First time grow

So this is my first time ever trying to grow. I started out thinking I was just gonna leave the plant in my window sill water it and just see what happens. But after researching all day I'm starting to see that's not really possible. So I now have built a little box around my window sill making a little almost closet. Unfortunately I have roommates and I don't feel comfortable splitting utilities if I'm the one racking up the bill. I was thinking could I not run any lights during the day and only at night for the vegging, and as soon as I start flowering not run the light at night anymore?

yes you can totally do this.......big scale green houses do the same thing. also if you use flourescent lighting it will only mark up your PG&E bill by a few bucks.

how about making a deal with your roomies about the power bill ? its not like they wont know eventually.
If they have a problem with it in the first place and there is hardly budget for stealth, I would advice against growing indoor.

Hows the weather out there ?

Running CFLs is cheap. Barely noticeable on the bill.

Youngworm said:

So this is my first time ever trying to grow... Unfortunately I have roommates and I don't feel comfortable splitting utilities if I'm the one racking up the bill.

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Welcome to RIU. Before you grow anything have a sit down with the room mates. If they are not 100% on board with your grow, you should not continue. Swear them to secrecy.

The biggest issues with growing weed is getting busted or robbed. This is almost always the result of friends or neighbors. If they are good to go, cfl won't cost but a couple buck more a month in utilities, but it is a conversation worth having. Just think about it and save yourself a headache down the road.

DON'T TELL, SMELL, OR SELL.

I have two 200 actual watt cfl's as well as my hid's, and I can tell you that 400watt of cfl's cost very nearly the same to run as 400watt of hid. But I suppose if you only have 100 watts of cfl it won't cost much.

It is funny to me how people try to say CFL is less on your utility bill...


400 watts of ANYTHING is 400 watts...



Hey GUYS what weighs more 1 lb of feathers or 1 lb of rocks?!

I get that. But since I grow CFL I am just saying that my grow was not really noticeable on my bill. If growing with other methods, I don't know if more cost is incurred for things like more cooling.

HID cost more per watt. You have to factor in the up front hardware and on-going costs for evacuating the heat. I built a 6 cfl fixture yesterday for $24 dollars. It generates no heat so I don't have to run my exhaust or a/c. When I flip on the 400w HID, well, that's another story, costs go up.

The 600 Watt hps is the most cost effective light source when considering lumens per watt. If you get a digital ballast you can get some with dimmer options and run both M.H. and H.P.S. at different wattages for different grow scenarios. Cfls are good for starting seeds and a little growth before putting them under hid or high intensity led. You just cannot get a decent product worth your time and energy growing with a cfl all the way through flower. I know a lot of people try and will tell you they got killer shit doing it, but they just don't have the intensity required to give you dense flowers on the top of your canopy and in some of the lowers. You would have to have a completely even canopy with a cfl on top of every bud to achieve any density to your flowers, unless you have a shit ton of cfl's every where in which you might as well just get a low wattage hid that doesn't produce that much heat and use that much energy to begin with and get the intensity your girls will need. I know cfl's are lighter on the wallet, but your buds will be lighter on the scale. I'm not trying to start an argument or anything just trying to pass on really misunderstood knowledge as far as I'm concerned. If you want low wattage and low heat, high priced led's work, if you can deal with higher heat and wattages hid's are great and middle ground on prices, but if you want both low heat and low watts a couple of cfl's will work but with lower quality returns. It's really up to what you are willing to shell out in terms of $ and how inginuitive you can be. Good luck, Good grow, Be safe, out.

CFL's make heat

I am running 7 of them in my cab grow and the LED by itself is slightly higher then room temp.

10 or 15 degrees higher with the CFL.

Commander Strax said:

CFL's make heat

I am running 7 of them in my cab grow and the LED by itself is slightly higher then room temp.

10 or 15 degrees higher with the CFL.

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Well, one of the selling points to HID is it is more efficient at turning energy to light, other lights lose light to heat. If that is the case, it would seem to me that 400 watts of CFL will produce as much heat as 400 watts of HID.

In my experiences, when I had a lot of CFL it was pretty warm.

Yup, altor is right about the HID conversion efficiency, and I believe the 600 watt does this the best job of this as mentioned by mycomaster.

We all have to start somewhere. Cfls tend to be the choice for beginners because of the wide variety of lower wattage bulbs, and therefore lower heat emission and cost. I was shopping cfl yesterday and ran across 350 watt bulbs. Bet they put off some serious heat, 350 watts worth!

No doubt that CFL does not maximize yield! But it yields enough for personal use and that is all some of us need. So long as I can yield all I need, I am satisfied. With that said, it would be nice not to have work hard to keep them as close to the canopy as necessary.

When I upgrade, I am pondering induction which seems to get the best of both worlds. Just pricey!