- I got a 125W 6400K CFL up top and two 40-ish Watt 2500k CFLs on the sides, for two plants. First off hoping thats enough. I know CFLs aren't optimal but I already had alot of what I needed. I got this 65-Watt 6500k CFL with NO ballast and a mogul base. The one from Lowes...got the fixture they sold too but its at my old house as it was actually used as an outside light for a while, and I no longer have it. I do got a mogul base socket though and could wire that up but no ballast still. So my question is what am I looking for for a ballast to make this 65 watt bulb work? Or would that bulb even be overkill cuz that would take me up to 190W of just daylight compared to bout 80 of soft light. Any response would be appreciated
CFL questions. First time use..
- Thread starter mahhest
- Start date
ShakenBake22
Member
Spicy8305
Active Member
You can never have too many lumens ...(as long as you can cool it) I currently have about 500 watts of cfls on 4 plants vegging. The red/ blue ratio you have will be fine. The only problem with that 65 watt mogul base cfl is that a lot of the time the separate ballast is going to cost you way more then it would cost to simply purchase a self ballasting cfl of equivalent wattage. I was able to pick up a 55watt 2700k @ wally world for about $10 just to give you an example and home depot carries 42watt 6500k self ballasting lamps for $8 (site to store or delivery only) and since you have 2 plants; 2 of these may work better for your grow. What are the dimensions of you box/ grow area?