quick question

quick question: i started growing without planning ahead. i'm using four 26w cfl's on 5 plants. i need to upgrade my lighting soon. i'm confined by space and money. what's a cheap small lighting set up i can incorporate?

a 150w hps

i'd say i can scrape together about $150, tops.

you can get some single tube T5's for about $35 each.

patch0i said:

i'd say i can scrape together about $150, tops.

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If you have $150, from what most people say on here, I would go with the 400 watt HPS setup ($119) from eBay or other places.

The HPS combined with the CFLs should be some good light.

Check out lights at High Tech Garden Supply
you can find a brand new 400 watt hps system for $119. Also, if you can't use an HID light you can get really cheap T5 fixture with T5 bulbs included. They are actually more efficient than cfls. I got a 2' 8 bulb T5 fixture with bulbs included for $185!

what kinda light, exactly, is a t5? is it a fluorescent? i'm guessing it is. and if so, isn't that insufficient light? this whole lighting thing is a mystery to me.

I agree with splifman. Go for the hps.
The T-5's will work too.
Peace

check your local hardware store,look for dual t8 fixtures,48"/36"/24",all vary in price starting about $20 each , then check your local lighting warehouse for 5000k-6500k for veg. lighting....found that home depot/lowes did not carry those t8 bulbs in this light spectrum...i have 3 fixtures,6 bulbs on 32 plants,2 week of veg,can not complain...all for under $75 DOLLARS.good luck,still HPS for flowering....have yet to see any better.

Heres the best light for the least money.
High Tech Garden Supply
If you want to buy some options this is the light I use,
It is a little more money though.
High Tech Garden Supply

patch0i said:

what kinda light, exactly, is a t5? is it a fluorescent? i'm guessing it is. and if so, isn't that insufficient light? this whole lighting thing is a mystery to me.

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a T5 is a fluorescent tube. They come in 2 and 4 foot length. They put out between 82 and 92 lumens per watt. That is more than a cfl. They thinner tubes than your typical T8 tubes. They are also much much much more efficient than T8's.
I use 8 2 foot T5 tubes for a 2.5x2.5 grow area.

Whatever lights you use, make sure to pay attention to the amount of lumens your light(s) provides per square foot of grow area.

For veg state you want 2000 lumens/sqft
for flowering try to get as much as 10,000 lumens/sqft.

still HPS for flowering....have yet to see any better

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i'm not necessarily asking what would be the best, but more along the lines of what would be cheap sufficient lights to flower under.

i checked out High Tech Garden Supply, but the plugs for the T5 lights seem foreign. do they sell the plugs for the sockets in america?

also, is 3000k lights okay? for 4 two-feet ones?

would these: High Tech Garden Supply
be okay to veg 5 plants?

just a quick question went to plants and the bud and sum of the leaves have turned a ready purple colour?????? leaves are yellowing too not gud plz help

patch0i said:

would these: High Tech Garden Supply
be okay to veg 5 plants?

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First off, the plugs will be fine if you live in the US. The plugs that you are refering to are what the bulbs go into.
If you have the space I would go with the 4 foot bulbs. They are more efficient. They put out 5000 lumens each. The two foot bulbs put out 2000 lumens each. If you want to veg with them you need to get the 6400K, NOT the 3000K. The 3000K are what you want for flowering.
If you want to flower with T5's you need a lot of them. Remember for flowering you want as much as 10,000 lumens per square foot of grow area.
For five plants, assuming they take up about 1 square foot each, 2 4' T5's would do the trick. Or 4 - 6 2' T5's.
for flowering I would strongly recoment buying some sort of HPS. If not, you are gonna have to buy so many T5's.
If you did choose to go with the T5's for veg, you could suppliment your lighting during the flowering period, by going to Walmart and buying a few 42 W cfl's for about $8 a piece. Using the cfls with the T5's would be much better.