need help with my grow cab (lighting)

I've been lurking around quite a while and finally decided to start growing indoors, used to grow outside but moved into an apartment. Gonna be growing some white russian as soon as it's finished.
so I built a grow cabinet that is 4 ft. High 3 ft wide and 2 ft deep and I am filling it with strictly cfl's or T5HO's but preferrably cfl's unless someone can convince me otherwise. I want a considerable amount of side lighting cuz I know these plants can fill out if conditions allow it.
So with 2x3' floor space I'm pretty sure I can only get 3 plants in there side by side but I'm not 100% sure. how many lumens would you guys say I need on each side, front and back and also on top if you can give me a min-max range possibly? My next question is what size pot would you recommend? Growing outside has left me with zero knowledge in these 2 areas but as soon as I get all this wired and running I'll be sure to post pictures

I have also have been lurking around and this is my first post. I have read around a lot and i think think i have the answer. I believe the bare min is 3000 lumens per square foot.

ok that's a good starting point now since that might mean your just using overhead light cuz it sounds to me that it would be overkill to put 3k lumens per sq. Ft. On each side wall also I dunno that's 138,000 lumens for 3 plants. I'm still unsure of how many lumens of side lighting I should use but I decided for a starting point I'll have 25,000 lumens up top to be sure.

i dont think you understand... per square ft refers to feet of floor space not the walls and ceiling aswel lol

redeyejediphx said:

ok that's a good starting point now since that might mean your just using overhead light cuz it sounds to me that it would be overkill to put 3k lumens per sq. Ft. On each side wall also I dunno that's 138,000 lumens for 3 plants. I'm still unsure of how many lumens of side lighting I should use but I decided for a starting point I'll have 25,000 lumens up top to be sure.

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View attachment 1206218Ok,I've been here before.First thing to consider is do you hope to achieve fat dense colas ,or would you be happy with smaller less dense nuggets?If big colas are what you're after,then ditch the cfl idea.They just dont put out the intensity needed for big buds.you need hid light for that like HPS or MH.But if due to restrictions you're limited to cfl lighting,you can still grow a decent crop.The general rule of thumb for hid lighting is 50watts per sq.foot.With flouro's you can and should go higher,75 or 80 watts per sq.foot.Even at that level you still dont have good penetration to the lower bud sites.I believe the best way to use a box this size is to setup a scrog screen and train two or three plants in 2 to 3 gallon containers.Using flouros in this type of setup can yield decent results.This pic was in a 2footx3footx4foot high cabinet like yours but using a 400watt HPS in a cooltube with a lot of cooling going on. hope this helps a little bit. Peace

yea tsky that's y I said I thought it would be overkill cuz it just sounded off but I wasn't sure thanks for clearing that up.

ok niteowl I'm startin to get this my next question is how many lumens did that setup put out sorry if I'm asking dumb questions I just understand lumens better especially when going from one type of light to another. But what I think I'm gonna do now is turn the box on it's side and add another foot in height so I'll have 4x4x2 cuz I've been eyeing this 8 lamp 4 ft t5ho that puts out 40,000 lumens and is in my price range of $200 and can get real close to the tops too. The main reason I can't go hid is for heat issues they will make me get a taller box and add more ventilation those are things I just can't manage

if you are using cfl's then ditch the lumen theory and go with a minimum of 65w per plant. check out my sig. its similar to what you want. i run 12 23w cfls (1541 lumens each, fyi ) for 4 plants in a 18"deep x 30"wide x 48"tall box and i have pictures with results... but dont be fooled with cfl's, they get hot when you have a lot of them, but i built a vented hood for mine so i have no issues.

That light puts out 50,000 lumens.