Newbie CFL'er

Hello I just finished my 1st official harvest, I didn't have a thread on it so nobody really knows about it. But I had 1 New York Diesel X AK 47 Going from seed to harvest 12/12 pulled a little over a zip from her.(Picture Attached)

I am Growing Indoors in my Closet which is about 5ft W X 2ft D X 6ft H

After using the HID's My closet and room temperatures have been crazy, So I am going to use Natural HID (the Sun) for a few outdoors. And CFL's for indoors. I am aiming for a Perpetual Harvest 10 Plants every 2 weeks, So i'd take 15 cuttings and keep the 10 best.

I am going to start with a small scale Sea of Green. Eventually over time if it turns out good, I will increase it to 2 shelves maybe even 3.

My biggest problem is how to hang the lights properly.

Should I like take a sheet of plywood and hang it with a chain and hang all the lights from that.

I figure since my closet is about 22" deep, I can fit 4 bulbs about 4 - 5 inches apart.

And 60 Inches long 12 bulbs 5 inches apart.

so thats about 48 bulbs

Should I got with the 48 bulb setup, or 28 bulb setup
(Attached Pictures)

Should I just put lights around the perimeter or fill it all in..

And what would be the easiest most convenient way to hang all of these to be adjusted when needed.

I have a bunch of old Construction light type Light sockets, Its just a Socket with 2 wires coming out of the back.
(attached Picture)

Thanks in advance for any and all help yall give.

Chris

In my opinion, If you fill that thing with cfls you will generate more heat then a 400w HPS

Really? CFL's are that bad.

I am currently using a 400w MH to start these seedlings,

and I have a 4" Can Fan blowing fresh air in from outside, and an 8" Range Hood sucking air out.

Since I have no windows in my room, If I leave my bedroom door open(not the Closet door),

it brings down the temperature quite a bit.

Howdy Seejay

Your closet area is about the same size as mine so I've always had to deal with the same issues as you've had.That being said,I've came up with a pretty good setup over the last couple years.I've been a flouro grower for many years and started using cfl's to supplement about 2 years ago.I really like the result I get from using 4' tubes and cfl's together.

Build a shelf 18" off the floor of your closet (5'x18")
Mount

Sorry,

Mount 4-4' tubes horizontally on the back wall,the lowest one being 8" above the shelf and the rest right above that.

Use a combo of grolux & cool white

Now hang 4-10" reflectors with 2-42w 2700k in each using twin socket adapters.Hanging these from the ceiling right in front of the tubes will give you alot of flexibility.(you can buy these bulbs from bulbamerica.com for $4.97ea!)

This setup works really well with sea of green,2 rows(16 plants) 6" square deep pots.Veg clones for 10 days then go to 12/12.

Just my opinion but,works well for me.

Good luck!

Correction: The cfl bulbs are from compactfluorescentusa.com

sorry

Hey Bud, thanks for the advice, but why build a shelf 18" off the ground?

And thanks for the links to the cheap bulbs. I think I will use those 42W CFLs.

What are those poultry brooder reflectors You speak of?

Got a link? or picture by chance?

If you leave your closet door open then why dont you move it out into the room using a tent or something.

Boneman said:

If you leave your closet door open then why dont you move it out into the room using a tent or something.

Click to expand...

I do not leave my Closet door open, I did say that "If I leave my bedroom door open(not the Closet door)", But besides there being no space to put a tent,

that I do not have. I only have this closet, which would be perfect for a 2 or 3 shelf SOG.