Refridgerator grow box

Hello everybody. I'm starting a grow box in an old fridge I have in my garage. I have only been able to find the right lighting requirements for square feet. I read you need a minimum of 20-30 watts per square foot for veg. stage and 30-40 watts per square foot for flowering. Assuming that is right, how do you figure out watts per cubic feet? My fridge is 14 cubic feet and to start out I am planning on using cfl lighting. So far I have 3 60 watt/6500 lumen daylight bulbs. I'm only planning on having a few plants. Any ideas? Thanks.

This thread should be helpful and very inspirational.
https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/131013-master-kush-scrog-150w-hps.html

strangerdude562 said:

This thread should be helpful and very inspirational.
https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/131013-master-kush-scrog-150w-hps.html

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Thanks, appreciate any help I can get !!!

half baked said:

Hello everybody. I'm starting a grow box in an old fridge I have in my garage. I have only been able to find the right lighting requirements for square feet. I read you need a minimum of 20-30 watts per square foot for veg. stage and 30-40 watts per square foot for flowering. Assuming that is right, how do you figure out watts per cubic feet? My fridge is 14 cubic feet and to start out I am planning on using cfl lighting. So far I have 3 60 watt/6500 lumen daylight bulbs. I'm only planning on having a few plants. Any ideas? Thanks.

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You actually want to use lumens for your measurement. Different types of bulbs with same wattage can have different levels of lumens.

From what I've read, 3,000 lumens per sq ft is ideal while a minimum 5,000 lumens per sq ft is optimal. there are many different opinions on this, but to give you an idea... the sun supposedly puts out 10,000 lumens per sq ft at the equator. If you have less than 3,000 lumens, it will just result in a less "full" plant and smaller buds.

I'm going through my first grow right now, using a 250W HID bulb (20,000 lumens) and 4 CFLS bulbs (3,000 lumens each). My grow space is 3.5' x 2', so right now, I have just under 4,000 lumens per sq ft and my plants are doing really well.

Thanks for the info. I have 3 bulbs, 6500 lumens each = 19500 lumens. Divided by 4.6 square feet for the fridge and that is 4239 lumens per sq ft. One more bulb would give me 5652 lumens per sq ft. We will see how it goes. Thanks.

I was just reading more on the bulbs I got. They are 60 watt, 6500k (color temp) not lumen. They are 900 lumens each. Back to the drawing board. If going by an optimal 5000 lumens per sq ft, I would need 26 of those bulbs for my 4.6 sq ft. That doesn't seem right.

half baked said:

I was just reading more on the bulbs I got. They are 60 watt, 6500k (color temp) not lumen. They are 900 lumens each. Back to the drawing board. If going by an optimal 5000 lumens per sq ft, I would need 26 of those bulbs for my 4.6 sq ft. That doesn't seem right.

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No need to scrap the whole plan. Just try to maximize the amount of lumens that your budget and your set-up will allow. Those are just ideal numbers, you can always grow with less. Take a look at those people growing successfully with a total of 4 CFL's. Just doesn't yield as much bud as set-ups with better lighting, that's all.

Didn't mean to deter you, your plans were good... unless you're trying to do some serious growing, then go out and get an HID bulb. But that means spending a lot of money.