Light Help

[RogueGunslinger]

Currently, I have five plant growing under three (plug in) 24 watt(100w equivalent) fluorescent bulbs, as well as one hanging work-light with two T8 32watt bulbs. Is this enough for the plants I have? If not, how many more (in watts) do I need. Or what different types of lighting systems do I need to look into getting.

Or, how many plants should I get rid of (can I tell which are male or female at this point?) to maximize the light output that I have.

I'm trying to keep this as cheap as possible, as I'm on a low budget.

I'm growing for personal use in Miracle grow potting soil.

 

[Cr8z13]

You need about 50W per square feet of your grow space.

 

[LAX Skunky BwS]

Currently, I have five plant growing under three (plug in) 24 watt(100w equivalent) fluorescent bulbs, as well as one hanging work-light with two T8 32watt bulbs. Is this enough for the plants I have? If not, how many more (in watts) do I need. Or what different types of lighting systems do I need to look into getting.

Or, how many plants should I get rid of (can I tell which are male or female at this point?) to maximize the light output that I have.
u should jus get a HPS system...

I'm trying to keep this as cheap as possible, as I'm on a low budget.
u go cheap u grow cheap

I'm growing for personal use in Miracle grow potting soil.

MG soil is no good try to get some fox farm soil

 

[RogueGunslinger]

Okay, is the soil the cause of my issues though?

 

[kiddcuruption]

i use mg soil and its going good i just try to be very stingy with nutes for the first 2-3 months. you might want to put 10 bucks into some superthrive it seems to help with mg soil grows! but thats just my experience!!!!
here is mg grow on first 12/12 week!

there are three plants and there just starting to preflower!! i vegged for 6 weeks
so mg can work just be carefull with nutes!

 

[RogueGunslinger]

What sort of lighting are you using?

 

[kiddcuruption]

for veg i used only 3 26 watt 6500k cfls and two 18" grow tubes from lowes
and i just switched to 6 26 watt 2700k and the 3 6500k and 3 15 watt 2700k like i said i was very stingy with nutes i only used like 10 to 15 percent of recomended amount

 

[PotRoastDinner]

There are tons of posts regarding MG and its negative effects.. to start with the pH in it is wayy off neutral which can be very detrimental to your plants.. just go into the forum search and look for stuff on mg and other soils. As far as lighting goes, spectrum is important if your going to use CFLs.. go with 6500k spec for veg and 2700k for flower.. there are some awesome stickys that explain all of that stuff in more detail in the CFL growing sub-forum. Heres the link check it out
https://www.rollitup.org/cfl-growing/
All of the ones at the top should be a good place to start.. much luck man keep us posted on how things go.

 

[kiddcuruption]

yea the water i use probable has alot to do with my mg grow because i have a well not city water. so im pretty much using rain water!

 

[kiddcuruption]

mg grow can be done you just have to adapt to it right!

 

[kiddcuruption]

i made sure i checked every thing alot with my mg grow
but i never reallyt had any serious problem, really i didnt have any
i even used mg fert for veg, but very lightly
if you have to use mg soil just make sure you can deal with any problems before you actually have any problems just keep a close eye on every thing

 

[PotRoastDinner]

yeah but doesnt it make more sense to just go drop 20 on a bag of nice fox farm soil and not have to worry about any of that? mg can burn the shit out of your plants, especially if your using unbalanced water.. bottom line is basically that youll get what you pay for.. either way though dude post some pics up and gl!

 

[kiddcuruption]

yea if you want a to be absolutly sure with your soil spend the extra money on good soil i just did it to see what all the mg fuss is about! ive heard alot of "no good" about mg i guess it just depends on what you know and what you have to work on, just like incandesents. i dont usse them, but back in the day my pops used only incadesent and good great results!!!! but its prob not a good idea to try new things untill you get the basics down!

 

[RogueGunslinger]

Honestly guys, no one has addressed my question very well here. It wasn't whether or not I should use MG or not. It's whether I have enough lighting to grow what I want.

 

[Cr8z13]

Honestly guys, no one has addressed my question very well here. It wasn't whether or not I should use MG or not. It's whether I have enough lighting to grow what I want.

I addressed your question. Did you bother to do the math? 50W per square feet. You didn't provide details for your grow space, so it's not I can do the calculation for you, so you tell me. Do you have enough light? My guess is that you don't.

 

[RogueGunslinger]

Hey, you did answer my question. How'd I miss that?

I've gotten rid of two of my plants and am now growing Three in a 4ft by 2ft area. They are currently getting three 24 watt cfl's and a shoplight with two t8 32 watt lights.

 

[Cr8z13]

Well if you wanted to squeeze as many plants in your space as you could, you would need at least 400W. For three plants, you need a minimum of 250W. What you have now is probably ok for just vegging(though more light would help), but for flowering you will need to add more light. Look into some more powerful CFL's, or better yet, a 250W HPS. HID lamps get hot, but you will grow fatter and denser buds.

 

[RogueGunslinger]

Thanks a bunch cr8. +1 to you my good man.

 

[PotRoastDinner]

I would definitely agree with cr8 on that one.. by the time you got as many watts as you'd really need, it would most likely cost near the same to just drop the extra cash for a 250w MH/HPS setup and you would get way better yields, bud density, etc.. sorry if i got your thread off track i was just sayin. If you do end up getting a better light setup though you can still use those cfls for a little extra light.. basic rule of thumb is the more light the better. Whatever you decide to do though, check out High Tech Garden Supply, they have great deals on lighting and if you call in they will usually give you a discount.