A few unrelated noobie questions about light distance, damping off and a growlight

Hello! Sorry for the long ass post but I wanted to get me started asap without spamming this poor forum too much, so here we go! I will try to make it nice to read.

So I popped two seeds 4weeks ago and as one of them died to damping off one week ago
I started another one.

I was initially planning to grow both of them using only the sun in my green house but as I live in a country very well known for its shitty weather, the poor plant that survived is leggy as fuck and is currently kicking into flower with only 4 sets of leaves and no side branches...
If I'm lucky enough there will be enough for one joint.
BUT enough with the past! the future is where it's at!

Due to this unfortunate and still ongoing experience, I decided to grow a fresh new one indoor with lights that, unlike the sun, you can force to shine with full on brightness 18hours a day.

As all of this was decided in a rush, I'm using two 20Watts LED work lights. They run cool enough so that I can touch and hold the glass without too much discomfort.

So as I heard "put your hand where the plants are, if it's too hot for your hand, it's too hot for the plants" I put the lights as close as possible. maybe 6 to 9cm away from the top of my seedling and she's doing freaking amazing! Barely even 1 week old and already as big as the first one was after two whole weeks if not bigger!


So here's my first question:
I was wondering: I heard plants tend to grow into their space.
So with lights as close as mine, do my plant risk having many sets of leaves yet still being "miniature" because it would try to avoid touching the light? Or will it get bigger just like normal and just grow into the lights so that I will have to raise them? I'm not tryna grow a bonzai lol

My second question would be: As I lost a seedling to damping off because of overwatering, do I risk killing my new one the same way if I start giving it enough water to get a runoff? I don't feel safe getting the soil around the stem wet or even moist so I tend to water in circles around the plant. I feel it will help to spread the roots better too but that's only in theory...
Also not having a runoff fried 2 sets of leaves from my 4weeks old one and I don't wanna get into this kind of troubles again!

So now third question: I guess I still have one or max two weeks for my 2X20watts LEDs to do their jobs correctly and I will need to upgrade to something better.

-I wanted a tent, but my parents don't want something that big and expensive.
-Then I heard about spacebuckets, but I don't want something that small and wonky.
So I talked them into making one from a big trashcan and they seem to like this idea way better.
I heard led UFO's are where it's at for bucket lights so I did a quick search in amazon and found a few really affordable options.

I'm thinking about going with the Roleado 180Watts but I wanted to have your opinon.
I heard they were all manufactured by the same chinese company and worked alright.
I don't need the best. Just something that will grow a few plants without dying on me. It's only around 50 euros anyways.

bumpiddy bump?

Cannaprentice,
You're going to have to change your name once you become experienced. lol

I actually think you will get a better response with separate threads that hone in on a specific issue. And your micro-grow concept, while cool and interesting, is an area many growers know little about.

OK lets see if I can help at all. For seedlings, to keep them from getting too leggy, keep the light as low as possible. To do that without risking heat damage...best to use flouros. Try and keep stem and soil around the stem from being sopping wet. Damping off is a fungus problem. I bought some elemental powered sulfur and gently apply that to the soil around lower stem. Helped a lot. Sulfur is a natural anti-fungal as well as useful by the plant.

I'm gonna stop there. Is there a micro-grow thread here? Maybe try there if you don't get the info you need.
JD

At the risk of being yelled at by 'experts', I'd go beyond the UFO type, though they are cheap, a better way is something like the Vander line. See them on E-Bay. I just bought one of their "1000 Watt" lights, actual draw ~140 watts for ~$60 USD.
Good spectrum and plenty of light for one or two lst/scrogged ( trained) plants.

I believe their "200 Watt" UFO's are ~$26 USD. https://www.ebay.com/itm/401263084782 They are probably only 65-80 watts direct draw but, with better LEDs that some of the old UFOs.

