First time grower: Lighting questions

irishFella

New Member
Hey hemp heads. Its my first time to attempt a grow and i just have a few questions. At the moment im in college so i dont have a lot of money to spend so im going for a very low budget setup. But i know the less you spend on the grow the less you get in return. to a point anyway.
Anyway i came here to get a direct answer from experienced people rather than come to my own conclusion from the research ive done.

My plan is to have 3 plants grow in quite a small area. Eyeballing it now it looks to be about 1.5 foot by 4 foot. and about 5 foot high. (I would like some input on that too please to let me know if its possible)

My question is about the lighting. As i have said im on a very small budget. I was planning on using 4 cfl's. 45w 2700k(x2) and 45w 6400k(x2) Total cost of lighting would be 60ish euro
Would that be enough light for a small space grow?

Also what about LED's? They are quite expensive up front and i dont have that kind of money, but what about loads of cheaper leds? I can get 15 of these for 45 euro. http://goo.gl/RiWnYe (link to ebay)
They are 60 led 2.8w red/blue lights

One last question is lighting for the sides of the plants. Ive seen a few growing setups online and many people have lights to the side of the plants. How important is that? And again what would be a cheap option? I had the idea earlier of using a strip of red and a strip of blue led's to put around the sides of the plants
http://goo.gl/il8Mlj (another ebay link)

Cheers lads, and if you have any advice to just throw out there feel free. Im still doing research for the next week or 2 before I begin to buy what i need.
 

Mellodrama

Well-Known Member
This is just my opinion. The eBay link you provided. The bulb with the most LED's is the 80 bulb version, correct? The specs say the 80 LED version draws 3.8W. That's .0475 watt per bulb. This is a toy. Little more than a purple night light. I don't think you're going to be happy with the results no matter how many of these toys you hang inside a box. By the time you got done you'd have more money invested in wire and sockets than LED and you still wouldn't have enough power.

Ganja is not a shade-loving plant. You need serious illumination with some penetration.

I don't know what's available to you in your part of the world. But my newbie advice (I'm a newbie) would be to scout the bigger stores for residential LED bulbs like the Cree A19's that captain morgan is using. Doesn't have to be the Cree A19's. Yesterday I was in our local Home Depot. They had a rack of 50 or so EcoSmart BR30's on sale. 2700K. Perfect for the flowering side of the spectrum. Usually $27, marked down to $7.53 I think it was. The BR30's are sort of an oddball size/shape. Too big for track lighting, and wouldn't work in a traditional setting like a table lamp. I'm guessing that's why they were on the sale rack. About 70 lm/watt, which isn't outstanding. 5 year warranty. BR30's are a directional light, which is probably better for growing than the A19's. BR's aren't quite as directional as PAR housings, but roughly the same idea.

Anyway, I'm getting off track. The LED scene is changing by the day, and they're finally coming into their own for residential use. I think it's a great time to watch for last year's (last month's?) LED technology on the sale racks at your local brick-and-mortar stores. Unless of course your part of the world isn't participating in the residential LED revolution...
 

irishFella

New Member
So thats those cheapy led lights out the window anyway. I did think they would be useless but i had to ask. Im not sure about what Ireland is like for LED's. We have a smoking shop and a indoor growing shop back in the town im from but as i said im in college at the moment. Ill be going home next weekend so i may give it a look. They have a website but it looks like its a french company as the websites in french. Google translate is hopeless on it so i may just check the shop.

Any input on the 4 cfl's i mentioned?

Also I was wondering, Should i stick with a mix of 2 2700k cfl's and 2 6400k cfl's throughout the grow, or should i go 1 2700k and 3 6400k for growth then switch to 3 2700k and 1 6400k for flowering after 6ish weeks.?
I came across some website saying i shouldnt worry too much about the light spectrum for a beginner grow, but if its something that wouldnt be too much hassle that will end in a better result its something worth trying.

Oh and i will be using autoflowers if it makes any difference in the lighting situation
 
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