Enough light?

[Nutella420]

So I have 3 flowering plants in a 2x2.5 area and I was wondering if I have enough light for my situation. I have 5 lights, 4 are cfls, 1 42 watt, 1 26 watt and 2 23 watt, and the other is a red and blue led grow light, im not sure of the wattage. I have read that minimum is about 2500 lumens per sqf. I also read that lumens don't add, and vice versa, so I'm not sure on that one. All my lights are rated under 3000 lumens, but all added together would equal about 5300 lumens, again I don't know if that's the case. Ultimately I'm asking if the plants have a chance till harvest, they vegged for 2 weeks (trying to keep size on a minimum), and they are 2 weeks into flowering. They seem decent so far. Any help would be appreciated.
Also I will be upgrading so if anyone can recommend something I'm up for it. Money is an issue for me so im trying to keep it under $50.

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

Lumens has very little to do with growing to be perfectly honest as lumen is a measurement of light visable to the human eye !

What really matters is the correct spectrum of light used & in what stage of growth for optimal results...


Ya looking at blue cfls in the 6500k / kelvin range for vegging & red/orange cfls in the 2700k / kelvin range for flowering

Optimal is 2 blue / 1 red/orange cfl for vegging... & to 2 red/orange, 1 blue cfl for flowering.


Yup ya have enough wattage for 1 plant

 

[JJ Bones]

How big is your grow space?

 

[Nutella420]

Yea they're all 2700k and grow space is 2x2.5.
Thank you for the information.

 

[JJ Bones]

If you can find out the LED wattage that would help.

You will do okay, I would say a 250w would be best in that space.

 

[Nutella420]

I don't even know, someone just gave it to me, said they got pretty good results with just 2 of those without any normal bulbs. I'm honestly not expecting anything great I just don't wanna end up with some dirt weed or something lol

 

[JJ Bones]

If you want dirt weed, no problem you're good to go.

I have a feeling you don't though because you're on here asking questions, which shows you want some BOMB!

 

[OG1969]

Bomb is Good

 

[fault]

the set up space is almost the same as mine, havent started my grow but will soon mine is 2x3 does height matter in a grow room? cuz mine is 6 feet.

 

[Rodrigo]

My room is 2x2x5 and I'm growing 3 plants in there (meant to be four but some clones died). I'm using a 400w HPS (which I'd recommend you to buy) and as a support I added 3 100w CFLs. You mention 42, 26, and 23 CFLs, I think you're confused between how much energy they use and how much wattage they give out, for example mine use 20w but give out 100w.
In your setup I'd put the LED on top and the CFLs about half way between the top and bottom of the plants without their reflector (hanging like the 26). This will give you a little more extra vertical room and you should definitely let them veg for a little while longer.
There's not much you can do for under $50, the only thing I can think of is adding more CFLs, try to get both warm and cool bulbs.
Good luck!

 

[Rodrigo]

fault: vertical room always matters, but in the end it depends on how taller you want the plant to get. Depending on the light used, you probably do not want to get the tops closer than 10-15 inches from the light as they might get burned or damaged by the heat

 

[Nutella420]

the set up space is almost the same as mine, havent started my grow but will soon mine is 2x3 does height matter in a grow room? cuz mine is 6 feet.

Depends how long you vegged them, 6 feet should be fine if you can keep it on the shorter side.

My room is 2x2x5 and I'm growing 3 plants in there (meant to be four but some clones died). I'm using a 400w HPS (which I'd recommend you to buy) and as a support I added 3 100w CFLs. You mention 42, 26, and 23 CFLs, I think you're confused between how much energy they use and how much wattage they give out, for example mine use 20w but give out 100w.
In your setup I'd put the LED on top and the CFLs about half way between the top and bottom of the plants without their reflector (hanging like the 26). This will give you a little more extra vertical room and you should definitely let them veg for a little while longer.
There's not much you can do for under $50, the only thing I can think of is adding more CFLs, try to get both warm and cool bulbs.
Good luck!

