Need help please!

B

Bigbrama

New Member
I am a first time grower. I am working with a 1' x 2' area. My goal is to grow 2 plants and hopefully get between 2 or 3 ounces in total. I need information on cheap full spectrum lighting. I also have many other questions, i.e. like when to transplant my seedling to final growing pot and what gallon size it should be, I have about $300 to put into a set up and I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions or knows any companies that sell cheap full spectrum lighting. I have a 2 foot wide by 1 foot wide space with about 4 to 5 feet of height to work with. This is for personal use but I want to get about 2 to 3 months of supply with 2 plants. Anyone?
 
You can check out my journal, I'm growing in a cabinet that is 16"X24" with three plants. But honestly, I think that space is more suited to 2 plants with larger pots. Just remember, you're gonna eat up 2 feet of your usable vertical space between pots and lights which leaves you with only 2-3' of space for your babies. I'll be very happy if I pull 3 ounces dry weight, I think 2 is more realistic. However, I think on my next go round with 3 gallon smart pots and better training I might better the 3 ounce mark. $300 is more than enough to get yourself going. Read a bunch of grow journals and come up with a plan, there's a whole lot of knowledge here that's free for the reading.
 
To be honest a large majority just use plain old fashion HPS lighting for flowering.


Philips do a CMH / ceramic metal halide which gives of both suitable spectrums of lighting & the rest also grolux & sunmaster do a dual spectrum HIDs doing roughly the same which can be used for both veg/flowering.
 
in a small area like 2 square feet heat build up could be an issue especially if its constantly closed off with poor ventilation.

A small 100 or 150 watt switchable ballast that uses both MH and HPS bulbs would work, if you dont feel heat would be an issue. However in spaces like this I think CFL would be better suited and heat build up would not be such a issue.

As for pot size, really the bigger the better. I would just try to find containers that are 1 foot by 1 foot by 1 foot or close to it.

If you are growing in soil, using cfls, we can easily do this for under 300, and that will include your seeds/clones your nutes, and setting up ventilation in your grow box. TBH this can be done for half that price comfortably.
 
Thanks for all the feedback guys. I found a super grow led grow light for $229.00, is there a way I can cut down on the cost of the ight and get the same effectivness from it? Also, should I surround the area with tin foil for better light distribution since I have such a small grow area?
 
tin foil does next to nothing, use mylar. or paint the walls white.

hopefully that is a good light and not a crappy one, without a link could not tell you either way.

You already got replies on multiple lights that would be as effective or more effective and that are cheaper.
 
once again thanks guys. I want my first grow to be a good experience not a total failure. I have another question, can i use auto watering pots sold in Walmart when i transplant my seedling? I guess you fill the bottom of the pot through the outside of the pot, there is a hole to do so, and the plant is suppose to draw the water up to the roots, to me I would think that the topoil would dry out, any suggestions? Should i just water the old fashioned way?
 
If you plan on growing in such a small space, I'd recommend going with CFL's. You could do LED's but to be honest, I think you'll get more bang for your buck out of CFL's. The expensive LED's work very well, but the cheapies don't from what I've seen. On the other hand, you could get 200 watts of CFL's and fixtures for under $50 bucks pretty easily. If you got an HPS, you could probably make a 150 watt work in that space, but you would definately need good ventilation (which you need anyway) and you would have significantly better yields. I think you can find a little self ballasted 150 watt HPS for around $80 bucks. But I think if you went any bigger than that with HID's you would have a heck of a time controlling heat, but that might be the way to go if you really need 3-4 ounces out of two plants.
 
canabinerd said:
If you plan on growing in such a small space, I'd recommend going with CFL's. You could do LED's but to be honest, I think you'll get more bang for your buck out of CFL's. The expensive LED's work very well, but the cheapies don't from what I've seen. On the other hand, you could get 200 watts of CFL's and fixtures for under $50 bucks pretty easily. If you got an HPS, you could probably make a 150 watt work in that space, but you would definately need good ventilation (which you need anyway) and you would have significantly better yields. I think you can find a little self ballasted 150 watt HPS for around $80 bucks. But I think if you went any bigger than that with HID's you would have a heck of a time controlling heat, but that might be the way to go if you really need 3-4 ounces out of two plants.
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Is that 150 watts per plant, I may be trying for 3 plants for more yield. I will have to move some stuff around but i can prob upgrade to a 3 x 3 x 3 area.
 
I'll tell you right now, my next run in my cabinet, I'm only doing two plants. The only reason I did three this time was to see which of the three has the best genetics. I know darn well all three of my plants are gonna be severely root bound in those 1 gallon pots. I think you'll get a better overall yield going with two plants in 3 gallon pots.

And no, 150 watt CFL will put out around 15,000 lumens with better penetration than CFL's. So that's all you should need for 2-3 plants in 2 square feet of grow space. It would take around 200 watts of CFL's to get that much light and would have less penetration. But, you could do 200 watts of cfl's for 30-40 bucks pretty easily.
 
I am a bit confsed Canabined, you said 150 Watt CFL will put out around 15,000 lumens with better penetration than CFL's, could you please clarify this for me? Thanks
 
Bigbrama said:
What will the 150 watt HPS do electricity wise? Will I use that for vegging or just flowering?
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Electricity wise 150 watts is 150 watts, whether it's HPS, CFL or a toaster oven. You can veg or flower with any suitable grow light; although, generally blue light (5000-6000 Kelvin) is better for veg and red light (~2000-3000 Kelvin) is better for flowering. But most people who know what they're talking about will tell you that having a full spectrum is best for any condition. But, remember you are not trying to organize a commercial grow, you're trying to pull 3-4 ounces every three months. In that situation, you can veg and flower with a CFL, HPS, MH or LED. If you chose to go CFL, you can mix your spectrum up. If you go HPS, you're not gonna get much of the blue spectrum, but you'll have great intensity and plenty of light to do what you need to.
 
Amazon: Hydrofarm JSV4 4-Foot Jump Start T5 Grow Light System

Are these good for growing in small spaces ???????????
 

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