If you are going to limit the light, you'll have to limit the height of your plants so you get good distribution through the canopy, other wise you will sacrifice yield. So for an inexpensive learning grow you don't need much to learn how to get an oz or more from each plant. You will also have to limit the circumference of the plant because weak lights will loose effectiveness quickly if too far from the canopy. So your ~120 degree cone of light is pretty useless above ~18" (500 mm?)
So picking the light determines the area you can cover with useful radiation. Using a standard 50 W per Sq Ft, two 75 watt UFO lights 'should' cover 3 sq Ft, give or take. Ideally the canopy should be about 6-8" deep, just buds sticking up! You can do this easy with some strains in a LST/scrog, harder with some others. The AK-47 or Bubba Kush seems to be useful for this type of grow, though YMMV.

So a minimal grow could be made from two storage tubs (~17"X27"x 17" are my Rubbermaid Ruffnecks I use for this) a Tub on the bottom to contain the inevitable spills and hold two 6" high pots an inch off the bottom, and one tub on top ( upside down that hold the lights in the top and a computer fan to circulate air. This would give you a 17"x27"x 20" grow space with 7" of pot room. With a couple of fast AK-47 autos you could, with the help of the Green Goddess, get ~150 grams in 8 weeks, and learn a lot about growing without dumping hundreds of pound in the setup. with eight of these you could get ~150 gm a week in a staggered progression.

Just a thought. Good Luck!

@JohnDee
I raised the light a little bit because the edges of the leaves were starting to curl up, it doesn't seem to have slowed it down though. It's getting a bit taller but the nodes are still pretty close together, not leggy at all, so I'm very happy about this!
And I'll note that thing about sulfur, I'm pretty sure I have some already!

@GoatSoup
That's noted for the vander. You're sure it's quality right? because 140watts from an advertised 1000watts don't make me wanna trust them at all...
roleadros are a bit more expensive but the actual draw seems to be much closer from the advertised one.

And if ufos aren't that great, I can always build a wooden cabinet that's around the dimentions of a trashcan, this could fit one of these rectangular grow lights.
My only constrain is to keep it small enough to fit it in the garage so no problem there!
yeah I plan on training her flat with a lot of lst. actually I'm a couple days away from the end of the second week and it's looking like I will be able to start soon.

about the last part, it's a bit too ambitious for me! hahaha
I don't smoke much, maybe 1 to 3 grams per month usually and I mostly do this for fun and because I think it's interesting.
so even just one ounce of nice bud will last me plenty.
And I have absolutely no interest in selling it. I'm doing enough "illegal" shit as is ^^

https://www.amazon.com/VIVOSUN-Hydroponic-Observation-Window-Growing/dp/B079DM1WCW/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1528229783&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=grow+tent+30+x+18&dpPl=1&dpID=51jfu7fE-hL&ref=plSrch

I veg in one of these, but you could definitely do a full grow through in one.

Not to deter you from a DIY cabinet. I'd skip the trash can though. Ventilation will always be your biggest problem there.

As for lights, depends on your budget. Those Roleado 180s are only around 80 true watts so it's not much, even for one small plant. Almost better off with half a dozen CFLs from the hardware store. Better yet a 300w blurple LED. Better yet still, a quantum board and driver, or small cob setup!

Hi Cannaprentice,
I used T-5s close as I could get without burn. Nice tight nodes like you're getting. Everything is a balance.

On the sulfur, I also used it with seeds. Never lost a seed to mold after that. Nice when you can use something cheap and natural to solve an issue.
Carry on,
JD

Cannaprintice:
Vander-Quality? They are cheap but work well. They call their lights "1500" or "1000" for the number of LEDs x the max rating of the LEDs, so 150 10watt LEDs in the "1500" vs 100 in the "1000". Build quality looks good to me and after 35 years in electronics, I think I know about quality. The reason I like them is because $, and they generally post their specs and their LED spectra, unlike the Rolando etc lights are mostly hype with no relation to the specs. I've only been using my '1500" for a couple of months but my plants really like the light. You can get it down close (6") to the plants and get high intensity or raise it about a foot or two and lower the intensity for seedlings.

