Lighting for small 1-2 plant grow space

[morcheeba]

I have a small hutch approx. 4ft high and 3ft wide that I'm using for 1 plant atm, maybe another later. I've been doing ALOT of research as to what lights to use and am still unsure. If anyone happens to read this and has any advice, it would be greatly appreciated.

I wanted to use a HPS bulb for the whole grow but from what I've read they are not good for small spaces like this. So then I was thinking fluorescent but I do care about getting quality buds and I don't think fluorescent would be good for flowering.

Does anyone with experience growing in small spaces have an suggestions as to what sort of light to use?

 

[Maer]

LED! Low heat high performance, they are all the rage. Check out the sponsors page, .

 

[morcheeba]

If only I had $800 to spare : (

 

[morcheeba]

I was thinking about using cfl's for the grow. Maybe one or two 125w bulbs, I'm not sure how well it will turn out but its worth a shot eh?

 

[Maer]

125W CFL? they have lifespan problems, you are better off with T5 lights as many as you can pack in I think. LED would be 450 for the 180 watt, should be enought for you small space.

 

[sqwheels]

I don't know if this will help, but I grew 2 plants in a 4 x 5 closet with a Hortilux Blue 400W. It provides both the blue and reds needed for Veg and Flower. It did heat my room to about 90, but and exhaust fan fixed that problem. It wasn't cheap...about $125, but it does the job of both MH and HPS. I bought a large reflector, but I know they sell smaller ones. How tall is this hutch? Can you run an exhaust fan? A little more info would be helpful.

Sorry I think I put this in the wrong spot, I meant to reply to morcheeba's original post.

 

[Bandit420]

Another really good light for this would be the TEK2 Power Compact t5ho light from HTG. It costs $70 with grow bulbs. You would need to buy additional bloom bulbs. Check out this thread here. There's Tek2 bud porn on the first page.
What's the best current T5 fixture? Sun Blaze or New Wave or Tek light?

I use one of these lights in my mother tent that holds two plants. The 105 watt easily does a better job over a 250 watt mh I was using and it runs a lot cooler. The tek2 does put off some heat but nothing a small fan cant eliminate

 

[Giantsfan24]

I have a 250w HID, MH & HPS, for a space just about the size you mentioned. It does great.

T5 or CFL's would work too as you've seen. No matter what light you go with, get enough of it for your space. Don't scrimp on light.

Just mho..

 

[Cptn]

Your space is 4 feet tall.
Run vertical 4 foot T5 HO fixtures all the way around. The light will be amazing.
Since you didn't tell us how deep your space is, we can't plan it out much more than that.
Not sure how much airflow you are running in there, but 12-14 tubes is probably enough to
make your plants think they are growing on the sun.

 

[HiTech-Hate]

What kind of money are you willing to shell out on ventilation?

I would think this figure would be what dictates which type of light to use, if you can afford to move enough air to keep the HPS cool (or buy/devise/build one of those cool (as in cold, not 'stellar/tubular/radical' ) reflectors that carries air over the HPS bulbs to keep it cool) then stick with that.

Your space is small but not crazy small, though you didn't mention the length of the grow space, so I think any lighting system is feasible given the appropriate ventilation.

They make like 150W and 250W HPS bulbs, which would work in a small space, I can't imagine their heat output being too crazy.

I myself opted to go with CFLs this time round in my small grow space (1.5'x2.5x'3.5'), and built my own fixture using PVC pipe with 10 lamps ... and I love it !!! Might up some pics sometime, but i'm sure if you searched for 'PVC CFL chandelier' you should find the journal thread that inspired me to build my own.

Even with just 10 23W CFL lights though I have been having heat issues the whole time (I had it under control finally with the installation of 2 120mm High static pressure scythe exhaust fans pushing 133CFM each $8 each, until I installed the filter on them, and now actually don't know what I am going to do to control heat, as i'm sitting at 85F, with very little space left to cut holes lol).

I've never used T5's for growing so I can't speak to their effectiveness, though since they are basically the same thing as a CFL (except they are long straight tubes), they should work well, these CFLs i'm using are great, and anyone who says you can't grow with CFL's has ... clearly never tried .

LEDs would be your best bet for sure IMHO, but you will never see me supporting any LED panel company by purchasing their panels, until they start selling them for reasonable cost, simply too much greed from these companies, the materials cost a fraction of what they are sellin em for.

Theres just my two cents, hopefully you can get something out of my ramblings

 

[420sav]

too bad this dropped off -- was a good thread