Too Many Weak Lights? 150w HPS + 100w Solar Flare/Flower+ 4 42w 5500k CFL

Libertas

Member
Is this wasting light/energy? This medicinal grow (ptsd/severe depression) has a 30"x36"x72" homemade panda 'tent' in a nicely sized, adequately vented basement backroom. 3 bushy 9" 100% lemon haze girls from seed in 8" pots, hydro-drip setup. Plan is to grow them to @18", top, and go 12/12. 6 weeks in and it looks like another 6 weeks to go before that.

Due to financial constraints, lights were added in this order: seedlings-First 2 42w 5500k cfls in a flex fixture with 5 total sockets, then 2 more bulbs once the first set of triples emerged. (salvaged from a floor lamp bought at wally world)
~160w CFL I can keep 4-6 inches off the plants. (had a 65w 2400w cfl but it broke)

Two weeks later a 150w hps and more nutrients added and growth took off.

Recently got a deal on a 100w Solar flare/flowering model I couldn't pass.

My concern is light penetration down the road. Sativas are taller. At this stage it's fine. Pots are getting rotated every few days, the plant centered under the 4 cfl's grows faster overall, under the 150w hps plant gets wider. Haven't had the Solar Flare long enough to see it's effect but will post observations on it in another thread down the road.

Keep going all the way or move over to 400w hps asap? Keep one/some of the other lights for a few clones? Never plan on more than 3-4 flowering at a time.

Any and all input or questions are welcome.
 

superfoxwon

Member
I would use the CFLs and spot light em. I love CFLs and Sativas, just make sure you get the bottom of the girls so they give more bottom buds.
 

Libertas

Member
Thanks for the feedback. Thought of rigging some kind of reflector to each cfl but can't think of how to do it. One option might be to buy a dome reflector with 4 sockets from a photography website and ditch the current cfl flex light fixture. Still, none of the lights seem to have have good penetration beyond 8-12" from what I've read. Maybe I should aim for 8 12-18" small flowering plants in 5-6" pots instead of aiming for 3-4 30-36" plants?
 

Libertas

Member
Sweet idea, Too bad I just threw out some empties. Oh well, good excuse to buy more.

Decided to keep the lights as they are right now. After looking closely and noticing my new nodes are popping out every 1/2" I think I'm OK. Plants only about 12" so it's topping time and get crackin on a cfl clone cab. Still think a 400w hps is probably in my future, just have to see if this baby solar flare does much before selling/trading up.
 
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