I've used 1 Kw HPS and 500 w T5HO's before and had good luck with them, but always had temp problems in my grows. Now I'm running ~390 Watts ( from the wall) in my bath tub grow and only rising the temp a few degrees, albeit with better ventilation this time.~ 200 CFM fan and 4" filter. As for CFL's they have mercury in them and I try not to spread pollutants around.

If you are planning a grow cabinet, think about Leak containment, ventilation and light intensity in relation to the size of the grow planform. Your Dad will like that. Check out the Trigonometry of the light coverage, 120 degrees beam width is quite a fast spread. Thinking about these secondary issues upfront will allow you to avoid a lot of problems.

Also consider the heights of the plants, some strains want to be Tall and Willowy, some short and bushy. tall plants give you a penetration problem, bushy plants give you a different problem. Haze strains takes a loooong time to mature. Don't try them until you have a few faster grows under your belt and have learned to cure your harvest.

Good Luck.

Cannaprentice said:

So now third question: I guess I still have one or max two weeks for my 2X20watts LEDs to do their jobs correctly and I will need to upgrade to something better.

-I wanted a tent, but my parents don't want something that big and expensive.
-Then I heard about spacebuckets, but I don't want something that small and wonky.
So I talked them into making one from a big trashcan and they seem to like this idea way better.
I heard led UFO's are where it's at for bucket lights so I did a quick search in amazon and found a few really affordable options.

I'm thinking about going with the Roleado 180Watts but I wanted to have your opinon.
I heard they were all manufactured by the same chinese company and worked alright.
I don't need the best. Just something that will grow a few plants without dying on me. It's only around 50 euros anyways.

Click to expand...

What you like with a soldering iron and power tools? You'd be amazed at what you can do for €35-40 and some scrap metal, cable and string. I reckon she'll need another 4 weeks or so (Taken earlier with standard 330ml/11oz beer can for comparison).

Heat will be your enemy no matter what, it's an enclosed space, so no matter what you'll need good extraction, but given your usage I'd be tempted with one plant under at least 100 "real" watts of led, like a QB where you can put the driver OUTSIDE the bucket so you're not dealing with heat from that too, unlike the UFO.

Another reason I'm thinking "board" is valuable headroom. Doesn't matter if it's a bucket or a 2' tent, height will be at a premium. You don't want a plant touching a bare LED, the burn is instant and terminal to whatever touches, leaves a big white spot, so losing an extra 5cm/2" to allow airflow around the UFO, unless you mount it onto the bucket so it vents directly out, could be an issue.

Your 180 uses 85 "real" watts, so that's what we go by. What you see in the pic cost me €35 for parts from China (led strip and 360w power supply), cables were something I had lying around, back panel used to be an old PC side panel, pulls 137w from the wall (current measured and calculated from there), can be improved for same price, hangs on sisal string, on Friday plant is 8 weeks since breaking ground and I reckon has maybe 4 to go so inside "real" window for harvest time on that auto. The truth will be in what there is at the end, as long as I don't kill her first as is my usual fashion.

Heat? You can hold your hand against it all day, but I keep it at least "a flat hand width" away and plants seem to like it at that. Something like that, or obviously a better version using better materials (a 65w QB would probably be an improvement on what I'm using), would likely do better thanks to the extra headroom you get as well as being able to keep one heat source, the driver, externally so you're not dealing with that in an enclosed space too.

Gentlemencorpse:
Yeah a small tent would work. Now I can't deny I started this idea because I'm a DIY freak so, of course,
just a few days of thinkering about made me forget the trashcan idea as the homemade cabinet speaks to me on a spiritual level
I started to work on it with sketchup and things are coming along nicely.

Depending on the budget and my allowed space, I might double the width to accomodate two plants but as of now, it's 60x60cm (24x24") for the grow room.
I have no interest in making a veg room because I won't be allowed to run it non stop. I'll just start a grow whenever I'll run low on ganja.

About the lights, I've seen nice grows done with them but I'll believe you and go with something bigger.
But take into consideration that I don't have more than 100euros for the light.

