Mother and Veg tent lighting

Trying to expand a bit and sneak in a few more harvests.. Im trying to determine what kind of lighting would be sufficient?

I have some T8 fixtures (not sure on specs and have never grown with this type of light ) would these be enough to sustain a couple mother plants?
Veg tent i was thinking about an LED to run it cool and cheap electricity wise (I have a family member in LED biz so I can get for cost). What size or equivalent wattage would I need to get clones to a decent size before taking them to flower?

The flower room they would be moving into has a 600 HPS and a 300W equivalent 4000k LED, also considering bumping the HPS up to a 1K

any ideas and input appreciated!
 

GrowinDad

Well-Known Member
I run normal Cree LED bulbs (8W I think) in a hood for my veg area. Hood takes 12 bulbs, I use 9 LED and three CFL (for added heat). I can veg out 6 or so plants pretty easily. I love them!
 
I run normal Cree LED bulbs (8W I think) in a hood for my veg area. Hood takes 12 bulbs, I use 9 LED and three CFL (for added heat). I can veg out 6 or so plants pretty easily. I love them!
Thanks for the input!
What kind of hood are you using? Im trying to picture what you have going!
Im trying to veg between 8-9 plants at a time
 

GrowinDad

Well-Known Member
It is one from cfl-growlight.com. I think that was teh URL, been a long time. Just a basic Metal hood. There are seven sets of bulbs on v adapters so it is long. My veg cab is two small kitchen racks facing one another wiht some space in between, all wrapped in gorilla film. Ugly but works. Dimensions about 36" long and 24" deep.

My biggest challenge is space in there. I do most of my veg in one gal pots. But sometimes I am leaving them in those longer than I would like. Especially when I have basil and other herbs going.
 

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
I have 2 separate veg areas- the first is sectioned to fit my aerocloner on one side and an area for mothers, larger clones, and seedlings on the other. Both sides run on 4-6 small wattage cfls and a few vertical flourescent under-the counter-style light bars on each wall which is sufficient to keep clones & mothers alive & growing nice tight nodes. The secondary veg tent runs on either a 300w led panel or a 400w mh depending upon how large the plants are but I can veg plants indefinately until there space opens up in my flower room which has a 600w mh/HPS and 2 LED panels for side lighting.
A couple t8 fixtures used vertically, horizontally, or both could veg small plants easily but once the canopy becomes very thick you'll need to move them under an hid or led lights with better penetration than fluorescents can provide or you may end up with yellowing of the bottom leaves.
 
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