Hey ... I'm starting my new grow this weekend.... first time growing indoors. I have been researching my ass off for the past month or so, and i decided to go with cfl's.

So I have everything set up but im not sure i have enough lighting. I have 1 23w warm white, 2 42w cools, and a 4 foot 400w fluorescent. In all i would say i have about 6500-7000 lumens. Im going to be growing 3 or 4 plants at the most. My grow closet is 40" by 24" by 60"

Also, would anybody suggest a 20/4 light schedule. I thought about going 18/6 but im not sure on what i want to do yet.

Any suggestions for a newbie?

dont waste your time and energy worrying about 20/4 the extra light doesnt do shit from what ive heard, also if you plan to have 4 plants you will need upwards of about 20000 lumens in a small little closet grow, at least cause i have 22000 lumens on 2 plants in a 4 sq foot area(rubbermaid tubs) and its insane man i worry if i have enough and im using cfls

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My question really goes out to every newbie myself included. Why do we all suck at obvious math? We end up picking the worst freaking lights and loading an area with them. Sure our plants grow during veg growth stage and can sometimes even look pretty decent. However to achieve decent results with cfl's we need anywhere between 6-12 of these lights and fixtures.

lets say newbie A buys 6 cfl's because he is just doing a small op, lets say each bulb is 5$ and each fixture is 8$. Newbie A is a smart cookie and so he buys Y splitter sockets and only needs 3. All is going great and the plants are growing well, so well that Newbie is now finding that the weak CFL's are no longer providing enough light to the bottom parts of the plant. so he buys 2 more Y splitters and 4 more light bulbs for a total of 10 lights, and 5 sockets. 10 x 5$ = 50$ , 5 x 8$ = 40$ Newbie A has spent 90$ to get adequate light.

Newbie B buys a slightly used or cheap new light for 100$ which has a HPS bulb and MH bulb. Newbie B spends 100$ and 25$ shipping. Newbie B ends up with better bud than newbie A because his light produces denser buds.

Newbie C (me) fucks up even worse than CFL monkeys, newbie C buys 400$ plus worth of fluorescents lights in order to push out similar lumen per sq foot (lux) to what newbie B is achieving for 125$. Newbie C eventually realizes that although these weak other light systems do work but can't hold a candle to proper lighting. Newbie C breaks down and copies newbie B. The only saving grace for me *newbie C* is that all these damn fluorescents will make great lighting for keeping a couple mothers and cloning with.

Sorry for such a rude post but I honestly laugh my ass off every time I read a story about Cfl's being used to grow pot. My mistake was even worse and about 300$ more expensive than messing with cfl's, so ya i suck. But with fluorescents and cfl's you actually need two different types of bulbs. When you include buying another 50-75% more bulbs in a warmer white for flowering the logic for just getting a proper light with both bulbs from the get go is even more evident.

Good luck bud, CFL's work but I recommend copying newbie B.

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Damn.. looks like Ill be going back to Home-depot! I also plan on using rubbermaid tubs.. thanks for your help

Ok there, settle down buddy. Im getting a few more 42 watts, then I think Ill be alright

im newbia A, and i agree

definately the ONE HPS light is your best option but my cfls was for first grow and it worked AWESOME with 10 maybe 12 at a time and im flowering nice, but it would be a much easier setup, less stress and everything if i just bought an hps in the first place, so i would suggest that but if you have made up your mind fuckit use the CFLs in the tubs it works quite nice for the size

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Does that $125 include the cool tube and anything else you would need for heat control? How much does 400w jack your electric bill up each month?