I've heard a lot of good things about cobs and actually, the two 20watts floodlights I use are cobs and they've been working really good so far.

But my problem is I see a lot of brands: roleadro, top planet, CF grow, ...
I'm not sure I'd see a lot of difference, I'm pretty sure all the chips come from the same chinese manufacturers anyways.
What's more, the fact nobody seems to advertise with the actual power draw is really annoying!
Makes it so choosing is a real hassle, but I'd like to order it asap as my seedling is quickly bulking up!

I want to grow one, maybe two seedling at best and where I live street stuff is ok at best so almost anything grown with love and guaranteed without pesticide would be a huge step up.
If I could pull one to two ounces per plant that would already be over my expectations.
I want to do crazy lst so height and light penetration wouldn't be a real issue. i'll do my best to keep them short and flat as a pancake!

I just want a reliable light, not too expensive and that I could find on the european amazon (uk, fr, de, ...)
because even if they have a lot more stuff in america, I don't want to pay none of that crazy ass electronics import taxe...
I get it everytime and last time I had to pay more than 100euros! So no thanks!

@GoatSoup
To get back to what we were talking about, knowing that the name is still precise in it's own way is reassuring and so this brands becomes more and more appealing.
I see a "600watts" for less than 40euros and I see two virtually identical 1500watts except that one goes for 160euros and the other one for only 60euros... confusing!

But If you say it works out for you I'll believe you
and it's cool because I comes from germany so it won't cost too much to have it delivered.
Do you think the 1500 at 60euros is a scam? I never ordered anything from ebay before.
Because if the 600watts is around 100watts of real power draw and ensures me I won't be getting scammed, I'll settle with it no problem.

As for designing the actual box, I already started to explain it to the other kind soul who's helping me out (much appreciated!!!!) But I'll further my explanations to cover your comment aswell

I started designing my cabinet with the spread and pot height in mind already. (60x60cm or 24x24)
As fucking stretchy as it is, my ongoing failed grow is still of manageable height and I think something like 120cm or like 48" would do. especially because I don't want to deal with photoperiods.
I only plan on doing autos because leaving them on 20/4 for the whole time is so damn convenient.

I also designed a smaller compartment on the side. It's partitionned to accomodate a carbon filter in one half while the other is vertically divided in two compartement made to accomodate two things:
1) a humidifier or a dehumidifier depending on if it's vegging or flowering.
2) my nutes, ph tests and reference solutions, lst wire, trimming scissors, etc, ...
there's also room for all the powerstrips I'll need of course.
my fan layout would be one big computer fan right behind where the plant is supposed to go (need to stay stealthy) and two or three stacked for exhaust as I would need to push through that carbon filter and avoid positive pressure.

If I decided to go with a grow room that would fit two plant, I'd just have to do it 60x120 or 24x48"
two swinging doors instead of one and I would have to add an ocillating fan in the middle because my intake wouldn't blow enough air for two plants and I don't want to put one behind each plant because that means I would have to double the exhaust as well and I don't want something that loud.
I think I got it all figured out and I'm pretty good at woodworking!
the only real struggle is with the light...

80, 180, 200, 300, 600, 1500???
Dual cob that looks like your typical growlight (fan housing)???
Dual cob that's passively cooled???
two mono cob passively cooled instead of the dual cob that's actively cooled to put one light exactly on top of each plant in the case I would be growing two???
classic leds???
Is my 99999999wats led actually 3watts??????
I really don't know what to believe in anymore!
all I know is my seedling is 12days old and already has 4 sets of leaves standing at like 3inches tall and it's getting quicker!
I need to order whatever is my best option asap

@Fubard
oops, you posted when I was writing haha
like I didn't write enough of a novel already

Looks really good! I'm good with an iron for stuff like guitar wiring and guitar effect pedal electronics but I'm not ocmfortable at all around dangerous voltage/amperage.
I'll stick with what I find on the marked. with enough chance those 600watts vander lights are around 100real watts?

