will regular florescents work well enough

hey i have quite a bit of knowledge on growing with hps and hid and stuff but all i have are regular four foot flourescents and ive seen what they can do in veg but i didnt get to flower them nosey parent soo for flowering wil it be ok or not

They'll be fine if they were fine in veg. You just need a lot of flour. to get enough lumens on them.

Flowering depends on what bulb type you use .You can use T5 four foot setups all the way through or as side lighting. T8 bulbs youd have to have a ton to flower with but for veg shop lights work great..

i dont know what kind they are one is a hanging shop light with 2 bulbs and the other is also a 2 bulb one my grandpa used to grow plants with in the garage in winter both are 4 ft long

They are more then likely T12 maybe T8 then

I checked out T5 fluorescents, and it seems like at that price you might as well go the full mile and buy an HPS system. What's a man on a budget to do -_-

is that good or bad filthy

T8s and t12s will work for veg but to flower lets say 4 plants youll need about 16 tubes mixed spectrums.The t5s do cost like $225 for an 8 tub setup but the heat issue and less wattage used are why people like them and they have greater output then t8s or t12

I can appreciate those advantages, when stealth is that much of an issue, although at that price you might as well just buy a spot in the country. Just my word.

so how many t8s or t12s will be needed for the veg stage and should i use cool or warm or both?

My advice? Don't waste your money on T8's and T12's. You're just not taking full advantage of them. I would personally recommend CFL's over them. I lately did some shopping and that made the potential hole in my pocket way smaller. I'm getting some monster 200W CFL's.

You can grow with T-12's (standard shop lights)
Here is the lowdown
During veg use cool white tubes mainly with one warm white tube for every 3 cool whites IE 3 cool whites 1 warm white and so on
During flower you want warm white bulb's mainly, with 1 cool white bulb per 3 warm bulbs.

I always doubled the amount of tubes during flowering that i had in my garden.

Cfl's are the way to go though.......

well i just want to veg with them and use a hps when it is flowering time so i should be okay i guess. i know i could use the hps for the full grow but i dont want them to get to use to the before its time. so how does that sound?

gamberro how is the whole in your pockets smaller? 200 watt cfls are close to $65 each and T8s are $8 for 2 4 foot bulb setup and you get more light and better coverage and less heat then cfls.