger problem than low temps (to some degree...).

Get on to finding a suitable 150-250W HPS security light. We'll help you modify it to suit your grow.

While you're on here, browse through the FAQs for detailed information about what environmental conditions you must create in your grow op.

What?! I leave for a little bit and people start saying that more lumens doesnt mean more light intensity? Maybe someone should check out a little thing called LED (Light Emitting Diode) there are a few posts about them and some nice grow sites.

HPS will be a dinosaur soon.

Godkas, at this moment, there's no LEDs made that put out enough light in a plant-useful spectrum to grow even as well as CFs.

I agree that LED technology is coming along- and eventually may be useful for growing- but it's nowhere near useful yet.

In another life, I'm an electronics engineer. The technical end of it is that LEDs at present have some inherent limitations on efficiency, heat dissipation into the silicon substrate and temperature tolerance of the semiconductor doping agents used to make them that must be overcome before they are practical for lighting plants.

Yes- I've seen little experimental grows done with really expensive high-output LEDs, but not one can compete with the efficiency of fluoros & HID lighting.

On watts-per-lumen comparison as well as on light intensity, HPS still beats the crap out of fluoros. I've seen some nice vegging work done with CFs, but even CFs simply will not make the bud density you get from HID lighting.

We're going to be using HPS lighting for many years to come- and you can take that to the bank!

So does this mean that my plants are hopeless?

No, not hopeless, but you need to get your temps in order and get some decent light on them if you're expecting anything worth smoking.

Not to be disrespectful but watts per lumen LEDs are pushing 150lm per watt in the newer technologies that are already available on the market. Within a year these prices will drop opening the market to wide scale use. They also fit the PAR spectrum to near perfection.

Get on to finding an HPS light for them and prepare to prune back some of the stretchy growth once it is in place. The new material grown under proper lighting will be much more dense.

Godkas said:

Not to be disrespectful but watts per lumen LEDs are pushing 150lm per watt in the newer technologies that are already available on the market. Within a year these prices will drop opening the market to wide scale use. They also fit the PAR spectrum to near perfection.

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Hey, don't get me wrong, when the output/consumption/reliability numbers- and cost- figs for LEDs come into line, I'll be first in line to buy some!

However, even if only for now- HPS remains the best bang for the buck.

It's not a stagnant or 'dinosaur' technology by any stretch of the imagination. New 'digital' ballasts improve the efficiency of HPS and cut startup power consumption significantly. New multi-element horticultural HPS tubes promise even more closely plant-specific spectral output (at a cost!).

There's a lot of life left in HPS yet. I have great hopes for LEDs, just as you do- but they are not quite there just yet.

^^^ Def speaking another language but I really honestly appreciate everyone's help.

I just wanted to know if there's something that I can basically just go buy that will just plug into the wall and I don't have to rig it or worry about it being a fire hazard in my bedroom.

Al B. Fuct said:

MB, fluorescents, compact or not, and no matter how many you have, simply won't produce the same density and weight as HID lighting. You could have 500W worth of flo's and they won't make the quality of a much smaller HPS.

Once more- fluorecents produce low intensity light with poor foliar penetration. Adding more won't increase their light intensity.

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Al, what about side lighting? I've seen many pics of grow rooms and I agree with you that HPS or MH lighting is best, but I'm kind of like t1m here. Limited budget, small growspace. What if one were to set up cfls above the plant and then cfls on the sides of the plant to help light penetration from all sides?

side lighting is a must or at least a good idea. Especially with the low light penetration of CFL side lighting will yield more bud better.

Can I Just buy screw in CFLs and put em all over the place?? If so how strong should they be??

Oh lordy....I just killed one of my plants... Trying to prop it up and accidentally damaged the stalk, it's now laying on the ground. Damn.