Question about lighting and plant nutrients

[2005speedyGTP]

Q: lighting- im starting 4 plants possibly 8 . . what is the most cost effective bulbs to use? how many blubs should I need and what wattage?

Plant Nutrients-Is there anything I can pickup from my local home depot or menards?

p.s. sorry if these are dumb questions, this is my first official grow.

 

[2005speedyGTP]

and by cost effective bulbs I meant cost effective to run them for 16 hours a day

 

[Stonercool]

Q: lighting- im starting 4 plants possibly 8 . . what is the most cost effective bulbs to use? how many blubs should I need and what wattage?

Plant Nutrients-Is there anything I can pickup from my local home depot or menards?

p.s. sorry if these are dumb questions, this is my first official grow.

I've heard that fluroscents work well and so do CFLs, and you can get them at a home department store.

When you're talking about nutes, man, you should go to a hydro store. home despot and menards don't have what you need. Yah, there cheap but there not very good at all. AN is good and you can find it cheap if you look hard enough.

The cheapo nutes are just going to burn out yoru plants and make you grow stuff noone should smoke. you need to use stuff that's for growing weed and you don't get that at home improvemnt stores.

 

[2005speedyGTP]

thanks man! yeah I will be looking for a good fluroscent lights like possibly a small shop light

 

[PrairiePoet]

How big is your grow area? You need to try and get 50 watts per square foot if possible. Though you can grow nice plants at 30.

Prairie

 

[2005speedyGTP]

my grow box is 2'x2'x2'

would 9 watt cfl's be a good choice at all? or should I go with a mini shop light that has the round fluroscent lights?

 

[Droopy Dog]

You best rethink your box first. 2' in height isn't going to work well. More like 4 or 5' is needed.

DD

 

[2005speedyGTP]

there is no top to the box and it sits on the floor in my closet so I have another 7-8 feet if needed. I have one cfl 9 watt bulb on these two plants at the moment just to try them and im seeing no growth. and I have it literally inches above them

 

[PrairiePoet]

there is no top to the box and it sits on the floor in my closet so I have another 7-8 feet if needed. I have one cfl 9 watt bulb on these two plants at the moment just to try them and im seeing no growth. and I have it literally inches above them

Was that a mistake, saying 9 watts? A nine watt CFL isn't going to be of any help.

You have four square feet of grow space. You should try and have at least 200 watts total, giving 50 watts per SF. Or in lumens, try to get 4,000 to 8,000 per SF.

A couple of good 85 to 105 watt CFL will give you the light you need. These are not equivalent wattage's, but actual power consumption.

You might want to go read this:
What are Compact Fluorescents and How Can I use them for Growing?

Prairie

 

[2005speedyGTP]

thanks man! that makes alot more sense now. ive been having a hard time understanding what to use, and been asking but havent really got answers