Cannaprentice said:

Gentlemencorpse:
Yeah a small tent would work. Now I can't deny I started this idea because I'm a DIY freak so, of course,
just a few days of thinkering about made me forget the trashcan idea as the homemade cabinet speaks to me on a spiritual level
I started to work on it with sketchup and things are coming along nicely.

Depending on the budget and my allowed space, I might double the width to accomodate two plants but as of now, it's 60x60cm (24x24") for the grow room.
I have no interest in making a veg room because I won't be allowed to run it non stop. I'll just start a grow whenever I'll run low on ganja.

About the lights, I've seen nice grows done with them but I'll believe you and go with something bigger.
But take into consideration that I don't have more than 100euros for the light.

I've heard a lot of good things about cobs and actually, the two 20watts floodlights I use are cobs and they've been working really good so far.

But my problem is I see a lot of brands: roleadro, top planet, CF grow, ...
I'm not sure I'd see a lot of difference, I'm pretty sure all the chips come from the same chinese manufacturers anyways.
What's more, the fact nobody seems to advertise with the actual power draw is really annoying!
Makes it so choosing is a real hassle, but I'd like to order it asap as my seedling is quickly bulking up!

I want to grow one, maybe two seedling at best and where I live street stuff is ok at best so almost anything grown with love and guaranteed without pesticide would be a huge step up.
If I could pull one to two ounces per plant that would already be over my expectations.
I want to do crazy lst so height and light penetration wouldn't be a real issue. i'll do my best to keep them short and flat as a pancake!

I just want a reliable light, not too expensive and that I could find on the european amazon (uk, fr, de, ...)
because even if they have a lot more stuff in america, I don't want to pay none of that crazy ass electronics import taxe...
I get it everytime and last time I had to pay more than 100euros! So no thanks!

@GoatSoup
To get back to what we were talking about, knowing that the name is still precise in it's own way is reassuring and so this brands becomes more and more appealing.
I see a "600watts" for less than 40euros and I see two virtually identical 1500watts except that one goes for 160euros and the other one for only 60euros... confusing!

But If you say it works out for you I'll believe you
and it's cool because I comes from germany so it won't cost too much to have it delivered.
Do you think the 1500 at 60euros is a scam? I never ordered anything from ebay before.
Because if the 600watts is around 100watts of real power draw and ensures me I won't be getting scammed, I'll settle with it no problem.

As for designing the actual box, I already started to explain it to the other kind soul who's helping me out (much appreciated!!!!) But I'll further my explanations to cover your comment aswell

I started designing my cabinet with the spread and pot height in mind already. (60x60cm or 24x24)
As fucking stretchy as it is, my ongoing failed grow is still of manageable height and I think something like 120cm or like 48" would do. especially because I don't want to deal with photoperiods.
I only plan on doing autos because leaving them on 20/4 for the whole time is so damn convenient.

I also designed a smaller compartment on the side. It's partitionned to accomodate a carbon filter in one half while the other is vertically divided in two compartement made to accomodate two things:
1) a humidifier or a dehumidifier depending on if it's vegging or flowering.
2) my nutes, ph tests and reference solutions, lst wire, trimming scissors, etc, ...
there's also room for all the powerstrips I'll need of course.
my fan layout would be one big computer fan right behind where the plant is supposed to go (need to stay stealthy) and two or three stacked for exhaust as I would need to push through that carbon filter and avoid positive pressure.

If I decided to go with a grow room that would fit two plant, I'd just have to do it 60x120 or 24x48"
two swinging doors instead of one and I would have to add an ocillating fan in the middle because my intake wouldn't blow enough air for two plants and I don't want to put one behind each plant because that means I would have to double the exhaust as well and I don't want something that loud.
I think I got it all figured out and I'm pretty good at woodworking!
the only real struggle is with the light...

