Lighting 24 hours a day

[BigCBud]

Hey
Im a first time grower and Iv been reading up on the best way to "grow" your plants. I have 2 cfl bulbs that are equal to 2 150 watt bulbs and then one cfl that is equal to a 125 or 130 watt bulb. Im running them 18 hours on and 6 hours off. My question is can you actually run the lights on 24 hours a day in the veggin stage of growth. Now i know i need more lighting so id like to optimize the lights i have already. Secondly I have 4 plants for those bulbs, since im in college and money is tight does anybody recommend a cheap way to set up more lights?..... and how many 150 watt bulbs should i have?

Thanks for any help

 

[N Buds]

stick with the 18/6 and give them some rest on a night - go to 20/4 if you want to hurry it a long a little but as the wise man says.... 'good things come to those who wait'

 

[N Buds]

get an envirolite cfl to speed things up more naturally and keep it down on the plants maybe 5cm away... go by the actual wattage with your cfl's the equivalent wattage is only to your eyes not to the plants!

 

[BCBuddy420]

well there is alot of confliction with this idea. But most knowledgable growers say 20/4 is the most efficient cycle during veg. Your still allwoing the plants some down time and they get plenty light also. A fellow did a study and 3 plants got 18/6, 20/4 and 24/0. The one that got 20/4 produced the most quantity and did the best. Some guys just swear by the no sleep allowed cycle. Personally I always will give my plants a sleep period. I've done 18/6 this time, next time 20/4. Hope this helped
~ BCbuddy

 

[CaliKushSmoker]

stick with 18/6 iv tryed both and the diffrince is in my elec bill... i got daylight 6500k 28 watt light bulbs from walmar and some shop light reflector from home depot and buy the socket spitters.. they cost like 2 bucks for the spitters... keep the light close to the girls and have a fan on them at all times.. it helps with the heat spots.. check out my post grow journal.. peace and happy grow

 

[BigCBud]

thanks for the help. I got two more questions though, Is it safe to order a high wattage cfl from those sites to canada like would that draw heat from the cops. Seondly how much extra electricty would a HPS bulb draw like would one bulb be enough for to alert my landlord?

Thanks

 

[BCBuddy420]

thanks for the help. I got two more questions though, Is it safe to order a high wattage cfl from those sites to canada like would that draw heat from the cops. Seondly how much extra electricty would a HPS bulb draw like would one bulb be enough for to alert my landlord?

Thanks

good question. I would not worry at all about ordering a light from the net, shouldn't flag you at all. No one is monitoring grow light orders (small scale) too much other shit going on man. Depends on the hps bulb... they vary in size fro 250 -1000 watt. a 1000 watt will run you around 35-50 bux/month in electricity. You could easily run a a pair of 600 watts for flowering + fans/equipment and your veg (cfl) setup without causing too much heat for juice consumption. I doubt your landlord checks your usage, they can't really do that without just staring at your meter outside your house. It's the hydro company that'l flag ya. But you should be fine I run alot more than normal in a small place, just flower at high voltage for a couple months with your fingers crossed haha. 2 x 600's can easily get you a pound and a half to 2 pounds every flower period. And it's pretty low key at that wattage hope this helped ~ BCbuddy

 

[bLITzkRIEg420]

24/7 until the 1st node, 20 hours on 4 hours off until week 4 and then go to 18-6... I can usually get to alternating nodes in 6-7 weeks from seed.

 

[The Grow Kid]

I usually do 24/0 for the first 3 or 4 weeks