Hey everyone, I am new to growing, and was wondering what are the best lights to use? Currently I am using two 100w LED 1500 lumen light bulbs on just one plant, is that enough? Not enough? I'm not sure, the plant seems to be doing fine under them but we'll see. Any advice helps, thanks!
What lights should I be using?
Scientific
New Member
That's enough to keep the plant alive, but to thrive and give big harvests, you're going to want more light. The plant will "do fine" under a small light until it outgrows it, then it will become spindly.
Just for reference, here's a 16" tall dwarf that has 10 CFLs and LED light bulbs on it. (It did well.)
Just for reference, here's a 16" tall dwarf that has 10 CFLs and LED light bulbs on it. (It did well.)
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WoundedKnee
New Member
The more the better ! I have done well getting 3 plants to 4 weeks using a 300w LED and a 130w CFL light. I have another 450w LED ordered to boost the lighting as the flowering starts (they are Autos). As Scientific says, basically, the more light the better.
Scientific
New Member
You have a decision to make: Add more household bulbs or jump in and buy a purpose-built grow light.
If have a bunch of desk lamps and work lights and such around the house that you can put into service with LED light bulbs(recommended) or CFLs, that will definitely work (that's what I did in the photo of what Canada Guy called my "ghetto ass setup" above, and it worked fine).
But if you plan to do this more than once and don't mind making a one-time investment of $100US or more, they buying a 450 watt light (or even a 600 watt) as wounded knee suggested would be the best bet. And you can still use your other lights with the LED lamp. The more the better!
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Thankyou! That helps me out a lot. Sorry for all of the questions, but like what exactly would I need? If I wanted to just do house bulbs how many would I need and how many watt/lumen should they be? And same with the 450w, how many of those would I need? Thanks I really appreciate it. And one more thing, do plants need like some sort of nutrients with them? I've just been using water with mine. Thanks!
Fuzzy Duck
Well-Known Member
Oh...
House bulbs are really not going to melt the ice vs pro or half decent kit can do !
With bulbs for growing we are looking at light spectrum for ideal growing & to save a lot of time, i may direct to this link - The Basics Of Plant Lighting
The grow space, perhaps some form of space converted to a grow area... i'll let your mind run wild on that ! but most of use a converted room, wardrobe or get a tent etc.
The next bit is sorting out suitable ventilation & odour control maybe if your worried about it, perhaps a sane idea at the end of day ??? i don't know, but when ya smoke the darn stuff really hum's the ol gaff out man...
Then you need to think about how ya gonna grow the plant
most start out in soil, maybe coco coir then it is deciding nutrients used for either & ya got a choice depending on growing style... some thing to think aabout bud.
House bulbs are really not going to melt the ice vs pro or half decent kit can do !
With bulbs for growing we are looking at light spectrum for ideal growing & to save a lot of time, i may direct to this link - The Basics Of Plant Lighting
The grow space, perhaps some form of space converted to a grow area... i'll let your mind run wild on that ! but most of use a converted room, wardrobe or get a tent etc.
The next bit is sorting out suitable ventilation & odour control maybe if your worried about it, perhaps a sane idea at the end of day ??? i don't know, but when ya smoke the darn stuff really hum's the ol gaff out man...
Then you need to think about how ya gonna grow the plant
most start out in soil, maybe coco coir then it is deciding nutrients used for either & ya got a choice depending on growing style... some thing to think aabout bud.Scientific
New Member
> If I wanted to just do house bulbs how many would I need and how many watt/lumen should they be?
That's what that photo was for. That's five 23-watt CFL and five 14-or-so watt LED light bulbs on one 16" tall plant. That worked really well (there's a link to the grow in my sig file).
But you can see that by the time you get enough bulbs even for one small plant (ten in the photo), you are approaching the cost of an LED lamp and you have all the complexity. The good news is that you can put the bulbs right where the light has to go. The bad news is that you're always fussing with lots of bulbs.
The watts on the box of LED lamps is usually about 1/2 the watts that are actually used, so one 450 might give you 200 watts so that would be good for about one plant.
That's what that photo was for. That's five 23-watt CFL and five 14-or-so watt LED light bulbs on one 16" tall plant. That worked really well (there's a link to the grow in my sig file).
But you can see that by the time you get enough bulbs even for one small plant (ten in the photo), you are approaching the cost of an LED lamp and you have all the complexity. The good news is that you can put the bulbs right where the light has to go. The bad news is that you're always fussing with lots of bulbs.
The watts on the box of LED lamps is usually about 1/2 the watts that are actually used, so one 450 might give you 200 watts so that would be good for about one plant.
Fuzzy Duck
Well-Known Member
Oh this ol one my ol mucker...
Once we consider basic house hold wattage / light spectrum of said bulb.
To
Some thing off 250w plus of correct lighting per veg or flowering stage to X amount of plants per what ever space... as side note cfl, T5 tubes of 6500k (kelvin) are quite fine for germination/clones & vegging.
Then one must choose over, all over all cost of what ever light set up too over all results one may achieve with equipment used.
What do people expect these days ?
Once we consider basic house hold wattage / light spectrum of said bulb.
To
Some thing off 250w plus of correct lighting per veg or flowering stage to X amount of plants per what ever space... as side note cfl, T5 tubes of 6500k (kelvin) are quite fine for germination/clones & vegging.
Then one must choose over, all over all cost of what ever light set up too over all results one may achieve with equipment used.
What do people expect these days ?
Scientific
New Member
Absolutely, but I think there are a lot of people who just want to give it a try without investing first in a $100 or more light.
But that was my point in the post above, that very quickly the cost of an adequate CFL/LED light bulb setup approaches the cost of a good light. Yes you can grow cannabis with a few bulbs, but what everyone really wants is lots of good herb, and that means lots of good light, and that ultimately means buying a good light (or having a giant box full of light bulbs and sockets like I do...
