Old, new guy needs some help

I am not new to this but it has been several decades since I have done this. The new AutoFlower plants appeal to me for several reasons so I ordered LR2 seeds. I plan to start with soil and may move to bubbleponic if this works out well. I plan on a 2.5'LX2.5'WX4'H grow area in a homemade tent/cabinet. This should be sufficient for four, one or two gallon pots at about 7X7 or 9X9 pot size. Am I better to go with a T5 2' four bulb above or two 105 CFL's? Since I am not looking at any real veg. period what will I need to flower. I have read several of the threads but, few end up with results. What was the yield? I don't want to grow, I want to get bud! Would T5 tubes with the CFL's help at all?

I understand the growth cycle and the nutes. What I don't know about is the new lights and the new AutoFlower plants. Any input on setup for these new plants and lights would be appreciated.

either the t5s or those strong cfls would do you fine

dont know too much about the lowryder strain, other than it will suit your needs as far as space and time

I'm going to add a couple t-5's to my hps ....welcome back to the game and RIU lots of info crammed in this site...rob

welcome to RIU. the autoflowering plants are just that, they flower automatically. a normal indoor plant would need 12 hours of light and 12 of darkness to flower. autos on the otherhand, flower based on their age. therefore, you can keep them on a 24 hour light schedule, or 20 on 4 off, etc. whatever the seed breeder recommends. as far as lights go, i'd use the t5 overhead with the cfls on the sides..... good luck

another welcome to RIU doug, the 1 thing i will interject is that you can really position cfl's quite tight to the plants, that and cfl's are pretty cheap, not sure what t5's go for, or if you're cost constrained
since you asked about results, i got 0.45g/watt on my last micro grow, used cfl's for 1 plant

The problem with the autos is they are small and yields are too. Unless your vertical space is severely limited, I think you'll find it doesn't take any more work to grow a strain that will yield 2-3 times as much.

I have selected the LR2 as a re entry seed for a few reasons:
1 Short life cycle = less time for something to go wrong.
2 Larger plants require more light, that's my experience anyhow.
3 The short time to grow will allow more variation in the set up from grow to grow to find out what works and what doesn't.
4 Larger plants require larger pots, fewer under the lights.

For the time being I'm just trying to get the light situation under control. I am confident that I could get a big plant to grow in this set up. Can I get them to flower and produce is what I am not sure about. A five foot plant with an ounce of bud is of little use to me. I can get a 400W HPS off of Craigslist on the cheap but don't want to have to deal with the heat issues.

The two foot four bulb T5 is about $130. If this isn't the way to go I would like to know that now, before I incur the expense.

ow.douglas said:

I have selected the LR2 as a re entry seed for a few reasons:
1 Short life cycle = less time for something to go wrong.
2 Larger plants require more light, that's my experience anyhow.
3 The short time to grow will allow more variation in the set up from grow to grow to find out what works and what doesn't.
4 Larger plants require larger pots, fewer under the lights.

For the time being I'm just trying to get the light situation under control. I am confident that I could get a big plant to grow in this set up. Can I get them to flower and produce is what I am not sure about. A five foot plant with an ounce of bud is of little use to me. I can get a 400W HPS off of Craigslist on the cheap but don't want to have to deal with the heat issues.

The two foot four bulb T5 is about $130. If this isn't the way to go I would like to know that now, before I incur the expense.

Click to expand...

id go with a 250w hps and a couple cfls for reinforcement.....

ow.douglas said:

I have selected the LR2 as a re entry seed for a few reasons:
1 Short life cycle = less time for something to go wrong.
2 Larger plants require more light, that's my experience anyhow.
3 The short time to grow will allow more variation in the set up from grow to grow to find out what works and what doesn't.
4 Larger plants require larger pots, fewer under the lights.

For the time being I'm just trying to get the light situation under control. I am confident that I could get a big plant to grow in this set up. Can I get them to flower and produce is what I am not sure about. A five foot plant with an ounce of bud is of little use to me. I can get a 400W HPS off of Craigslist on the cheap but don't want to have to deal with the heat issues.

The two foot four bulb T5 is about $130. If this isn't the way to go I would like to know that now, before I incur the expense.

Click to expand...

cfl's will provide the same amount of light at a fraction of that cost - had no idea that t5's were that expensive

T5's are excellent for veg and can be used for flower, so your choice of them for an autoflowering strain is appropriate. They are more efficient light producers than CFL's, but with a higher initial investment.

However, as mentioned above, autoflowers tend to be on the smaller yield/potency side, so hitting them with HID light (HPS or MH) is really your best bet.

But HID's produce a LOT of heat compared to T5's, which is another serious consideration.

I guess it depends on the depth of your pockets really. $130 for a 2' 4-bulb fixture doesn't sound that far off, but look around for better deals. I bought 2 independent 2' T5's from my hydro shop for $30 each, so I KNOW you could find them online for less than that. You could get 4+ of them and create your own fixture.

Lots of things to consider...good luck

Here's a 4 bulb fixture on ebay for $100+shipping

http://cgi.ebay.com/T5-2-ft-4-Bulb-Commercial-Grow-Light-Fixture-w-BULBS!_W0QQitemZ370249103806QQcmdZViewItem