I'm using 20w cfl in my pc grow box. How much do you think this is going to run my electric bill up per month (16/8 light schedule)I personally build my on cfl fixtures, I only use 23watt bulbs because I am a cheap ass and is the most cost efficient per lumen, plus you can but em' everywhere I have a couple desks light going up the sides of my girls to get some deep light penetration on those inner buds that wouldn't receive much light otherwise. I help my buddy do a set up where he has 1 plant in a 6x2.5x2.5 box with a 200w hps with cfl under the plant when it got tall enough, and about 4 going down each side of the plant. It worked beautifully, there were definitely less popcorn buds.
Oh i'm not going to use just one. Check out my post. I'm going to put 3-4 20w's in it because i'm pretty limited now being that I have a kid on the way. But, with that being said I would love a couple o's from this little ass box for sureNot at all a 20w bulb is like a desk lamp, I would not grow with just 20w of light its a waste of your time mate. I would got up to 85-100w at least or you wont even pull a eight of bud, and it will be the worst bud ever. If you want to calculate cost of electric It would be about 14 dollars a year. You need to put about 100 dollars in if you want to yield a couple of zips I can show how if you want.
Well, I know that wouldn't happen but thanks for replying. I'm doing this for my first time and i'm a noob for sure, so i'm always open to suggestions and better ways to do this. I actually wanna learn how to do this properly unlike most people!Expect to get out of your grow what you put into it. 60W of lighting will provide you with roughly a 1/4 oz of bud three to four months after planting. That equates to 0.5 gram per week when you're done - a couple joints' worth a week. Does that seem like a reasonable return? 2 zips in a PC case with 60w of CFLs is never going to happen. Try if you like, but you'll find out in the long run.
Use at least 100w per flowering plant, or you're wasting your time. Genuinely. Free advice. Good luck.
like i said, i want to learn. i'm all for using 100-150w cfl i'm just not trying to make my electric bill jump up super high being on a tight budget. i don't really smoke A LOT but 4-5 days a week, usually when I get the urge to go buy pills/heroin i'll smoke (recovering addict) check out my thread dude. i'm going to take my shit out of pc and put it in an industrial plastic crate type deal (a lot bigger than small mid tower case) just got to cut the holes and shit in it. ill take a pic of what i'm going to use and post it in there in a fewIf you plan on using less than 100w per flowering plant, most of the advice you receive will be similar - add more light (6400K during veg, and 2700k during flower).
I'm all for low-light micro grows, but they're really more for experimentation and only generally produce enough yield for casual (weekend) smokers. For the time it takes to grow, flower and harvest even a small plant (min 90 days), the return on a micro grow (unless done expertly) is too low, imho.
Check the micro-grow section for ideas on how to get the most out of a really small grow space.