New Grower Need all the help I can get

Hello everyone,

I'm a new grower just getting everything set up and needed to turn some where for help. The only thing I really got is my seeds lol. Today I just purchased a light timer, two farm light dome things like used for a heat lamp in a reptile habitat. a fan and thats pretty much it. I'm going to grow in my closet. the area I'm working with is about 3.5 Feet long x 2 feet wide x 3 feet tall. I have the wooden pull across the top where clothes would hand at and that where I plan on hanging my lights. I'm totally confused on all these different lights you can get. All I plan on is for personal use of a maximum of 3 or 4 plants. What lights can I use that will work for me. Also I need all the baiscs i know how to germinate but need to know what is the best method to use should I move right to permanent home or should I use jiffy cups. Also what is the best soil I can get I heard many things and I just need to have something that will work. like I said this is small time and don't need anything to extensive. Then I questions nutrients and baiscally everything else. So can someone just give me a quick guide line on how I should start out and I will ask questions as I go on.

I'm actually hoping just to use CFL's but I need to know about how many to get and what I can use to attach them to. Will the dome things I bought help at all with CFL's? Just basically right now I want to make sure I have everything ready before I even attempt to germinate. So any advice will be much appreciated.

try looking for these type of cfl 85 watt equilivent 400 watts = 5000 lumens cool white im using 1 and 3 32 watt equiv.150 watt 5100k and 6 23 watt 100 watt equiv. and im doing pretty good

So do I need thoose lights on all together at the same time? If so how do I go about setting them up in a closet. What sockets should I try finding and how can I basically set up all thoose lights? Or is there an easier way to go where you don't need to purchase so many lights? I'm just trying out my options to see I definitely don't want to go with hid and all the special ballast lights because like I said I'm not going to be doing this for anything but personal use?

TheForgotten1 said:

try looking for these type of cfl 85 watt equilivent 400 watts = 5000 lumens cool white im using 1 and 3 32 watt equiv.150 watt 5100k and 6 23 watt 100 watt equiv. and im doing pretty good

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danm, ive never seen a cfl with that much wattage...I know you can't find those at your local walmart...how much are they and I have some 26 watt daylight cfls' that say 6500K...not sure if thats lumens or what, and would it be MORE than the 85 watt-er...?

catmandoob said:

danm, ive never seen a cfl with that much wattage...I know you can't find those at your local walmart...how much are they and I have some 26 watt daylight cfls' that say 6500K...not sure if thats lumens or what, and would it be MORE than the 85 watt-er...?

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Hey catmandoob abour how many of those lights (26 watts) do you have and how successful are you? Also where did you get the sockets to put the lights in and how do you have your lights set up in your grow area. Do you have pics that I could take a look at?

OR! Would it just be easier for me to use a standard florescent light 4 foot tubes I don't really want to have to put like 9 cfls in somewhere when I can just install a ballast for florescent lights would one light be ok for 2 or 3 plants? Also is this way eaiser for me to go with or does anyone have any other suggestions? Sorry I'm just really need to this and trying to find out what the best way is but also don't want huge amounts of lights or a big increase in electricity bills.

sorry no pics yet...I just started my first grow a few days ago so im still waiting on sprouts. my g/f and I have been a long time toker but just a newbie grower. we've read alot on here and did much research so i hope we wont run into many probs...but you know how that goes. Anyway, we have 4-26 watt cfls'. we are planning on once the seedlings sprout putting the bulbs around the net pots that they are in. we are making our own flood and drain and have everything but the water pump which we'll be getting tomorrow or the day after...anyway two of the four lights are screwed into a y, which is screwed into your average $3 pullchain fixture, which i installed on a lamp cord to plug into the wall...(no worries, im an electrician..lol)

if you go with 1 150 watt hps and 4 23 watt cfls at 1600 lumens each bulb in a 2x2 grow space youd be ok.so invest in a 400 watt hps grow light system and use your cfls for vegging..

the the 85 watt equivalent to 400 watts total 5000 lumens 6500k.i paid 15.99 for at fresno ag in fresno,ca homedepot does not carry it max is 150 watt equivalent..if you cant find it locally look for it online you will find the 400 watt cfl

The only problem is I'm working on a budget and can't afford over $300 ballast for the lighting. I'm not to in on getting as much yield as I can like I said this is personal use I'm just trying to get started and get something going the easiest way possible. what are my other options that would be cheaper even though I may not get a big yield?

check craigslist for lights. I saw a working 400watt hps with ballast without the hood for 100 bucks the other day!