Yes I know about the wattage thing. And that's actually what i just did, led on top, and 3 bulbs around and 1 in the middle. yea I'm trying to get my hands on something significantly better. Thanks for the help guys

 

[Dewbie]

My advice is use the $50 to buy a mylar tent to reflect some that wasted light. You can find them on amazon.

 

[AlwaysGreen]

Does the plant need more or less light during flowering than in veg?

 

[doopie]

Even more during flowering...

 

[donpaul.p]

hi,

first of all a big welcome to 420,
as for your grow space you would be better off painting the walls flat white or buy mylar rescue blankets as these cost next to nothing and can be bought in packs of 5.

now for the lights, i have used cfls in the past and got amazing results, but i was using around 400 watts actual watts using 23 and 30 watt cfls, so you will need alot more lights for 3 plants, cfls need to be kept close to the plants so within an inch or 2, if you hold your hand under the bulb so its touching the bulb then slowly lower your hand away, after a few inches the light drastically drops off, so cfls need to be very close, so 2 to 3 inches distance from plant at the most, so this is a problem when the plants get big as you need more lights to be down the sides of the plants,

so cfls do work, for veg you need a good high ratio of 6400kelvin cfls which are the blue/white light, for flower you will need some 2700kelvin cfls which are the regular household type cfls the orange light,

you want a good ratio of 6400k and 2700k for veg, so a 3 to 1 ratio so 3x 6400k to every 1 2700k bulb for veg and the opposite for flower,

now if you have funds and can afford a good led set up then thats an option open to you, if you dont have a lot of funds then save up for a 400watt digital ballast with dual spectrum bulb, a digital ballast means you can have a mh bulb or hps bulb, a mh bulb is for veg and a hps bulb is for flower, but ive got a 400watt dual spectrum hps bulb, so its gives both spectrums of light which is perfect for veg and flower,

now my light cost me £65 so not sure what the exchange is but around $110 or their abouts for the light and bulb plus the bat wing type hood, now hid lights get hot so you will need fans or a cool tube, i dont have a cool tube or inlet or exhaust fans as its not possible so when the lights on my grow door is open slightly to keep the temps down inside the grow room.

so cfls work and cfls keep the nodes very tight, i still use cfls for my clones and seedlings due to the very tight node spacing, so for a couple of weeks my plants are under cfls then they go under the hps for veg then flower, the dual spec hps works well and produces well,

cfls work well and can produce well if you got enough of them, i was using just over 400watts in cfls actual watts when i was growing only with cfls, now i use just 3 x 30watt cfls for start clones and seedlings and their good for up to 10 plants in seedling stage,

my hps puts out 55,000lumins and im growing in a 3ft by 3ft grow space, the problem with cfls is the light penetration, its pretty much none existant after a few inches, so anything over 4 inches and your not getting enough light to the plants, so keep the cfls within 2 to 3 inches at the most from the top of the plant, try and get the walls reflecting as much light as possible, flat white paint not gloss will be a good option or use mylar blankets,

so its really up to you and what funds you have got, you can get 250watt hps as well,
so just remember mh or 6400kelvin cfls are for veg
2700 kelvin or hps are for the flower stage,
dual spectrum hps for leds are suited to both stages of growth,

i find the dual spectrum works well, so depending on what funds you have got it might be worth investing in a bigger light, either a lot more cfls of the right spectrum, but remember you will need to swap them over for flower when you flip to 12-12, or go with something like a digital ballast and hood with a dual spec hps bulb or get a metal halide bulb for veg and high pressure sodium for flower.

my light came with the ballast,hood and dual spec bulb for £65 so not much at all, id say it was worth every penny,

cfls if your going to stick with them then id train the plants to be small, a scrog would work well or use some low stress training to keep the plant small and bushy, a tall plant will struggle under cfls due to the penetration,

then you need to think about nutrients but you may have this covered all ready.

welcome to 420 and happy growing my friend