Lighting Question

[Bonage]

Newbee indoor grower here. I have five white widow seedlings started under four T5 28W four foot lights. The are a bit leggy but I may have had the lights too far away.

Will that be enough light for the full growth cycle or should I add more?

 

[golfer420]

You can get the t5's real close to limit the stretch. They're usually pretty cool so they can be 2" away. Just put your hand in between to judge.

You can get through the entire cycle with what you have, but it's going to limit the density of the buds. You'll see many people get good results with fluorescents but not outstanding and typically with more total watts. You are only slightly more than 100w. LED's might be good option as they run cooler but pricing on all lighting is much more within reach than it was 3 years ago. Even putting a bunch more CFL's can help (though they can generate some heat). I have one plant running under a Mars II 400 LED which draws around 150w and they say compares to a 250w HPS/MH.

Hope that helps

 

[Mayne]

lol,



Sorry, its Friday,

 

[Mike Wright]

You can get the t5's real close to limit the stretch. They're usually pretty cool so they can be 2" away. Just put your hand in between to judge.

You can get through the entire cycle with what you have, but it's going to limit the density of the buds. You'll see many people get good results with fluorescents but not outstanding and typically with more total watts. You are only slightly more than 100w. LED's might be good option as they run cooler but pricing on all lighting is much more within reach than it was 3 years ago. Even putting a bunch more CFL's can help (though they can generate some heat). I have one plant running under a Mars II 400 LED which draws around 150w and they say compares to a 250w HPS/MH.

Hope that helps

Yeah, I wrapped 2 plants in cfls for my first grow, it just became less complicated (and expensive) to buy an HPS. Moved on to LED's and a really nice LED this week. I would look at it as a long term investment and go for a nice lighting setup. It's probably the most important factor for a good grow.

 

[Old Salt]

Newbee indoor grower here. I have five white widow seedlings started under four T5 28W four foot lights. The are a bit leggy but I may have had the lights too far away.

Will that be enough light for the full growth cycle or should I add more?

As long as you keep the plants small such as in a ScrOG, T5s are good. The more light you can add the better.

 

[PurpleGunRack]

Getting a cheap 250w HPS will get you a lot further

 

[Bonage]

I just picked up a 400w HPS light to supplement the T5s . Should I wait until the seedlings are a little bigger and bulkier in the stems before I add the additional light?

 

[golfer420]

No reason I can think of not to put the light in now. That should help those youngsters be less leggy