80, 180, 200, 300, 600, 1500???
Dual cob that looks like your typical growlight (fan housing)???
Dual cob that's passively cooled???
two mono cob passively cooled instead of the dual cob that's actively cooled to put one light exactly on top of each plant in the case I would be growing two???
classic leds???
Is my 99999999wats led actually 3watts??????
I really don't know what to believe in anymore!
all I know is my seedling is 12days old and already has 4 sets of leaves standing at like 3inches tall and it's getting quicker!
I need to order whatever is my best option asap

Click to expand...

Lighting is super complicated these days! I came back to growing recently after almost 10 years away from it and was blown away by how many choices there are now!

You are right that if your buying a light on Amazon most of the chips are from the same Chinese factories, and I don't think you'll see huge difference between brands. Here in the states we have a lot more options. It's usually a pretty safe bet to assume the true wattage for an LED on Amazon is about 45% of the listed wattage, and it stays pretty consistent. An LED listed at 300w is fine for one plant. A 600w would be preferred for 2.

You would need to rig up a socket setup and reflector, but these are just as good as the cheap LEDs IMO, and well within your budget. A couple 200w CFLs can get you a couple ounces off a single plant for certain.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/125w-200w-Light-Hydroponic-Swiftair/dp/B073WFTHYX/ref=mp_s_a_1_21?ie=UTF8&qid=1528320885&sr=8-21&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=grow+light&dpPl=1&dpID=41qR5JwXG2L&ref=plSrch&th=1&psc=1

@Gentlemencorpse
Allright!
Things are starting to get a lot more understandable now!
I'd go with the cfl but I assume they get hotter than leds and as I have to make My cabinet around 60x120x120cm or 2x4x4' max that might be a problem.
My seedling is in open air right now and it's not liking my hot and dry room that much.
It's thriving but the serrated edge tend to point up a little bit sometimes.

Adding half a foot here and there to my allowed space wouldn't be too difficult to obtain but you get the idea

I think I'll go with a 600watt or 300 if the budget doesn't follow.
my parents are also a bit affraid of the power consumption of these things even though I said I would do the maths and pay for it.
I guess there wouldn't be that much difference but 45% of 300 advertised watts sounds way cheaper than two or three times 200 true watts of cfl's

Thanks you so much for all the helpful comments everybody, I'll talk it out tonight and make my final decision between 300 or 600watts
I sould start putting this thing together right around the end of next week --->end of my finals.
I think I'll make a little thread about it!

Okay I went and looked through everything.
These are all my options.
I already can see that except if the 1000watt vander is really lying a lot (the price seems CRAZY) two plants are out of question.
So in theory I'll go for 300watts and one plant! Still plenty!
(If I go for the least expensive one, I would buy three to get to the 300 recommended watts)
Sorry for all the censoring, I just want to take the extra step to avoid the possibility of narrowing down my home country!
but I left all the essential info!
as I thought, Roleadro and topplanet are like the only disponible brands that have some kind of overall positive feedback
The most expensive I could go with is this 400watts cob

Cannaprentice said:

Okay I went and looked through everything.
These are all my options.
I already can see that except if the 1000watt vander is really lying a lot (the price seems CRAZY) two plants are out of question.
So in theory I'll go for 300watts and one plant! Still plenty!
(If I go for the least expensive one, I would buy three to get to the 300 recommended watts)
Sorry for all the censoring, I just want to take the extra step to avoid the possibility of narrowing down my home country!
but I left all the essential info!
as I thought, Roleadro and topplanet are like the only disponible brands that have some kind of overall positive feedback
The most expensive I could go with is this 400watts cob

Click to expand...

I would stay away from anything, "made in China", because if you have a problem (and you will eventually) then you get to eat it as customer service is nonexistent.

they also run hot and most are fire hazard

Timber and Rapid Led have some great options for a small grow

@bezalom
Just checked them out and they are WAY over my budget and come from america so I'll have that huge import fee up the ass.
Thanks for the recommandation but I just can't afford them.

This is intended to be a low cost solution for a temporary setup. (maybe 3years max until I move out and leave the cabinet behind)
and I don't plan on running it all year round.
I plan on doing 2 grows per year maximum and will exclusively be growing autoflowers so the growtime will be pretty short.
So If they last me for like 4 or 5 grows that's already plenty.
I will discard the growlight at first sign of defect.

