HELP! Light switch recomendations.

[Grrouch]

This is my first grow. my stage is from my brother as it was all free . he gave me an indoor grow light that he complained about his plants getting too much light. it was lightly blue tinted 65w 120v that says indoor-gro on it. well it broke, i have fresh 65w 120v flood lights but arent blue. could use as many pointers as possible im only in the 2nd day of my germination. this is the type of bulb i have sitting arround >>> http://www.feit.com/br40_reflector/br40_reflector.html <<< is it appropriate? if not like i said, please help i could really use it.

 

[jman23]

you could if you had to but why not just buy some cfls

 

[RC7]

Nah man that's not going to do anything. It's an incandescent bulb, for small grows you need CFL bulbs. You can find them it larger wattages like 100+ in some stores like home depot or lowes, but you can also use multiple 27 watts, 42 watts, combined to grow and they are also more efficient.

 

[RC7]

Just do your research all the answers you need are within this site. Purchase some CFL's, an ideal amount is 100 cfl watts per plant. Don't confuse it with the incandescent equivalent that they put on the box, that is irrelevant. You need 6500k spectrum for veg period and 2700 for flowering, but you can also mix them to get a full spectrum which is good.

 

[Grrouch]

Nah man that's not going to do anything. It's an incandescent bulb, for small grows you need CFL bulbs. You can find them it larger wattages like 100+ in some stores like home depot or lowes, but you can also use multiple 27 watts, 42 watts, combined to grow and they are also more efficient.

what exactly should i get? im test driving these first 5 seeds because there was allot of them and i have some better ones i want to save for when i know what im doing. im legal to cultivate, setup in my closset with a clip on light hanging from the hanger rack. to be specific i plan on one maybe two indoor plants and the rest i'll play with outdoors.(i have plenty of space) so direction on specific bulbs for my grow would be nice. & hey thanks!

 

[Grrouch]

so buy both spectrums and run them both? at the same time i take it? youre a great help man.

 

[RC7]

If you have the money i would definitely go for a T5 florescent light. Such as these depending on how much room you have in your grow space.
http://htgsupply.com/Product-HTG-Supply-2-Foot-2-Lamp-PL-55-Tek-Lamp.asp 70$

http://htgsupply.com/Product-HTG-Supply-2-Foot-4-Lamp-PL-55-Tek-Lamp.asp 135$

T5 high output florescent lights put off something like 93 lumens per watt, while CFL's put off something like 65. So basically you are getting 1/3 more light which = better results.

It is in my opinion a much better investment than buying CFLs because if you want to get a good yield you need good power. You will want to get at least 100-200 watts for 2 plants and the money is going to add up once you pay for all the equipment. If you purchased the 4 bulb T5 (if you have space for it) you can get very good results. If you decide to go with CFLs you can pick them up locally either 27, 42 watts, or you could purchase 1 or 2 of the big bulbs depending on what your store carries maybe 150watt. During VEG i would stay with the 6500k spectrum but during flower i would add in some 2700k spectrum so the plants get both. This is also a good site for small bulbs. http://www.1000bulbs.com/

 

[Grrouch]

If you have the money i would definitely go for a T5 florescent light. Such as these depending on how much room you have in your grow space.
http://htgsupply.com/Product-HTG-Supply-2-Foot-2-Lamp-PL-55-Tek-Lamp.asp 70$

http://htgsupply.com/Product-HTG-Supply-2-Foot-4-Lamp-PL-55-Tek-Lamp.asp 135$

T5 high output florescent lights put off something like 93 lumens per watt, while CFL's put off something like 65. So basically you are getting 1/3 more light which = better results.

It is in my opinion a much better investment than buying CFLs because if you want to get a good yield you need good power. You will want to get at least 100-200 watts for 2 plants and the money is going to add up once you pay for all the equipment. If you purchased the 4 bulb T5 (if you have space for it) you can get very good results. If you decide to go with CFLs you can pick them up locally either 27, 42 watts, or you could purchase 1 or 2 of the big bulbs depending on what your store carries maybe 150watt. During VEG i would stay with the 6500k spectrum but during flower i would add in some 2700k spectrum so the plants get both. This is also a good site for small bulbs. http://www.1000bulbs.com/

ive got my note book and this just went in it. what i have for now, like i said is nothing but 5 or 6 practice seeds to get familiar with the horticulture. im not looking to spend anything to serious yet for the reason of i have no clue what im doing. but like i said i have three high end seeds from a Blue Cremea strain i just had, and when i get ready for those is when i'll want the more appropriate equiptment.

