Hiya, made a new account today and i gotta say this site is amazing. I got a couple of questions. I been seeing a lot of people growing with these compact spiral flourescent lights that are connected together in a line or hanging etc...

Q1) Where do you buy the whole lighting setup of 10 CFL lights with holders?
Q2) Will 10 CFLs be enough for 2 plants until the end of flowering stage?
Q3) Can someone post me a link or a picture of a plant grown only under flourescents until harvest and how much it yeilded (Preferably only spiral flourescents)?

I only want to know about the UK retailers. If you have a link please let me know. Thanx

1) any hareware store, walmart or whatnot... you will have major problems finding y clamps from what i hear so you might want to invest in 2 bathroom fixtures to save you the trouble

2) you should shoot around 200 watts+ if you can, id say get 6 - 42 watts to start and move up to 8 if you can

3) i grew under only flure... but the pictures were dropped by photobucket a while ago, i got a harvest of around 1.5 ounces, very very small because of problems i was having, depending on your grow area expect anywhere from 0.25 to 2.5 ounces i find with floures as a realistic first time try

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thanx man... 1.5 isn't bad at all for personal use i reckon.

For Floro's sometimes you're better off just buying a light. You can get a shop light for 10-20 quid and t8 lights for maybe 3-5 quid.

A T5 setup will be more efficent but it will also cost a lot more. The best prices I found were for a 2 light 2 foot (.6m) system for about 35 pounds, and 4 light 4 foot (1.2m) system for 65.

I spent the equivalent of about 45 quid for my home built one and I kinda wish I had a flat tube one now instad of a cfl based one. The CFL's are great for getting below the tops of the plants but you have to make sure you keep a close eye on them because they can be touching a bulb and you won't even realize it.

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Oh, and realize he's talking about total dry weight for his entire grow, not per plant weight. Floro grows are great if you are limited by heat and space but with even a 400W light you cant easily get 1-1.5 oz per PLANT with about 6 plants and once you get your growing dialed in you can expect as much as 2-2.5oz per plant (again with the 6 plants) or more if you're REALLY good.

It all depends on how long you let them grow and how much space you give them.

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My recent grow with CFL's yielded just over 1 oz. or 9 1/8's exactly. I used two 42 watters during veg just above the plants and then when they were the proper height for flowering I added one 26 watter and another 42 watter in two lamps mid way up the plant Killed the third male and then flowered the two females. The whole grow cost about $50 in lights, soil, pots, lamps, a little fan, and carbonated water. You can see my bud from this my first and only grow in the corner.
Watch out for nutrients. You hardly need any at all and you can easily poison your plant i found. So you may want to check that out with others thats what I will be researching for my next grow. Lot of great advice floating around these forums.
If you want a nice tutorial you can go to youtube and type in mr. green and then you will see a guy teaching you to grow over 9 videos, he's very entertaining.

Yea i actually watched Mr. Green recently. He's well gud. Idk if you seen the same DVD as i did but it's funny when he's standing there after his flowers finish and goes "Look at the size of this Ak-47 bud... hmmmm". So are you from UK because i need to know where to get the lamp holders/reflectors for the spiral bulbs. I have found a website that sells the bulbs with the right spectrum. Have a look at the attatched picture. The guy has a HPS and a couple of spirals. I want a setup with that kind of reflectors and holders. Not the HPS coz it's not necessary for me.

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I actually have those same lamps and you can find them for 10 US at an auto parts store,, Walmart, Target. They are for working on your car, a reflector with attached clamp and long cord. They worked well for me. The other thing you can do is order from HID Hut in Florida (they may ship international) and I'm sure you have online grow supply places in UK. I'm going to add more light this time around and use all fullspectrum bulbs, they cost more but they run cooler as CFL and again they made a very drastic growth difference when I added one.