Is wide spectrum enough to flower?

Hi, first time grower looking to flower my first plant. I need to know is wide spectrum fluorescents enough, my budget us limited so I could not afford an hps bulb.

Lights:
4x 48"(4 foot) 40w 1900lumen wide spectrum fluorescents t12 size

Plant:
1 plant
Sativa
2 feet high

Space:
Sectioned off closet
Mostly Alluminum foiled up
Approx 4 feet high, by 2 feet, by 2 feet. I didn't measure it, just guessing.

I really need help, are these wide specs enough to flower or should I swap one bulb for a daylight or something? I've looked everywhere online for an answer to no avail. Please help me, experts. And thank you! :)
Do you think
 

Gblink3

Active Member
It will do soft white light are the best fluorescent light to flower with but bright whites are like the bulb for budget growers on a budget since they put off the middle range between daylight bulbs and soft white.
 

growone

Well-Known Member
Not an indoor expert, just completing my 1st indoor grow. Did a lot of outdoor grows though.
Not an expert question really, and you've kind of answered your question. If you add daylight bulbs as you flower, you will get bigger/better buds. I'd say at least 2 of 4. The daylights will work, been used for many a year when there wasn't much else. Just don't expect hid yields. But what you get will be good(barring other problems of course). growone
 

Gblink3

Active Member
Not an indoor expert, just completing my 1st indoor grow. Did a lot of outdoor grows though.
Not an expert question really, and you've kind of answered your question. If you add daylight bulbs as you flower, you will get bigger/better buds. I'd say at least 2 of 4. The daylights will work, been used for many a year when there wasn't much else. Just don't expect hid yields. But what you get will be good(barring other problems of course). growone
I think you got it backwards daylight puts out more of the blue spectrum which is good for vegging, soft white put out more pink/orange which is good for flowering. Wide spectrum puts out a balance of the two to make a white spectrum.
 

growone

Well-Known Member
Yup backwards, well mixing the 2 together works good. Order in the fixture probably won't matter much. Been reading too many cfl's specs today, spectrumed silly!
 

Mystik

Active Member
I actually use a 48" overhead, but I've strategically placed little shop light fixtures with 2 cfl's each in them on the secondary bud sites lower down.
I'm still just now really starting to get into flower, but it seems to be doing the trick.
 
Oh that's weird because I actually used some 13 watt soft white cfls to grow. Well that and some window light. So should I keep flowering with 4 wide? Or replace one or two with something else? I could just put a couple lamps in there with more soft white cfls.. Maybe two or three


Oh ya and I should still keep wide spec in there? These bulbs are 5 bucks each but I could easily return them and get something else. I still got the reciept ^_^
 

growone

Well-Known Member
The fluoro's are good. Window light can be good, depends a lot your location. I'm not experienced with the big fuoros, i use cfl's. The principle is the same though. The soft give more red, which is 'best' for flower. However, in cfl land, there are those that claim a mix of the daylight and the soft are best.
My inexpert opinion is the mix is the safest choice, covers the bases and does a pretty good job. If you pack in more fluoros, that's probaby the best option.

growone
 
Ok so try to add more soft white cfls then? I'll do that. Wish I knew where to get adapters in my area LOL. You know those things you plug into a socket and directly screw in a bulb? Those are sweet
 

Etheraeon

Member
Aluminum foil crinkles up and reflects light at oblique angles, and you don't want that. You should look into getting some Mylar, which isn't overly expensive, but it will be much more efficient than Aluminum foil.
 
Top