How much light do I really need?

BobBudz

BobBudz

New Member
I have an armoire that I will be using for a stealth grow. Its about 5ft tall, 2ft deep and 3ft wide. I plan to grow 2 plants. How much light will be needed start to finish. I have:

(all CFLs)
2 X 42w
3 X 26w
4 X 23w
1 x 20w

So I have a good amount of bulbs, and of course I could hit the store for whatever i need. But I don't want to waist electricity if I don't need to. What is the minimum amount of light needed for seed-veg and flowering?
 
You wont need as much light in the beginning when they are small as you will when they get larger. So that would be more than enough when they are smaller, but depending on how large of a plant you grow, might not cut it. Good luck with whatever.
 
I would lose anything lower than 35w. Get the highest wattage you can find and get them close to your plants. I would train the plants to have a wide, even canopy with little undergrowth as the CFLs will not penetrate very far into the plants.

A better option would be a T5 or PLL fixture. Youll get better distribution and it will be a lot cleaner & easier to work with.

Of course, the best option would be to get an HID.
 
[video=youtube_share;I5cYgRnfFDA]http://youtu.be/I5cYgRnfFDA[/video]hehehehehehe. lol. your good dude.keep the bulbs close as possible to the buds once flowering.
 
As things progress keep adding bulbs until you hit the wall with heat. Max out your CFLs but keep heat under control, i.e. fans and ventilation.
 
I have conducted an experiment with cfl lights to create the cheapest energy to bud. I have managed to veg a single plant with a single 26 watt cfl bulb. For the flowering stage I had to add an extra 26 watt cfl bulb. This dose work but was not to effective. I have also used 3 26 watt cfl bulbs for veg and 6 for flower. This gave much better growth. With cfl's I have found the more light the better. I now have 12 23 watt cfl's over 1 plant. when i introduce flowering i will add another 6 bulbs. I now use the 23 instead of the 26 watt as they where £2 when the 26 where £5 a bulb. To be honest the cost to the bills don't bother me to much but with hid's I have had problems with heat. I have found the more the merrier you can't get to much light. Try to get bulbs lower down the plants when they are in flowering as this will keep the bottom buds tighter as cfl's aren't as effective at penetrating through the plants as hid's. hope this helps. happy growing.
 
big buds21 said:
I have conducted an experiment with cfl lights to create the cheapest energy to bud. I have managed to veg a single plant with a single 26 watt cfl bulb. For the flowering stage I had to add an extra 26 watt cfl bulb. This dose work but was not to effective. I have also used 3 26 watt cfl bulbs for veg and 6 for flower. This gave much better growth. With cfl's I have found the more light the better. I now have 12 23 watt cfl's over 1 plant. when i introduce flowering i will add another 6 bulbs. I now use the 23 instead of the 26 watt as they where £2 when the 26 where £5 a bulb. To be honest the cost to the bills don't bother me to much but with hid's I have had problems with heat. I have found the more the merrier you can't get to much light. Try to get bulbs lower down the plants when they are in flowering as this will keep the bottom buds tighter as cfl's aren't as effective at penetrating through the plants as hid's. hope this helps. happy growing.
Click to expand...

I really respect someone who goes about something in a planned out systematic manner...kudos and +rep...

..my thing with CFL's is sorta/kinda whats the point? (that's not not a smart-azzed rhetorical question, but a question looking for polite/intelligent rebuttal)

I made a decent rig that in all honesty isn't that much cheaper than a 150W HPS and in no way shape or form outperforms it watt for watt .... the heat thing is likewise questionable as my suspicions point to heat simply being more spread out with CFL's (to a point, I still think CFL's are cooler, but IMHO that's cooler thing is somewhat over-rated by the status quo_)

and yeah BTW I'm a DIY'er and currently using CFL's
 
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