ok so i am about to start my growing experience and i was wondering. do i really need to have an HPS or any sort of HID in general. especially for a closet grow room i mean i dont have the know how to use an HID in a safe way nor do i need the watts that an HPS puts out considering i am only growing three plants. anyway what are your suggestions? if i can get away with growing without an HID i would like to know what type of light i should use? i Really need your help on this one folks your feedback is always a great help. thank you.

No, you don't need an MH or HPS light to grow. If you look around there are a number of people growing with CFL's (Compact Florescent Lights). MH and HPS lights put out more lumens, but are more expensive and produce more heat. CFL's are cheap, easily attainable, small, and produce very little heat, but they don't put out very many lumens. It all depends on how many plants you are trying to grow and how much space you have to grow.

I started with cfl's, soft and cool . Surrounded them with mini cfl's from walmart.....i had 4 to start, ended up with 2 but at peak I had cfl's in the double digits around them. as many as 12 I think, sidelighting etc. you can check her before i put her under 12/12 hps, pics in her somewhere. She was 14" when i put her 12/12 and now, starting 4th week of flowering she's at 34" with grow spots everywhere. Put her thru hell too. so yeah man as far as veg grow stge cfl's will do it. Jut remember you get what you pay for. try to find T5's if poss. Best I could find at Walmart was T8. Meijers has awsome cfl's double tube with reflector for cheeeeeap. I have heard that to be effecient energy wise use HL & HPS....I'm using a 400w of both in a small closet(s). I'm told that to have the lumens needed for good weed the cost of several will be more than 2 low watt HD's. I got mine off "Craigs list" for 200 off some college student so look for bargains. Just so you know and I don't mislead you.....She was under cfl's the entire veg stage except last 3-4 days so i know they work and work well. Trust me though the investment is worth it just in "time" alone. Cfl's can be a pain, constantly adjusting. Kept mine 2' above plants at all times.
\ K rambling...sorry. The folks in here know they're sheeeeeot so read, read, read. You'll find a post in here to answer almost any question you have. Suck all the knowledge you can .....and there is alot here. Good luck bro........

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Youth is the gift of nature, but age is a work of art.
Stanislaw Lec

No!!! you dont. I use CFL for 2 plants. I am happy with my results, but I am not greedy either.

it's about "quality"......not "quantity".....10 Gms 1000 Gms so be it, just be goooooooood

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Youth is the gift of nature, but age is a work of art.
Stanislaw Lec

I was growing with 5 or 6 CFLs for about a month, then I switched over to a 400W HPS (couldn't afford both Mh and HPS). My plants have never looked better.

It depends on how much room you have, and how much you are growing. I have a whole closet with a few plants, so an HID light works for me. If you have the space and money, I would recommend it. It is an expensive investment though ($250 MINIMUM. I got a great deal on mine). You need the bulb (easily 80 dollars for 250W. It only gets higher from there), the socket (10-20 dollars), and the ballast (prices vary, but expect 150-175 minimum). Finally, a HID light is useless without a reflector (a cheap reflector is about $30. They can get into the few hundreds easily). Like I said, I got a great deal on mine because the local grow shop sells refurbished/like new ballasts, so I made out OK.

Also, don't underestimate the heat those lights put out. My 400 W bulb heated up the area by 10 degrees, so you will need a fan (which you should already have to make the stems thick).

Hope that helped.

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I haven't been this deep in the bush since the day I was born

so i'm sorta in the same boat as jake, so if we use cfls, that will veg them for a while, then they will automatically start to flower? or do we change the light? sorry if it's an obvious question. i just didn't quite understand.

Unless they're an autoflowering strain, they wont just flower. You have to change the lighting time from 24/0 or 18/6 to 12/12. It would also help to switch the light over to an HPS at the same time. 12/12 induces flowering and HPS produces the ideal range in the light spectrum for flowering plants.

HIDs also make denser bud, CFLs tend to make fluffy bud

Hello, As of yet i don't have a HID lamp either but just to give you a realistic Price range You can get one pretty cheap. Check out HTGsupply.com they make a house brand ballast that seems like it would get the job done. I plan to get a 400 Watt HPS system and with shipping you can have a complete HPS System reflector, ballast, cords, and bulb at your door for about $140 seems like a steal to me. Check em out

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