lighting costs question

yes a sativa tree would be nicer im sure, but with limited lighting and/or room the lowryder hybrids make an easy and effective option..

morp said:

yes a sativa tree would be nicer im sure, but with limited lighting and/or room the lowryder hybrids make an easy and effective option..

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The thing that would bug me with lowrider, if I am growing my own and i went to someones for a smoke, and they were all toking up widow or some other weed, I would be jealous and I would probably end up buying some, I like my weed to knock me on my ass and taste gorgeous

Rafiky77 said:

sooooooo *dragging thread back on topic*

basically what your saying is there is no real point going CFL ? the yield will be alot smaller take longer and not worth it, although i have seen threads from lots of people using CFL's

any other viable options to keep the electricity bill down? or do i just have to make breakfast in bed for the missus for the next few weeks ?

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I'm talking about low powered cfls,

The higher rated ones would be fine to flower with and you would get decent results with a fair yield that you would be happy with.

Flowering with 30 watt cfls isnt going to cut the mustard though,

I veg my plants with a 250w cfl,

As you can see by the pictures, there is quite a difference

haha... its a baby and its mama....

lumberjack_ian said:

haha... its a baby and its mama....

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that big one there outputs 19,000lumens

Calculating power usage costs isn't guesswork- it's just a little bit of math.

Power is sold by the kilowatt-hour (kWh). A 1000 watt load running for one hour is 1kWh. A 2000 watt load running for 30 minutes is also 1kWh.

Look on your power bill for your per kWh price. It's probably somewhere between 8-12 cents per kWh.

If you run a 1000 watt light for 12 hours, it has used 12kWh. If your power cost is 10 cents per kWh, those 12 hours have cost you (10cents x 12 =) $1.20.

If you run a 400 watt (0.4kW) light for 12 hours, it has used (12 x 0.4 =) 4.8 kWh. If your power cost is 10 cents per kWh, those 12 hours have cost you (10cents x 4.8 =) 48 cents.


ngt is right; small CFLs as you find for replacing household incandescents will definitely grow plants- in fact they're quite nice for seedlings, clones and for slowly vegging mother plants. They'll flower too, better than any other fluoros, but they just don't quite make the density as does HID lighting. It's not only the number of lumens (apparent brightness measure) but level of light discharge intensity which make fat, dense buds.

There's some really big new CFLs out there, up to 300W (replaces a 1500w incandescent in brightness), but CFL is still a low-intensity light source. Even a 300W CFL (or a ton of little CFLs) will not make the bud size and density of a similar power HPS due to the much higher light intensity discharge from HPS lighting. The big new CFLs are much better than any previous fluorescent for flowering, though!

If you're going to pay for the kilowatts one way or the other, you may as well use the light that produces the best quality buds. The best tool for the job for flowering cannabis remains HPS, though you can expect some interesting new developments in high-efficiency, high-output lighting in coming years.

I run hps all the way for flowering and wouldnt go any other way, another fellow brit on here bigbud asked me about lights a while ago, he went on my suggestion and has been very happy with the results he has had for a personal grow.

I recommended to him a 400w sylvania grolux enhanced spectrum bulb, he veg's with this and flowers with it too.

I dont know what kind of space your looking to grow in, that should be the deciding factor on which light you go for

amen nongreenthumb

basically what your saying is there is no real point going CFL ? the yield will be alot smaller take longer and not worth it, although i have seen threads from lots of people using CFL's

any other viable options to keep the electricity bill down? or do i just have to make breakfast in bed for the missus for the next few weeks ?

Click to expand...

There are great reasons to use fluoros, they *can* get the job done and provide a decent yield. HPS however provides an amazing yield, because it's sole purpose is to provide the type of light useful to a plant in flower. I use fluoros to flower because unfortunately I have to grow my plants in stealth and don't have the room and ability to ventilate a 400W HPS system (although in a couple of months I'll be able to change all of this).

And HPS will still keep your electric bill low. You'll notice only a slight increase compared to what you normally pay. It's only people who have huge grow rooms and use 5-10 HPS lights that see enormous electric bills. So if you can, I'd get an HPS.

As long as you never do anything to make a copper arrive on your doorstep your grow will be safe. I'm not talking about electric bills or anything like that, im talking about having a good front for the place you grow

1000w hps is the best money can buy for flower but Ive used a 400w hps also the potency was still great just smaller yeilds

A 400 HPS makes some damn respectable buds, like stickyhits said. Great small grow workhorse light. If your power costs 10 cents per kWh, a 400 used for flowering (12/12) will raise your electric bill by $14.40 per month.

Cheap entertainment.