Will this be enough light?

So I know I probably should have got another light but I bought the whole set up and seeds over 6 months ago and just set it up when I germinated these smaller 3 plants a couple months ago. I got 3 purple hulk auto and 1 blue dream and a reg from msnl. Regardless it's what I got to work with. 1x 125w 6400k full spectrum cfl in a 4x2x4 tent. (the 3 autos are in 7 gallon pots and the blue dream is in a 3) I know that 125w wouldn't be enough for 5 plants but I pretty sure the reg will turn or male anyways. So would that be enough light for 4? Or even 3, because the biggest one you see is a pha and it's in 1st week of flower and it's about a month ahead of the others. Assuming that the reg (the smallest one) turns male and the biggest pha gets done quickly, would that be enough light for 3 plants in those containers? Any advice is welcome tia

hey welcome to RIU

light is usually determined by space not number of plants. for HID light they say 40-50w/sqft. you got a 4x2 so that would be 300-400w. 6400k is also not a great flowering spectrum. you could put another 125w on the other side of the tent, and get 3000k bulbs (among many other possible solutions), i think you'd have a better result.

that big auto looks really healthy for the small amount of light its getting. I'd put that one under the light if you want to get big dense buds!

pulpoinspace said:

hey welcome to RIU

light is usually determined by space not number of plants. for HID light they say 40-50w/sqft. you got a 4x2 so that would be 300-400w. 6400k is also not a great flowering spectrum. you could put another 125w on the other side of the tent, and get 3000k bulbs (among many other possible solutions), i think you'd have a better result.

that big auto looks really healthy for the small amount of light its getting. I'd put that one under the light if you want to get big dense buds!

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Thanks for your advice. I understand what you're saying about the lighting. I just did a search and it says with cfl I'll need 60 to 100w/ sq ft. I did the math and that's 480w. But that's assuming I use the whole 4x2. Once that big fella and that baby get out the way I'll only be using ess than half of a tent for 3 plants. So wouldnt that balance it out?

This is only my 2nd grow and this and my first were with cfl. It's the only thing I was comfortable with but I'm gonna have to step it up and get out of my comfort zone. 40-50w/sq ft sounds good

Drgreenplumb said:

Thanks for your advice. I understand what you're saying about the lighting. I just did a search and it says with cfl I'll need 60 to 100w/ sq ft. I did the math and that's 480w. But that's assuming I use the whole 4x2. Once that big fella and that baby get out the way I'll only be using ess than half of a tent for 3 plants. So wouldnt that balance it out?

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ah its a cfl. missed that. the color temperature makes way more sense now.

if you can block off half the tent someway, like with a reflective curtain so that it keeps all the light reflecting in a smaller 2x2 area. otherwise your losing photons that are reflecting all over the half of the tent your not using.

the answer to your question is yes and no! if you can adjust the grow space to match the light or vice verse thats the ideal scenario!

That makes me feel better. The tent came with a liner for the bottom I think I'm gonna use as a wall of some sort. I think I'll just staple it to some cardboard and use it as a wall to block off the half of the tent I won't need.
What would my yeild be like if I used that light for the entire grow?

pulpoinspace said:

ah its a cfl. missed that. the color temperature makes way more sense now.

if you can block off half the tent someway, like with a reflective curtain so that it keeps all the light reflecting in a smaller 2x2 area. otherwise your losing photons that are reflecting all over the half of the tent your not using.

the answer to your question is yes and no! if you can adjust the grow space to match the light or vice verse thats the ideal scenario!

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That's great advice! The tent came with a liner for the bottom I think I'm gonna use as a wall of some sort. I think I'll just staple it to some cardboard and use it as a wall to block off the half of the tent I won't need and that should solve that issue. But what would my yeild be like if I used that light for the entire grow? Says 6400k is better for veg than flower..

that is correct. higher color temperature (4000k-6500k) is usually recommended for veg, and lower (2700k-3500k) recommended for flower. but the amount of light matters much more than the spectrum.

yield is tough to estimate. when i started out i grew with LED and with a reasonably smooth grow i produced about .5 grams per watt. some experienced growers on here claim 3 grams per watt.

I've never grown with CFL, but i'd guess .5-1gpw is reasonable if all goes well. so 75-125g in theory. but it really all depends.

What I meant to ask is what would my buds look like do you think? Due to the lack of warm light

Save up for a 260w qb in 3k ($299) or a 400w HPS ($150), that will take care of flowering in a 2x4.

Lack of light intensity can prolong flowering time, lack of red light makes smaller buds (less yield).

SPLFreak808 said:

Save up for a 260w qb in 3k ($299) or a 400w HPS ($150), that will take care of flowering in a 2x4.

Lack of light intensity can prolong flowering time, lack of red light makes smaller buds (less yield).

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Or this for about $210.

It also comes with an included potentiometer, and so far I can adjust mine from 28-250W. I'm stoked.

Drgreenplumb said:

What I meant to ask is what would my buds look like do you think? Due to the lack of warm light

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conventional wisdom says they'd be smaller. i've never flowered with anything below 4000k myself so i cant say. but i think the amount of light matters much more than the spectrum.

all the suggestions above are great too.

So I ended up getting a 65w led hlg v2 at 4000k it's still probably not enough but I'm satisfied I'll post pics tomorrow. Feedback welcome

Just one thing to say, without any number: Let your plants tell you..

every single branch that is not receiving enough light will stretch more than others on the same plant, and when you got a tall plant like that (i would highly recommend any lst or hst training tecniques) if the main stems look stretchy beside genetic you gotta give em more light in most of the cases..
you could easily fill all the space you have in the right way without overcrowding just with that blue dream if you give her a nice train and let one or two weeks pass before flip. I think beside light, if you don't flower them early they will end up too big for the space you have to give them

Drgreenplumb said:

So I ended up getting a 65w led hlg v2 at 4000k it's still probably not enough but I'm satisfied I'll post pics tomorrow. Feedback welcome

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that will certainly help! i use 100w/plant as a quick rule of thumb, but the game is to get the most photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) to your plant as possible. Wattage is only a very rough proxy of PAR.

Save up for the hlg 550w or snag an IndaGro induction light with the led pontoons, you will be happy for 10 years and can spend all your time working on the other aspects of indoor growing. either way, adding that led panel will help tremendously--do keep the cfl, even if you only use it for side lighting.

be easy,

giantcola said:

Just one thing to say, without any number: Let your plants tell you..

every single branch that is not receiving enough light will stretch more than others on the same plant, and when you got a tall plant like that (i would highly recommend any lst or hst training tecniques) if the main stems look stretchy beside genetic you gotta give em more light in most of the cases..
you could easily fill all the space you have in the right way without overcrowding just with that blue dream if you give her a nice train and let one or two weeks pass before flip. I think beside light, if you don't flower them early they will end up too big for the space you have to give them

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Thanks for your input. I never thought about it but my blue dream did get really leggy. I'm thinking to save some space I'd take some clones and cut the mother down. What do you think?

Dr.J20 said:

that will certainly help! i use 100w/plant as a quick rule of thumb, but the game is to get the most photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) to your plant as possible. Wattage is only a very rough proxy of PAR.

Save up for the hlg 550w or snag an IndaGro induction light with the led pontoons, you will be happy for 10 years and can spend all your time working on the other aspects of indoor growing. either way, adding that led panel will help tremendously--do keep the cfl, even if you only use it for side lighting.

be easy,

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I'm going to hang them side by side for sure. I think I need as much light as I can get right now since the big one is a couple months from harvest