 

[RC7]

oh alright i got ya. You could start off with CFLs then to get the hang of it. Then you can buy some of these, usually the cord comes with a reflector on the top that screws off, then you can add on some of the Y splitters to get extra bulbs into 1 socket. These should all be available at your local store (home depot) or whatever.

 

[Grrouch]

i sent you a fr. do you mind if i message with you &,or run a few forums with you? i mean this is all the advice i need. if it wasnt for you id be running back and forth from the hydro store running google searches and all that non-fun stuff. i appreciate the 1on1 info verry much!!!!!

 

[Grrouch]

and i want to go ahead and run 2 100w cfl 6500k's on one socket for one plant? i take it thats what youre pointing torwards/

 

[jman23]

you gonna need alot of cfls for a good harvest when i ran cfls i used 340 actuall watts for one plant by the time you buy all the stuff you need for a cfl grow you could have bought a 400 watt hps you will be way happier come chop time

 

[RC7]

yeah dude no problem i'm glad to help you can message me if u want whenever. I'm not an electrician or anything but in my opinion the most i think that would be safe to run on 1 socket is like 100 watts, so i would say to get 2 of the cords if you want to use 2 100watts. You could get 1 of the 2700k and 1 of the 6500k. They don't always come in exactly those numbers but anything close will do fine.

 

[Grrouch]

yeah dude no problem i'm glad to help you can message me if u want whenever. I'm not an electrician or anything but in my opinion the most i think that would be safe to run on 1 socket is like 100 watts, so i would say to get 2 of the cords if you want to use 2 100watts. You could get 1 of the 2700k and 1 of the 6500k. They don't always come in exactly those numbers but anything close will do fine.

so went to home depot and in daylight cfls theyre strongest was a 4 pack of 100 watt with each individual bulb putting out 1600 lumens. so on the math weve got all four bulbs putting out 6400 lumens at once and 1600 with one bulb pluged in. now its something like 23 wats actually used on a 100w light bulb so with all four run on one socket like i have now its only running 92 actuall watts right? the last thing i need in my experiment here is a fire in my closet haha. i can upload a picture if youre curious as to how im running it now. all this is to prepare for when my seeds sprout. im almost inclined to call some caregivers and get some clones.

 

[Grrouch]

so i decided to just cut the shit and get a better idea for you. is there anything youd recommend, change, whatever?

 

[RC7]

Looks good, when i first started growing that is pretty much the same setup i had and it worked out well for a small grow. And yeah the actual wattage for those lights will probably be like 92 watts or whatever it adds to. I grew like that for a while with the 4 bulbs in 1 socket and i had no problems so it should be fine. The good thing about florescent light is that you can keep them pretty close to the plants without hurting them. So put them a few inches away from the plants especially when they are seedlings so that they don't stretch and they grow into young healthy plants. If you are still germinating the seeds you should keep them away from the light but in a moist warm place. I put mine in between 2 bowls/plates in paper towel so no light gets in. Also, i assume you are using soil to grow? You can pick up regular potting soil for cheap and use that, but if you can find a good brand like fox farms or something of that nature that's very good to use.

 

[Grrouch]

yes i have happy frog organic soil. shits expensive though. but yea its only beenn 48 hrs on the germination so far. maybe you can tell me... whats the difference between say, seed grown bud. & clone grown bud. being a medical marijuana patient of arizona cultivators have been using the term seed grown " OG KUSH " or whatever strain they have in their magic hat.

 

[Grrouch]

its just the whole seed grown thing i mean is there a differenc when its seed roots? rather than mother plant roots?

 

[RC7]

I believe the only real difference is that the clones are already some time into veg so it's quicker to pick up a clone than to start from seed. Also, the clone is going to have the same exact genetics as the mother plant, because it came from it of course. So pretty much with a clone you know exactly what you are getting and it takes less time than to start from seed. Once you get some more experience with your grow you can start to clone your own plants if you choose to. All you need to do is keep 1 mother plant in Veg and take clones as desired, which isn't too hard.

 

[fir3dragon]

the light needs lowered about 3 feet