Light

[jastoned]

can u grow with a regular light bulb i found a 100w one in my garage

 

[luvvin growin]

NO.Not nearly enough lumen output from that bulb to help you.CFL,flouros,and HID are the only way to grow.

 

[communistcannabis]

yes you can, obviously there are better suited lights for growing but yours will workish

 

[jastoned]

lol i found some cfls but theyre all 13w

 

[luvvin growin]

ok,you can use them,but you are going to have some long,spiny plants with no real bulk to them,dont even waste your time.

 

[TeaTreeOil]

lol i found some cfls but theyre all 13w

That's perfect. Probably 70 lm/W. most CFLS are under 65 lm/W, especially as wattage increases the efficency drops. Though more small bulbs will produce much more heat due to all the ballasts.

 

[jastoned]

can i use flood lights? i have alot of those

 

[TeaTreeOil]

can i use flood lights? i have alot of those

Yes. Far from ideal. Not a good idea at all.

 

[luvvin growin]

yeah,probably not a good idea,most draw more heat than produce light.....

 

[jastoned]

That's perfect. Probably 70 lm/W. most CFLS are under 65 lm/W, especially as wattage increases the efficency drops. Though more small bulbs will produce much more heat due to all the ballasts.

how many lumens would i need per plant?

 

[TeaTreeOil]

how many lumens would i need per plant?

Depends how big your plants are.

Figure a minimum of 13 watts(CFL's actual wattage!) per cubic foot.

 

[jastoned]

Depends how big your plants are.

Figure a minimum of 13 watts(CFL's actual wattage!) per cubic foot.

so how many lumens per cubic feet?

 

[luvvin growin]

plant life has been shown to produce the best results with 3,000 lumens per square foot or more of light,any less will still produce results,just not what you may want.

 

[luvvin growin]

sunlight is considered to burn at an average of 10,000 lumens per in the summer months.So try to get as close as you feasibly can.

 

[TeaTreeOil]

so how many lumens per cubic feet?

Lumens are for humans. A bulb can have a very high amount of lumens and be very poor at growing plants.

Plants need specific frequencies of light to grow the best. This is measured in watts. So I use watts. Fluorescent bulbs designed for plants(Gro Lux, Plant/Aquarium, Blue/Red, etc.) actually have very low luminous efficacy, as little as 20-30 lm/W. But the plant-usable watts are much higher than other fluoros producing 90 lm/W.

13 watts of CFL is around 900 lumens. This is, again, the minimum suggested. Lumens are related to the wattage by lm/W (lumens per watt), and this is termed the luminous efficiency(or sometimes termed efficacy).

 

[luvvin growin]

true that,it doesnt mater as much as the spectrum of light the bulb produces.Thats whats really important.