Here's my setup and what do I need now

[LilSteve47]

Well I have plants growing in my outdoor greenhouse, and they are doing great.
However I wish to start growing indoors, more for security reasons than anything else. I have recently constructed a 4'wx8'lx8'h room with door in my garage. I'm sealing the plywood now, with a coat(s) of white elastomere to follow. A solar exhaust vent (1000 cubic foot cap.) is being installed next week. Now my biggest concern is lights. Initially I plan on using 4 Earthboxes (2 plants per box). So my question(s) is what do I need in the way of lights and do I need to set up a system that would allow me to raise/lower the fixtures based on the height of the plant(s). How much power (watts) am I going to need. Are LED's the wave of the future? Please keep in mind that like many of you I'm on a budget and am not above using recycled part and materials. Oh yes as Earthboxes have a overflow/drainage hole, I'll be adding a system to catch and reuse the overflow water. Any and all suggestions will be appreciated and read, and maybe even be implemented. Thanks again and there will be pictures as the project proceeds.

 

[greenmonkey]

LEDs will most likely become the new lighting source we will use, but at this time they are not strong enough to grow buds that we like. the best lights will be HPS or MH, you can use flouros for vegging with good effect but when flowering, HPS will give the best bang for the buck.
as for the raising and lowering your lights, ive always gone the lay route and placed the lights in a fixed position and raise and lower the plants to the right distance. much easy to put a box under you plants than rig up some pulley system for the lights.
good luck with your grow, sounds like youve got most everything set up.

 

[LilSteve47]

Thanks for your input, just one question what are "HPS or MH, flouros" flouros I think I understand. fluorescent lights (fixtures?) but what type of bulb/tube? glowlux? (do they still make them?)....again thanks for the input

 

[Vexer]

I think its easier to move the lights then the plants, even more so if you are going to use earthboxes and put 2 plants in each. Lol yea they still make fluros lights, they have all kinds of bulbs like daylight and soft white light. HPS is a high pressure sodium light and MH is a Metal Halide light. Both known as HIDs, or High Intensity Discharge lights.

MH lamps produce light by passing or arcing electricity through vaporized argo gas,mercury, throium iodide, sodium iodide, and scandium iode within the quartz arc tube. MH lights are the most efficient source of artificial white light available today.

HPS lamps produce light by passing electricity through vaporized sodium and mercury within an arc tube. HPS lights have the longest life and best lumen maintenance of all HID lights. But most hps lights have little blue in their spectrum, which makes plants stretch between internodes. But this does not necessarily diminish overall harvest.

Just a little info on mh and hps lights.

 

[LilSteve47]

Vexer

Thank you for your info....moving the lights seems a lot easier than moving the Earthboxes. I'm still compiling data about lighting and what you provided is going to be helpful, I'm still not sure about all the abbrev. but I know more now thanks to you....

 

[Vexer]

Yea its all kinda confusing at first lol, don't worry though it gets easier as you go along and learn more. I can't wait to see some pictures. Hopefully you'll set up a grow journal so we can keep up with your progress. Good luck on the grow brother, peace.

 

[LilSteve47]

Well I'm getting the feel for the correct kind of lights, now I need to figure out how many I need. keeping in mind I'm using Earthboxes with 2 plants per box, do I have 1 light fixture (in the case of Flouros) per box? I haven't had a chance to check all the light sources yet but I'm working on it.

 

[LilSteve47]

OK lesson learned......install the vents before you start to paint the inside of your room, While I like "self medicating" the fumes given off by the sealer isn't all that pleasant. So the walls are only about a third of the way sealed. I'll finish after the solar powered exhaust vent is installed. Now for some holistic headache meds......

 

[Ms.Fox]

^ Yeah. That probably would have been a good idea to do that before. ;-) Although, I won't say its never happened to me.

 

[gfo1]

if you're on a budget go with fluorescents and get compact fluorescent lights they are more effective and can be placed so much easier than the traditional tube fluoros! and they're relatively cheap compared to hps or mh lighting although not as effective.

good luck on the grow!

 

[L8tNightSkunk]

I agree cfls are easy cheap and convenient also energy savers. Iam currently using cfls in my first grow