43 days in question

neo12345 said:

Not to take anything away from Mr2shim but replacing them with 23w CFL's still isn't going to cut it, every post on here about small plants generally starts off with the words i'm using little CFL's!

People go and buy 10-12 CFL's which when added together still won't give you as much light as a 250w or 400w HID, then wonder why their plants aren't very big. When you add the cost of them all together you'll find you could have bought an HID for the same money.

If you are going to spend your time, money and effort in growing some weed then you'll want a decent return on your investment. I know some people may disagree and say you can grow with CFL's, and I would probably agree to a certain extent and I personally use CFL's for vegging. I use 2 x 300w Envirolites though!!

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This is true, but the reason I suggest CFL over HID is because HID has added costs. HID lamps run extremely hot(lamp will burn your skin off hot) Given what I see I assume he doesn't have a lot of money to spend on a proper HID setup. You're going to need an inline fan to cool it. Ten CFL's will run you about 60 bucks. About the cost of a low end ballast, then you'd need the lamps which are another 20-40. Inline fan to cool it 90, reflector to put it in 50-150. It adds up.

With that said I do run a 400w HID setup in a grow tent. I think I spent around 500 on the entire setup, tent, ballast, cooltube, lamps, inline fan and filter. If he has the money definitely go HID but if not CFL or LED are really your only other options, BUT LED isn't that much cheaper.

* I have started using a 250w CFL for veg but it requires a mogul base socket so you're going to need that. It was 50 bucks on eBay.

A few days later, haven't watered it, lowered the light, it got a lot wider, you can't really tell from the pictures.

She is looking very healthy, glad you are getting the problem sorted.

Can't believe nobody has asked for more (and pertinent) info.


OP...what size is your growing area?

You want to supply a MINIMUM of 50w per square foot.

Can't believe nobody has asked for more (and pertinent) info.


OP...what size is your growing area?

You want to supply a MINIMUM of 50w per square foot.

Grow area fits two 5 gallon buckets very tight. It's about 6' tall. I'd say roughly 6'tall x 3' wide all around.
I'm not good at construction or math. haha

Is it a 3x3 area?

Is money n issue? If so I wuld stick 2 cfl lighting,if not nvest n a 250wtt hid

3x3 yeah. an old linen closet.

Moneys kind of an issue. I'm pretty tight on it these days.

You need 400w in a 3x3 area minimum or 600w

Personally i have learnt a lot from reading everyones comments thanks a bunch