light-plant ratio

Tibby123

Tibby123

Member
So i want to start my first grow, and im really interested in cfl's, basically just bcuz im a poor ass.
but i cant really find good source on how much lighting is NESSECARY for how manyplants, i know that more is pretty much always better, but im trying to grow 2-3 plants on a tiiiiiight budget and dont really know how many bulbs i should get, or what wattage i should go for, i want good plants, but not a lot of unessecary expensive lights.
will def. be starting a grow journal for this one when i get things going :]
 
Tibby123

Tibby123

Member
thanks for the advice WTHAI, but do you think i could get away with less?
Ive decided to grow inside a tub, which i will coat with foil so i can get more efficiency out of the light i have. i just hate to buy a ton of CFL's, only to feel like i could have gotten more bang for my buck with a different type of light. na mean? :p
 
Where in the hell am I?

Where in the hell am I?

Well-Known Member
I do understand, and yes, you CAN get away w/less. However, yer not gonna spend NEARLY as much goin w/the CFL set up, as ya wud N-E thing else. Less than $50 fer the entire set up the way I can do it.
 
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SyNiK4L

New Member
Where in the hell am I? said:
I would recommend either going with 4 26W Bulbs fer each plant (they are 2700K and can be used fer veg AND flower, or 2 larger wattages, but then ya have to worry about the Kelvin ratings.
Heres a good tutorial:
https://www.rollitup.org/do-yourself/159868-diy-cfl-fixtures.html
Click to expand...

u deff dont want to use 2700k CFLs for veg. They 2700k is good for flowering. get urself a bunch of daylight CFLs for veg and then use the soft white or warm white bulbs for flowering. thats what i did pix here.

Basically i went to home depot and got stuff to make my own hydroponics system for watering which costed me prob 50 bucks total. and then i got 6 of those cheap work lights that have the silver dome on them. then i took the domes off then added those $2 socket splitters that comes out with 2 sockets and then added 12 (23 watt) daylight(5500k) CFLs. i hung them so that i could raise and lower them as nessisary. basically 5k-7k is best for veg and 2k-3 is best for flowering. so when im ready to flower ima either take them outside or change out my bulbs for soft whites(2700k). read all the threads u can and websites u can find about growing and deff check out this CFL forum. read the stickied posts toward the top. of the list that talk about growing with cfls theres plenty of info. basically u just wanna learn bout the color temp spectrum and how each color effects ur plants in different ways. red is for flowering and blue is for veg. theres a huge difference in color if u look at them next to each other. iv been usings CFLs for about 2 weeks now and they are going great.
 
HydroClosetGrower

HydroClosetGrower

Active Member
Where the hell am i?--nice job with the 2700s. I didn't really feel like gettin a whole bunch of 65ks for veg, so ill prolly just throw a few in.

My lighting system is a lot like synik's, actually surprisingly similar. I get those heavy duty lamp cords and take the reflectors off then get 3 y splitters for a total of 4 sockets per cord (for the main lights) and put 42 or 26 w in each socket. then i have lower light cords hanging around too.

To answer your question tibbby, what i realized from this first grow im bout to harvest is that it really depends on the shape and size of your plants with cfls. if you are just trying to get some good bud for personal smoke, like i am, the cheapest way to go is going to be less bud sites. with cfl's nearly every bud site needs a bulb right on it. if your try to do 3, i think it would be good if you lollipopped them, put them in a triangle, hung one or two 42w in the middle and then three or four around the edges. using reflectors well, ur buds will get enough light to turn out pretty decent, esp if u have good genetics. i was schocked at the resin production on my bagseed plants under cfls and i didnt even train it in an efficient way. hope this helps man. good luck
 
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StonerFishy

Well-Known Member
4 on one socket is fine. the y splitters here are 600W max. i run 4 42 watters on one lamp usen y splitters. and 2700k is just dang fine for veg. just keep the lights as close as possible. i have all my 42 watters in 2700k and about 1CM to 2 CM away from the tops of the plants they stay short and bushy then
 
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SyNiK4L

New Member
wat do you mean the y splitters here? here on the site or here in the united states lol. or here in the state u live in
 
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SyNiK4L

New Member
ah but probably are the same thing. little plastic splitters right? so how many could u put in urs before u lose power
 
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StonerFishy

Well-Known Member
yeah plastic POS lol they tend to crack at the mold seem after screwen the bulbs in and out a few times. I dont have a light reader so i couldnt give u an accurate answer but i would not go anymore then 4 bulbs to a lamp fixture. something about 4 even seems like a fire hazard to me
 
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SyNiK4L

New Member
StonerFishy said:
yeah plastic POS lol they tend to crack at the mold seem after screwen the bulbs in and out a few times. I dont have a light reader so i couldnt give u an accurate answer but i would not go anymore then 4 bulbs to a lamp fixture. something about 4 even seems like a fire hazard to me
Click to expand...

agreed i may try using less light holders and just add more spliters. hmm....may b a better way to get the bulbs to hang down by the plants better. and hey by the way where did u find orchid rocks?
 
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