This is mostly for fun, I don't smoke much. So anything that will grow over an ounce from an auto in a big pot will be enough for me.
I'm not after top shelf quality, just something fun to do that comes with a reward in the end!
Now if you tell me hardware store cfl are better than those, that's a different story.
I guess a homemade steel reflector and 6x40watts cfl will fit in my final 100euro budget.
I really can't go over that price.

Cannaprentice said:

@Gentlemencorpse
Allright!
Things are starting to get a lot more understandable now!
I'd go with the cfl but I assume they get hotter than leds and as I have to make My cabinet around 60x120x120cm or 2x4x4' max that might be a problem.
My seedling is in open air right now and it's not liking my hot and dry room that much.
It's thriving but the serrated edge tend to point up a little bit sometimes.

Adding half a foot here and there to my allowed space wouldn't be too difficult to obtain but you get the idea

I think I'll go with a 600watt or 300 if the budget doesn't follow.
my parents are also a bit affraid of the power consumption of these things even though I said I would do the maths and pay for it.
I guess there wouldn't be that much difference but 45% of 300 advertised watts sounds way cheaper than two or three times 200 true watts of cfl's

Thanks you so much for all the helpful comments everybody, I'll talk it out tonight and make my final decision between 300 or 600watts
I sould start putting this thing together right around the end of next week --->end of my finals.
I think I'll make a little thread about it!

Click to expand...

The CFLs actually throw less heat than LEDs. They're just bigger versions of the cheap little bulbs most people light their homes with.

But you'll be fine with a 300w LED as well. I can't speak to any of the brands available to you, I've never used them.

I just came across this
I just can't find the individual bulbs for eventual swapping.
There's also a 200watt version that comes at 99euros but with two different bulbs, one for veg and one for bloom.

The leds sure look proffessionnal, but I know they really aren't.
So if you think I'd get more yield and denser buds with one of the giants cfl, I'd gladly go with that!
I'm totally clueless so if you feel they would outperform the leds and not risk catching my house on fire I'll take your word for it.
I just see a lot of horror stories about leds dying after 3months, fire and airy buds...

Can't wait to be over with this silly buying step and be able to focus on my plant,
Here's a picture of it too! <3

I think it's doing pretty good at 13 days under 40watts of led floodlights. I started the training today.

Cannaprentice said:

I just came across this
I just can't find the individual bulbs for eventual swapping.
There's also a 200watt version that comes at 99euros but with two different bulbs, one for veg and one for bloom.
View attachment 4147597
The leds sure look proffessionnal, but I know they really aren't.
So if you think I'd get more yield and denser buds with one of the giants cfl, I'd gladly go with that!
I'm totally clueless so if you feel they would outperform the leds and not risk catching my house on fire I'll take your word for it.
I just see a lot of horror stories about leds dying after 3months, fire and airy buds...

Can't wait to be over with this silly buying step and be able to focus on my plant,
Here's a picture of it too! <3
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I think it's doing pretty good at 13 days under 40watts of led floodlights. I started the training today.

Click to expand...

She looks great in fact! Nice work!

It's not even necessarily that I think the CFL will give better yield, it's just that they are basically foolproof and the lowest heat you can get. People have been growing with them for decades. I've used a cheap 300w LED from Amazon and it was fine, but I don't think it was any better than a CFL grow, and the purple light makes it hard to judge your plants health.

If you decide to only get one bulb for the CFL go with the flowering spectrum. It will be fine for vegging. Can always use the LEDs you have now for suplimental lighting, they seem to be treating your little plant well so far.

Well thanks!
I'm like 90% sold!
another dude told me I could buy a bunch of led bulbs and that it would give me better results than cfls but this way would really be easier
and I'm under the impression that mixing cfl's light with led's light will kind of make the final spectrum "fuller"
I will just wait for a final answear on the other thread and go from there.
but for now, big ass cfl with 2 helper leds!
can't wait to start building the cabinet