48" fluorescent light for entire grow?

[TxState]

This is my first grow and im doing it in a small closet... Today I went to walmart and they have a 48" fluorescent light (holds 2 bulbs) for only $10. I was wondering if I could use this light for the entire grow?? Would this work or would it not be good enough? Just set it to 24/0 then a little less and then 12/12, would this work with this one light? I'm doing a poor mans grow so I don't have the money to be spending on expensive light... like I said this is my first time growing and I am by no means a pro. Help is much appreciated!

 

[BlackThumb]

Re: 48" fluorescent light for entire grow??

Howdy cousin! Good luck on your first grow!
You give a weed light and food, it will grow. You give it more light and it will grow better/faster/stronger. One will be working within this defined parameter somewhere. The spread runs from LED's, Flouro's, HPS/MH, the the top end being our Sun. If your budget dictates Flouro, then Flouro it is.
You may want to spend a little more on the bulbs rather than the fixture, and get a mix of Ag. specific grow & bloom blub's if going for the entire grow cycle. Due to the lack of heat these bulbs generate, you also want to run it close/close & close, to the plant. This inherently sends some extra tending work your way as you will need to constantly raise the lights as the plant dictates. Just plan right now on a daily chore so as to take advantage of the limited lumens, and do yourself a big favor by spending some time and thought to suspending them in a fashion facilitating this goal to make it easy.
Good luck and give us some pics when you get going.

 

[Smokin Moose]

Re: 48" fluorescent light for entire grow??

You need two different spectrums for a successful grow. A warm (red)spectrum for flowering, and a cool (blue) spectrum for veg. So, therefore, your lights have limited use. Check this Boss's Poor Mans Grow

 

[TxState]

Re: 48" fluorescent light for entire grow??

Sounds good... Looks like after school tomorrow I'll be going to walmart and buying me a 48" fluorescent with one cool bulb and one warm for my closet

My plants are 3 days old and about half an inch tall just buy using one 26w CFL. So I can't wait to put them under this bigger fluorescent

 

[Damagoman]

Re: 48" fluorescent light for entire grow??

You'll need a bunch of them(fixtures and tubes) as you grow,
you'll need to Shroud them around the plants as they grow.

 

[CharlieMopps]

Re: 48" fluorescent light for entire grow??

I used those on a previous grow. I got 1 (2 light bulb) fixture to sprout them, 2 fixtures to veg and a 3rd to flower. I still think it wasnt enough lumens. The yield was really crappy and the trichs were reluctant to turn color and it took forever. If you had some cfl's clamped to the sides of the pots to compliment 2-3 48" fixtures that might be enough light. I'd save up a hundred bucks or so and get a hps before flowering.

 

[TxState]

Re: 48" fluorescent light for entire grow??

I used those on a previous grow. I got 1 (2 light bulb) fixture to sprout them, 2 fixtures to veg and a 3rd to flower. I still think it wasnt enough lumens. The yield was really crappy and the trichs were reluctant to turn color and it took forever. If you had some cfl's clamped to the sides of the pots to compliment 2-3 48" fixtures that might be enough light. I'd save up a hundred bucks or so and get a hps before flowering.

How many plants did you grow with those three lights?

 

[Damagoman]

Re: 48" fluorescent light for entire grow??

From my Kentucky grow

 

[TxState]

Re: 48" fluorescent light for entire grow??

From my Kentucky grow

were those grown with 48" fluo's?? if so, how many lights did you use, three?

 

[Damagoman]

Re: 48" fluorescent light for entire grow??

Yeapper, standard 4 foot shop lights with 1 warm whites and 1 cool whites.
that area was setup to hang 6-8 side by side and still be able to drape that many down each end.

2 kept that mom goin' which was almost 3 feet across,
for many months

I like this shot too, same area just lower set of lights:

I had HIDs in the flower room and have only tried once to flower with Flouros and that got interrupted, so it didn't get finished.

CFLs seem to work best and produce less heat than the shop lights:
Boss's Poor Mans Grow

 

[CharlieMopps]

Re: 48" fluorescent light for entire grow??

After the males were eliminated, the light was for 2 females.
This pic is before i eliminated the males. Imo, not enough light to flower.

 

[TxState]

Re: 48" fluorescent light for entire grow??

How far away do you guys think I should set the light from the plants for the first two weeks?

 

[hopegrower]

Re: 48" fluorescent light for entire grow??

you should set the lights 10 cm from the plants

 

[Damagoman]

Re: 48" fluorescent light for entire grow??

I run 'em about 3-5 inches on seedlings and clones.
Measuring from the tips.

You only get at most 12 inches of good(usable) light.

 

[Doctor Dread]

Re: 48" fluorescent light for entire grow??

Hows the grow goin brother?

 

[TxState]

Re: 48" fluorescent light for entire grow??

Hows the grow goin brother?

Well this was my first grow and i've learned a lot from it. My soil is not the greatest and I think this has made a big PH problem for me... My plants have been growing really slow. I just noticed a couple of days ago that they are root bound too. I think they have been root bound for a while and this also has most likely been causing me problems.

There has been a few points in this grow to where I was just going to throw these plants away (there just bagseed) but I went ahead and bought some 10" pots today and transplanted them. So we'll see how they do now....

 

[Doctor Dread]

Re: 48" fluorescent light for entire grow??

I was looking at your pics, and noticed that your old pots were translucent. This is not good at all! Roots should never see the light of day. Make sure your new pots are opaque so there is absolutely no light penetration...

 

[TxState]

Re: 48" fluorescent light for entire grow??

I was looking at your pics, and noticed that your old pots were translucent. This is not good at all! Roots should never see the light of day. Make sure your new pots are opaque so there is absolutely no light penetration...

Yeah I transplanted them into 10" black plastic pots... they're doing much better now and growing a lot faster than before

 

[Doctor Dread]

Re: 48" fluorescent light for entire grow??

good to hear. now you know...

 

[StonerGrower]

Re: 48" fluorescent light for entire grow??

Exactly what I was gonna say! Ide give ya reps but I gotta spread it around.

I was looking at your pics, and noticed that your old pots were translucent. This is not good at all! Roots should never see the light of day. Make sure your new pots are opaque so there is absolutely no light penetration...