T8 grow harvests??

D

Donandonitis

Member
I might be the only other person on the earth that is currently using a 15w t8 and unless you are just messing around with worthless solo cup experiments. You wont be impressed.
 
SwankyDank

SwankyDank

Well-Known Member
Lee710 said:
So I'm doing a t8 grow rn and I'm just curious on what some of your guyses t8 harvests look like
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I use modified T8 with cheap LED side-lighting. There are 8 bulbs in 2x4 grow tents for a little over 400W. Current average is 1 to 1.5 per plant with 4 plants in the tent.

I've got four plants on the current grow that vegged longer and they look to push the upper limits of 1.5oz per. It seems like there is still room on the top end to work towards 2oz+ per plant.

If you want to check it out, I have quite a few journals showing seed to harvest with T8.
 
L

Lee710

Member
Where are these journals I am very interested I'm scared my plant isnt gonna have a smell already have lots of hairs but no smell
 
SwankyDank

SwankyDank

Well-Known Member
Lee710 said:
Where are these journals I am very interested I'm scared my plant isnt gonna have a smell already have lots of hairs but no smell
Click to expand...
If you go to my profile page you can see all of my messages, the ones with plant names are the grow journals.

If you are using a comouter, you can follow the links at the bottom of this message to see two current grows.
 
vostok

vostok

Well-Known Member
Lee710 said:
So I'm doing a t8 grow rn and I'm just curious on what some of your guyses t8 harvests look like
Click to expand...
I have a lot of experience of growing to full term weed, this is how we did it back in the 70's

the best is 4 foot shop lights(2 flouro tubes to a unit) strap 3 -4 shop lights together so you have 6-8 tubes hanging from chains in your closet, adjust daily

the deal is to get the tubes very close, to within 1-2 inches, as the tubes burn cold you can do this, but the light does not penetrate at all, any further than 6-8 inches

which means as you come to flower, its worth your while removing all the lower growth, the light don't get there, if it does its too weak, to bring any buds in to maturity

vital is to have 50/50 cool, and warm white tubes, once in flower go 100% warm white tubes, it may take a little longer than guys with grunty lights, but you save heaps in venting and running costs,

I still use my T8s for germing and vegging early starts , always best to have a small fan in there, just to keep the air moving, with such cool temps you can get mold in strange places ..lol

safety: check to ensure you ain't using those old black tar wrapped ballasts, they leak PCP's ...death to you and those around you, keep water below the waist and power above

I got my T8 rack of 6 (digital led tubes) on a counter weight, that slides up and down with ease, itsd why I still use the T8...lol

CFL's have replaced T8's as the cheapest grow lights, 3 cfls to one plant is good

to my blog on members cfl arrays: https://www.rollitup.org/Journal/Entry/a-collection-of-diy-ghetto-blasters.30154/


good luck

ps don't fuck around with any thing smaller than a 4 foot shop light they just don't have the lumens to get weed to harvest
 
silverserf

silverserf

Well-Known Member
vostok said:
Man thats great..are those tubes the new LED type, like I just installed in my rack..?

I see your chain but its not on a counterweight,

I have looked into hanging the lights from a metal shelf unit like yours, but too narrow /imo

cheers
Click to expand...
It is a little narrow, fits 4 shop lights. They are not the led kind just standard T8 with a black plastic ballast. I have one the I wired up with a 4 light ballast to make it brighter it worked but I've never really put it into production. I was worried about heat and fire.

The chain is just hanging on a hook. Basically just put nails thru the top shelf then bent them into hooks. There were perfect little slots in the lights to hook the other end on. Careful with the metal chain fishing inside the light though...got a little zapped one time.

I would say that T8's are fine for small grows, i've kept myself smoking for years with them. The gram per watt is pretty crappy but the overall cost to start and run them is very low.
I am however ditching them right after this grow. pretty sure I can do double if not quadruple the gram/watt with my new HPS.

I'll take a few pic for posterity, I used to have a bunch of pics uploaded but after several years they have disappeared.

Cheers,
SilverSerf
 
RM3

RM3

Well-Known Member
vostok said:
I have a lot of experience of growing to full term weed, this is how we did it back in the 70's

the best is 4 foot shop lights(2 flouro tubes to a unit) strap 3 -4 shop lights together so you have 6-8 tubes hanging from chains in your closet, adjust daily

the deal is to get the tubes very close, to within 1-2 inches, as the tubes burn cold you can do this, but the light does not penetrate at all, any further than 6-8 inches

which means as you come to flower, its worth your while removing all the lower growth, the light don't get there, if it does its too weak, to bring any buds in to maturity

vital is to have 50/50 cool, and warm white tubes, once in flower go 100% warm white tubes, it may take a little longer than guys with grunty lights, but you save heaps in venting and running costs,

I still use my T8s for germing and vegging early starts , always best to have a small fan in there, just to keep the air moving, with such cool temps you can get mold in strange places ..lol

safety: check to ensure you ain't using those old black tar wrapped ballasts, they leak PCP's ...death to you and those around you, keep water below the waist and power above

I got my T8 rack of 6 (digital led tubes) on a counter weight, that slides up and down with ease, itsd why I still use the T8...lol

CFL's have replaced T8's as the cheapest grow lights, 3 cfls to one plant is good

to my blog on members cfl arrays: https://www.rollitup.org/Journal/Entry/a-collection-of-diy-ghetto-blasters.30154/


good luck

ps don't fuck around with any thing smaller than a 4 foot shop light they just don't have the lumens to get weed to harvest
Click to expand...
Good to see there are others that remember the good ol days

I've switched to T5's but I do remember those ol T8's ok I'm an old fart so I remember T12's with a few incandescents for heat LOL
 
vostok

vostok

Well-Known Member
lol...a buddy showed up yesterday saying he's trashed his 4x tube, T12 rack ....lol

and he offered it to me ...lol

I said you break one of them tubes, you will need to call in the

Environmental Protection Agency, and get De Toxed?

theirs so much Mercury in there ....lol

he donated them to as local movie house instead ....lol

if you recall the T12's at EIGHT FEET were the best

so many Lu in the center 4 feet, better than any Mh at the time ...lol

thanks for the headsup
 
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