proper lights for flowering??

hiki0921

Active Member
Hey everyone, what are the proper lighting to use for flowering? soft white? outdoor? I am talking about CFL's of course...THX alot
 

muyoso

Well-Known Member
To flower properly, you need to reach over 5000 lumens a square foot, closer to 10,000 a square foot is better. Say your grow space is tiny, 2x2. You need 20,000 lumens minimum to flower a good yield. A 42 watt CFL gives off 27oo lumens. You would need 7-8 of them to reach the desired lumens/sq ft ratio. 7x42 = 294 watts. And you would have spent around 8 dollars a piece for those bulbs. All of that said, a 250 watt HPS would both save you money in energy, be VERY close to the cost of the CFLs, and give you nearly 50% more light, while using 50 less watts. And it would undoubtedly run cooler than 7 42w CFL's. Just saying, I used to be a CFL guy too, but just recently made the switch, and DAMN.
 

hiki0921

Active Member
hmm, i am sorta thinking about getting a 250 watt hps. Im assuming it would be fine, but would it be okay to switch the lighting halfway through flowering? A 250 watt hps would be okay for 5 plants? Would I drastically improve the yield? Will the 250 watt hps end up costing a lot more monthly on electric when compared to say 8 42 watt cfl's? I found one on ebay for like $100, should I steer clear from these cheaper models on ebay?
 
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