What do you think of my lighting?

Esjie

Member

  • So I ordered 11- T5 HO 2ft single bulb light fixtures, which include a 6400k bulb. Each fixture produces 2000 lumens, 22000 lumens in total. My grow area is 3'L x 2'W x 6'H, and I have a shelf I can easily remove to increase the height to 8' if needed. I will have a light fixture: 1 on my door [vertically], 2 on each side wall [vertically], 3 on my back wall [horizontally], and 3 on my shelf/ ceiling (if need be); they will be placed very strategically.

    I do plan on eventually installing a few more lights, which can easily be done since I wired in a circuit (15 amps) independently for these lights. Having each fixture drawing an insignificant amount of power (0.4 Amps) I can add on effortlessly. Or will this be too many?

    Also, I can have a safe maximum of 37 fixtures on this circuit (although likely not safe in my closet) but I can connect these lights in series to a maximum of 8 in a series, 4 series of 8 lights and single series of 5 lights.

    But all aside, do you think 11 of these lights is enough for a single plant? or is it to much?
    I can't see them producing a tremendous amount of heat (nothing compared to an HID) but we will find out once I have everything in operation

    P.s I will be using the 6400k bulbs for veg and I will be replacing 8 of the bulbs to 2700k during flowering.

    I do prefer quality over quantity, but along with quality, the quantity with it, simply makes me that much more cheerful.

    Have a pleasant evening & thank you to all who reply.




 

justugh

Well-Known Member
t5s are nice lights

just rem the leaves can not touch then on the sides (leaf will burn up and that part will die off)

i would keep 4 of the lights and return the other 7 use that money and get yourself a set of LEDs ufos 190w or maybe the 300w ..........use the 4 t5s as corner lights and the leds as the over head light
 

BSD0621

Well-Known Member
11 t-5's for a single plant? YEAH THATS TOO MUCH HAHA!

Only need roughly 100 watt's per plant and 50 per extra. Also, I found 6 inches is the sweet spot for cannabis as too close and the leafs bleach, too far and they stretch

I am not an electrician but anything over what the breaker can handle and it'll flip off. the lights should tell you have many amp's it draws, just add that up.
 

althor

Well-Known Member
to the person talking about watts.


If watts are all that matters I guess you are saying I can run out and pick up 4 100 watt incandescent and get the same light as a 400 watt HID....

Who woulda known. Look at all that money wasted. I could be growing big, bushy, bad ass plants for like 10 bucks!!!
 

JohnnySocko

Active Member
unless there is some space restriction you will find 4ft bulbs to be much cheaper to operate and replace in the long run
 

Esjie

Member
Thank you all,

Yes, I do have a very tight space restriction.

and as for BSD, sorry but I am an electrician and I do know for a fact Federal Pioneer breakers can handle above what they are rated for, one of the reasons why they discontinued the old FP breakers, which I still have access to through work.

for Althor, he is totally correct. Watts is simply the amount of power the light consumes, Lumens is the intensity of the light that is produced. However, Lux is ultimately what we are aiming for, which is the measurement of how much light the plant is receiving in reality.

I ordered a lux meter so I'll give you guys an update when I have my closet up and running.

I will stay with these t5's for now and order led's eventually..

I also read up and a ladie wants 25000-50000 lumens (remember, this is not lux..) for optimal growth. I'll let you know how many lux my lights are giving off as soon as I can measure (I have to wait for a few weeks to receive my products because I live in the middle of butt fuck no where :] ) and this is my first grow too so if this doesn't go good I'll try a different lighting system

keep calm, grow on
 

cdnbudder

Active Member
hey Esjie good to have another sasky here! Good luck with your grow, lots of friendly knowledgeable here to ask for help should anything come up. What strain you gonna run?
 

Esjie

Member
hey Esjie good to have another sasky here! Good luck with your grow, lots of friendly knowledgeable here to ask for help should anything come up. What strain you gonna run?
Haha thanks man& that's awesome, not much of us out there compared to the rest of world. & I am growing to grow bubblegummer, looks amazing and I love the colours.
 

Esjie

Member
I have to agree, and yes I want to do a thread for the grow.
I'm just waiting for my new credit card to get in, sometime this week, than I am going to order all of my items (I have all of them in my cart on hydroshop, marijuana-seeds-canada and amazon).
I'm jittery, I'm so anxious to start this operation. It will give me something to do since I recently bought my own house and live alone.. I am also waiting for my phone to get back from getting repaired :( its hard not to rush time at the moment :P
I will also be growing some outdoor plants, out on the lake; that one too, will have a grow journal online along with it.

Best time of my life is just about to start
 

cdnbudder

Active Member
Im not sure if you'd get anything to finish before frost up there. I know down here I couldn't last year. I'm gonna do a few autos outside though. I'm just about finished my first try with them and I really like em. Hopefully the smoke is as good as my photos has been....or close enough
 

Esjie

Member
I'll have to take a look at your photo's.
I am going to start mine indoors and when they are stable I'll move them into the forest and hopefully all will go well..
may I ask what your summers are like? mine are usually a longer spring but an extended fall with that as well, I live near a large lake. And I am optimistic about this summer being a hot one! and I have easy but discreet locations to my plants and good helper which I can rely on.
 

cdnbudder

Active Member
Our summers are much the same as the. North....or what I consider north. I've only been as far la Ronge though. The biggest problem is getting down to 12 hours of dark here. We don't get that till like mid September and by then it getting pretty close to frost at nights. Last year we actually had quite a few late august that got frost. I'm in regina so southish I guess.
 

Esjie

Member
Haha, thats dece! I live in La Ronge, was raised here my whole life.. Our nights get shorter a, little quicker but not much, but when a 5 foot plant is surrounded by 40+ foot trees the sun is out of view much sooner and dark sets in earlier while the sun is hiding behind the trees. So I am hoping I will have no problem for starting my flowering early (was considering even some auto's). I was planning on starting my flowering as soon as I move my plants out into the forest and setting them up strategically to the sunlight and hills and so on.. I would like to have my plants harvested by the first week of September so it allows me time to dry them out with it frosting and if a frost is setting in I guess I'll have to go out and throw some tarps or blankets over them for the night. There is too much forest for anyone to ever find my location and also in a practical area will no one has and has ever will venture but myself.
 

cdnbudder

Active Member
Personally I`d go with autos...I think out side you can get a pretty good yield off em, and guaranteed you they can finish in Sask. It`s virtually impossible to induce flowering outside until nature says it`s time
 

Esjie

Member
oh well, we will see, I am not going to try to grow any auto's this year.. Next year I will if this doesn't work out, I already have my mindset on other ones and feel like experimenting and would rather not grow auto. I picked practical seeds though so I think it will go good. I'm not one to let something bad happen, but if it does happen. It happens.

think of it this way, knowledge at my expense. :)
 

cdnbudder

Active Member
you`ll learn a tonne on your first grow....and every other after hahaha. When you gonna germinate them? Are you gonna veg them for a while indoors and then move them out? I can't wait to see some pics of outdoor shit up there. Days are so long in the summer that she's gonna be a beast!
 

Esjie

Member
I'm only doing outdoor now this year :( I have to wait a little longer before I start indoors.. oh well I'll just put all my effort towards my outdoor plants now. & I have to wait to see how early of a spring we are going to have and wait for the snow to melt also
 
Top