I'm really interested in just trying the whole cool white and red light florescent tubes for my first grow and then maybe later on I can upgrade to more expensive lighting I've read many places have had success with just the cool white and red light plan and I'm just wondering if I can get some help starting from there. What are the best lights to get you know like the watts I'll need and the right ballast. Would just a ballast from walmart like a shop light work for me or do I need something different? Also I'm not all familiar with ballast work do I need to modify it so I can plug into a regular electrical socket or does it come ready like that? Sorry if i'm being a pain I just really am totally new to the whole growing scene and can afford to push out alot of money at this point as I still need to get the soil and everything but am waiting until I have my area set up. Would a picture of my area maybe help you guys out to help me?

hey haxxor19 take a look at this this will tell you how much lighting/lumens youll need per sq. foot. it helped me out..hope it helps you out

Quote:
Watts have nothing to do with light or growth. Watts measure how much power a light fixture uses to produce light. You can tell how efficient a light bulb is by looking at watts. A 23 watt CFL produces as much light as a 100 watt incandescent...even though the incandescent has more watts, it's useless. See what I mean?
What you care about is light...more specifically, light energy. That's what plants use during photosynthesis/growth. Light is measured in lumens. In my experience and reading, lumen amounts per sq. ft./sq. m. look like this

2000 lumens sq. ft./21500 lumens sq. m. = Absolute minimum for growth. You won't get much from this, especially after the plant has grown a bit. Not really enough to flower well.

3000 lumens sq. ft./32250 lumens sq. m. = Pretty Good growth. Enough light for the entire light cycle, although your yields may be lower.

4000 lumens sq. ft./43000 lumens sq. m. = Very good growth. Once you pass around 3500, growth rate and ability goes up fast.

Over 5000 lumens sq. ft./53750 lumens sq. m. = Optimal growth. Dense growth in all stages.

Keep in mind that using reflectors, using mylar or having flat white walls, and keeping your lights close to your plants keep you from wasting lumens. It's not just about having light, it's about getting the light to your plants. IMO, people ofter overbuy lights. This creates more light, but the light isn't always hitting the plants. And that creates more heat and ventilation issues, which causes stress problems.
That's why it's still impossible to tell anything about growth or yield based on just lumens. A guy that has an HPS that is too far away from plants that have no walls near them and no ventilation may get poorer results than a grower with CFLs that uses reflectors and has a couple of lights under the canopy in a well-ventilated spot.
HPS lights are often said to generate more heat than CFLs. That's not really true...it's just that they are more efficient at producing light, and there's a smaller surface area on the bulb itself for the resulting heat to dissipate. That means more ventilation. But the higher amount of lumens per watt means you use less power and get greater light penetration through your canopy. Still, I'm a believer that well used CFL's can give you great grows with less ventilation and heat issues. If you're in a small to very small area (less than 4 sq. ft./.25 sq. m.), I'd consider the advantages of CFLs in that way.
But HPS is more efficient. A typical 250 watt HPS bulb/unit will produce about 27,000 lumens. I've seen people use a 250w in a 3' x 3' room and get good results. That's 9 sq. ft. which = 3000 lumens a sq. ft. (Really, a 250w HPS is better in a smaller area.) to give you an idea of the difference in efficiency of CFL vs. HPS, think of this.

23w CFL = 1600 lumens
30w CFL = 2000 lumens
40w CFL = 2600 lumens
85W CFL = 5000 lumens

compared to

150w HPS = 14000 lumens
250w HPS = 28000 lumens
400w HPS = 50000 lumens
600w HPS = 90000 lumens

So you can see that HPS is more efficient than CFL...and as you get into bigger HPS bulbs, it becomes a lot more efficient. There's also fewer hassles with multiple cords and saved money on your energy bill. If you've got a big area and/or you can deal with the heat and ventilation, HPS is the way to go in flowering. Still, I'm a believer in small HPS lights and combo HPS/CFL grows...if you've got a 2' x 2' room, you can use a 150w HPS and 4 23w CFLs from Wal-Mart and get a terrific grow with very few heat issues


hope it helps you out..