just got a T5 today for my lady was using 2 cfls think they were 68w which were 4200 lumens each and she got real real bushy from being 2-3 inch skunk #1 clone so im limited on space and want to flower her now at about 1 foot give or take.. been running 24/0 should i do 18/6? if i jump into 12/12 will it shock her or what? and i wouldnt be able to flower if i put her on 18/6 and switch to the 3400k bloom bulbs correct? dont know if im retarded for asking but just wondering...first grow..need input. many thanks
had 2 cfls just got T5.. switch to flower question
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Brandon8427
Active Member
give it at least 24 hours of darkness then switch to a 12/12 lighting schedule. your plant will almost certainly double in size for flowering, so i'm not sure how big it is but unless its not to big already there's a good chance it will get much bigger. also how many t5's do you have because you also will need more light during flowering in addition to the more light it needs with its larger size.
the plant right now is about 10 inches but is looking really good and is super bushy not much stretch at all but really bushy and new growth on almost every branch and only 1 t5.. just got it from htg.. you think i should just return it and get a 150w hps? that would be sufficient for the rest of the grow right?
Brandon8427
Active Member
if thats an option you definitely want to do that not only will it be enough light but your buds will be much denser an better. if its not you can always add a couple cfl's.
Inthesmoke
Well-Known Member
Stick with the 150w HID. I just switched my cfl grow to 18-6 and started to get a lot of vertical growth boost 3-4 inches in 5 days. I wouldn't give you pant a 24 hour dark cycle before because you take the risk of turning it into a herm and since its your only plant I wouldn't chance it just to shave a few days off flowering cycle. Just jump to 12-12 when your ready and finsh your grow with a nice flush and 24 hours of darkness. Don't make a newb mistake and harvest too early because most essential bud production is done in the last 2 weeks of flower.
TeaTreeOil
Well-Known Member
According to common sense, a little math, and research: A 54w T5 and a 150w HPS/MH are basically the same as far as PAR-light is concerned. That's light plants actually use. HID make a lot of heat, a LOT. T5's run very, very much cooler. 150 HPS is 16k lumens(and lasts under a year, some do only a single grow before replacement, degrades 'quickly'), 15-35% usable, resulting in, at best, 5250 lumens worth of usable photons. Cheap HPS not meant for growing? 2400 usable lumens, and dropping(comparable with a quality 42 watt CFL). A T5 54w(4-foot) bulb is 5000 lumens, and over 90% usable light(last upto two years).
TeaTreeOil
Well-Known Member
Yea... CFLers and their gram/watt ratios that HID users have to lie about to not 'look bad'.
Like:
https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/14256-holefillers-64w-cfl-micro-grow.html
Like:
https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/14256-holefillers-64w-cfl-micro-grow.html
thanks everyone for your input and i guess i will just keep the t5 for now till i get out of my parent house and set up a bigger grow so for now the t5 and airy buds will have to do.... but hey denser buds are nicer but airy ones can be good for another reason but again thanks everyone for their input
TeaTreeOil
Well-Known Member
A 150 HPS isn't going to give you any denser buds. A 400w or above, certainly, and heat, and lots of both!
Just get 3+ of these:
http://www.1000bulbs.com/Light_Bulbs/Incandescent_Light_Bulbs/300_Watt_Incandescents/300_Watt_CFL_Equivalents/31682/?&utm_source=Froogle&utm_medium=shopping+site&utm_campaign=Froogle+datafeed
That's 18,600 lumens for 3 of them for probably $90 with shipping. HID you're paying 2x the power bill for the same plant-performance(known as PAR) compared to CFL. The CFLS are cooler, you place them withing inches of the plant surface, the big wattage bulbs are over a foot long and 3-5 inches wide. In my own research it is clear that there are CFLs that are up to 2.8 times as efficient at producing PAR(plant food in terms of light) than HID at maximally 35% efficiency(which is VERY high for HID, and last a shorter time than CFL).
They tend to make 200W or greater CFLS in mogul bases, that's so you can unhook your existing HPS/MH/MV ballast and attach the 120v/60hz(or other) directly(you can get them with kits to help do this). They're advertised at 150-250 ACTUAL watt CFL *replacements* for 400-600 watt HID(MH/HPS/MV). Same light. Less power. Slower degradation of light quality, and better efficacy. It's GREEN! Not the kind you smoke.
Just get 3+ of these:
http://www.1000bulbs.com/Light_Bulbs/Incandescent_Light_Bulbs/300_Watt_Incandescents/300_Watt_CFL_Equivalents/31682/?&utm_source=Froogle&utm_medium=shopping+site&utm_campaign=Froogle+datafeed
That's 18,600 lumens for 3 of them for probably $90 with shipping. HID you're paying 2x the power bill for the same plant-performance(known as PAR) compared to CFL. The CFLS are cooler, you place them withing inches of the plant surface, the big wattage bulbs are over a foot long and 3-5 inches wide. In my own research it is clear that there are CFLs that are up to 2.8 times as efficient at producing PAR(plant food in terms of light) than HID at maximally 35% efficiency(which is VERY high for HID, and last a shorter time than CFL).
They tend to make 200W or greater CFLS in mogul bases, that's so you can unhook your existing HPS/MH/MV ballast and attach the 120v/60hz(or other) directly(you can get them with kits to help do this). They're advertised at 150-250 ACTUAL watt CFL *replacements* for 400-600 watt HID(MH/HPS/MV). Same light. Less power. Slower degradation of light quality, and better efficacy. It's GREEN! Not the kind you smoke.