1st Timer. Looking for a little guidance

[Boogenhowzen]

Hey guys,

Im new to all this. Been a long time smoker for years. I have a .8 by .8 by 1.26m grow tent and am looking at using deep water culture method to grow 3-4 plants using CFL globes ( 1 with a bat wing and others spread around tent). Just wondering how many I need to give adequate light coverage? I know about using different globes for vegetation and flowering stages but how many would i need? Limited budget so was looking at 80-120 watt CFL. Thoughts?

Thanks Guys

Boogenhowzen

 

[Buckshot]

Re: 1st Timer. Looking for a little guidance.

Hello B,

I snipped this

How much light should I use?
The following is a MINIMUM light requirement for productive growth in the vegetative stage:
CFL: 42.25 watts per square foot
HPS/MH: 32.5 watts per square foot
LED: 22.75 watts per square foot

from here

The Basics Of Plant Lighting

Good Luck!

 

[Mike Wright]

Re: 1st Timer. Looking for a little guidance.

If you are on a limited budget then take a look at one of our sponsors called TopLed. Lots of growers on here run them (including myself) and when it comes to bang-for-buck they are hard to match.

 

[Antics]

Make sure when shopping for CFLs you disregard the "### watt equivalent" number on the packaging. That's to help people replace an incandescent bulb with a CFL of similar brightness. Since Cannabis cannot be grown with Incandescent bulbs, this number isn't useful for our purposes.

If you use smaller CFLs, I'd suggest the 23 watt size, and if budget is an issue, I recommend buying an equal number of 2700K and 6500K and growing full spectrum from seed to harvest.

However, as Pantagruel has said, TopLED has some great LED lights available at unbelievable prices.

My last grow was 14 CFLs, 361 total watts, and if you figure how much I spent on all those bulbs, fixtures, splitters, plus the time to wire everything, build a hood for the lights, etc.. it works out the same price, if not a little cheaper to buy one of the LEDs.

Link: Led Grow Lights for indoor plants-Top Led

But it seems to be a popular thing to start seedlings under CFLs, and then run the LED once they've been fully established.

 

[Boogenhowzen]

Thanks guys,

Been thinking about LED's but not sure about them. Looking at completed grow journals with led to suss it out. Thinking even maybe using led's with some cfl's in different spots for full light coverage. Hoping to get at least 4-5 oz off each plant in the tent. Is this realistic? Thanks again everyone. Keep the info flowing

Happy blazing

 

[nobodyuknow]

Thats what I did. Go thru the journals and see what people are using and the setups they have. You learn so much that way. It will give you an idea of what you can expect during your grow. I started out with CFL's then got an LED light after I researched them a little more. Some people like to do everything by the book, but I go by the K.I.S.S. (keep it simple stupid) method, which works better for me. I screw up too much

 

[Boogenhowzen]

Thanks for the replies guys!!

Curious. If I was to get a led grow light what size would be suitable for a tent 80cms by 80 cmd by 1.6 metres tall? Im going thru the grow journals to check. Soooooooo many awesome growers pout there! Lots to take in

 

[nobodyuknow]

I do my grows in a 2 foot by 4 foot coat closet. My first grow I had a home made reflector hood using CFL's with 1200 watt equivalant, 252 actual watts. On my second grow I bought the TopLED Mars II 400 watt light. At first I thought it was going to be way too much for that little closet, but turns out I think its just about right. I would look at their website. The 400 watt starts at $192 and this is a very well made light, not flimsy in any respects. They also have the Reflector series which you see a lot of people here use, they start at $97.99 and they cover a 2.2X2.2 foot area. Since you havent spent any money on lights yet, my recommendation would be to check out some LED lights before you go with CFL. Theres a lot of different brands out there as you can see, I would do some caparing on prices, and look at the journals to see what others are using before spending any money. I wish I had looked around more before I spent the money on CFL's like I did.

 

[Boogenhowzen]

Thinking of maybe trying one of those reflector series led's and maybe a couple of 80watt cfl's spread around the tent. Im gonna give DWC a crack and see how i go. Seems to be the easiest method from what I've seen so far. Hopefully i can get 4 up in running in individual bucket res. Hoping to get another tent for flowering so i can keep the production line running lol . I have a heap of unknown seeds so hopefully i can work it out sooner rather than later .

Thanks for all replies. Keep the ideas coming

 

[Boogenhowzen]

Change oif plans guys. Goit a old small 2.5 by 2.5 metre shed I'm gonna line the inside and have 2 250 watt mh lights with hopefully 6-9 dwc plants running. Is this realistic? have solar power so power not a issue but don't wanna go crazy on usage. what would you recommend to use for the flowering stage? Is LED a quick, reasonable option or is her a far superior globe to use? Appreciate all comments

 

[Antics]

LED vs HID it basically comes down to preference, as growers have had amazing results with both lights. You have pros and cons to each light.

For a 250w I'd say 1-2 plants each is perfect, 3 is pushing it. I'd upgrade to two 400w HID systems if you plan to run 6-9 plants.

Keep in mind with HID systems you'll need good ventilation and exhaust, and you'll want a dual ballast that runs MH and HPS bulbs. MH for Veg, and HPS for Flower.

But, at the same time, for a first time, I'd be inclined to suggest 1-2 soil plants, or coco, to get your feet wet, so to speak. Unless you have prior DWC experience, and/or growing experience, or gardening experience in general, you might find a small soil or coco grow to be helpful in learning the ropes. The cost to do a small soil or coco grow will be minimal, as you can easily reuse your lights, nutes, etc.. for a grow later in a straight hydro set up.