Can I grow with this?
- Thread starter tylerf90
- Start date
RCgrowerman
Active Member
No that is not enough light for even one plant to grow.
Light House
Active Member
Not necessarily I have seen a plant flower in a Dixie cupola under 1 cfl. And not PER PLANT but PER SQ.FT. you shoot for 50w/sq.ft.. So yes you could grow but they wont be good/high yielding plants, if its cost your worried about steal your mums cfls in your house and have at it!
Enjoy!
ExileOnMainStreet
Well-Known Member
Yup, it'll work fine. Bend the plant over and stake it down to train it to grow in a line following the tube, and get the light as close as possible to the leaves. You'll get a leggy plant and small buds, but it'll do the job.
If/when you can, used building supply (Habitat Store, etc) are a great place to get double and quad fixtures. If you have the space, quad is the way to go. It doesn't generate significantly more heat and it and a fan will still run easily on a single 15A circuit.
Check out my 'Shoestring Grow' thread: I got started the same way. I'm growing under 1000W MH now, but if it wasn't for 4' tubes and CFLs, I wouldn't have gotten started.
OVERGROW !!!!
If/when you can, used building supply (Habitat Store, etc) are a great place to get double and quad fixtures. If you have the space, quad is the way to go. It doesn't generate significantly more heat and it and a fan will still run easily on a single 15A circuit.
Check out my 'Shoestring Grow' thread: I got started the same way. I'm growing under 1000W MH now, but if it wasn't for 4' tubes and CFLs, I wouldn't have gotten started.
OVERGROW !!!!
thanks, I will probably try to grow a plant with my 1 tube just as a learning experience for now but I want to use MH or HIS but know nothing of how to wire a ballast or anything like that.
ink the world
Well-Known Member
You dont need to wire anything to use a HID light like metal halide or HPS.
There are tons of retailers that sell plug and play systems. You can grab a 150 watt HPS for around $80 or a 400 watt HPS for $120 from HTG Supply Take it out of the box, hang it, plug it into a timer and youre off to the races. If you can spend the extra $ get the biggest wattage light you can afford.
There are tons of retailers that sell plug and play systems. You can grab a 150 watt HPS for around $80 or a 400 watt HPS for $120 from HTG Supply Take it out of the box, hang it, plug it into a timer and youre off to the races. If you can spend the extra $ get the biggest wattage light you can afford.
ExileOnMainStreet
Well-Known Member
^^what ink said.
Mine all came as a single unit: 1000W bulb, ballast and shade all-in-one wired with a 110V 15A plug ready to go.
Not only that, but I bought it used off craigslist for $75 - keep yer eyes open.
I've just used flouro, but this was a deal I couldn't pass up. A 940W HPS bulb that will work with this ballast ('conversion bulb') runs $100-250 and saves on needing another fixture, though the 5A timer I had the CFLs on will need to be upgraded to a 15 or 20A one (about $30)
It doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg to grow weed, but I'm blown away by the difference the 'new' light makes. It's definitely been a worthwhile upgrade. I flowered small plants in 2 liter pots under CFLs and the smell was easy to deal with. With HPS, I expect I'll need to upgrade that too, so the costs keep going up....but I'll get more out of it when I'm done.
This is the light. The box on top is the ballast.
The lines are because of how the camera 'sees' the light and aren't really there. It's just a mind-numbingly bright white light
Not really comparing apples to apples here, but this was typical of what I was seeing with flouros for veg and CFLs for flowering:
See the big spaces between the branches (nodes) ?
As I understand it, that's typical for flourescent. The buds don't grow into the classic tall colas that you see, they stay as domed nubs...but it doesn't affect the smoking....
This is one that's been under the new light for a couple weeks. It's a lot more dense, but like I said about comparing apples to apples, it's a completely different strain as well so that probably has a lot to do with it as well. I guess I could do a side by side test, but meh.....
Again, I'm no expert. This is just what's worked for me. If it gets you growing sooner, then flourescents are the way to go !
Mine all came as a single unit: 1000W bulb, ballast and shade all-in-one wired with a 110V 15A plug ready to go.
Not only that, but I bought it used off craigslist for $75 - keep yer eyes open.
I've just used flouro, but this was a deal I couldn't pass up. A 940W HPS bulb that will work with this ballast ('conversion bulb') runs $100-250 and saves on needing another fixture, though the 5A timer I had the CFLs on will need to be upgraded to a 15 or 20A one (about $30)
It doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg to grow weed, but I'm blown away by the difference the 'new' light makes. It's definitely been a worthwhile upgrade. I flowered small plants in 2 liter pots under CFLs and the smell was easy to deal with. With HPS, I expect I'll need to upgrade that too, so the costs keep going up....but I'll get more out of it when I'm done.
This is the light. The box on top is the ballast.
The lines are because of how the camera 'sees' the light and aren't really there. It's just a mind-numbingly bright white light
Not really comparing apples to apples here, but this was typical of what I was seeing with flouros for veg and CFLs for flowering:
See the big spaces between the branches (nodes) ?
As I understand it, that's typical for flourescent. The buds don't grow into the classic tall colas that you see, they stay as domed nubs...but it doesn't affect the smoking....
This is one that's been under the new light for a couple weeks. It's a lot more dense, but like I said about comparing apples to apples, it's a completely different strain as well so that probably has a lot to do with it as well. I guess I could do a side by side test, but meh.....
Again, I'm no expert. This is just what's worked for me. If it gets you growing sooner, then flourescents are the way to go !
