Always blitzed
Member
Can someone tell me if two 58 watt fluorescent is really enough for veg and how long before its not enough???any help appreciated
Is fluorescent really enough
- Thread starter Always blitzed
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CannaChameleon
Active Member
how many plants are you growing? That isnt a huge amount of wattage, but from experience plants veg under pretty much anything. Itll probs be enough to keep the plants alive and growing, allbeit relativly slowly. As long as you flower them under something more powerful i.e. an hps then you should be fine. Ive vegged under relatively low powered lights before and found that you either need to give them a much longer vegging period (which is a pain in the arse) or put slightly smaller plants into flower which will damage your yield. Either way its less efficient than having a slightly higher powered light next time 
brotherjericho
Well-Known Member
58w fluorescent would be a 4' t8. That means its total lumens are spread over 4', and any plant would only receive a part of those lumens. So probably not enough for full veg but fine for seedlings and clones.
crazyhazey
Well-Known Member
train them to grow along the bulbs and im sure youll be able to veg just fine, t5s will get you better results. and make sure you got the right spectrum.
Always Blitzed: Mine are 54 watt T-5's and the real issue here might be how patient are you? A friend turns in the crop he cultivated under HID in about ten weeks, start to finish but frankly his stuff is some pretty harsh tasting shit and no more potent than mine. I grow exclusively under T-5's now and 16 to 20 weeks for a personal medical grow seems to be about average for me. I don't think that's too bad for a plant that's typically an annual under natural conditions.
And they aren't all ready at the same time. I grow a mix of Sativa and Indica because of the seed batch I've kept going for the last twenty-seven years. I have one grow going right now that I started in April and some of them are at least a couple of weeks away from being ready. Whether I could speed it up with MH or HPS I don't know as I've never used them. It was: T-8's, Aerogarden's CFL's and now T-5's.
Presently I'm at 13 hours of dark and 11 hours of light and I'll drop them another hour next week. I generally keep them at 14 hours of dark and 10 hours of light for about six to eight weeks or until over half of my trikes have changed color under the scope. I have a lot of lovely flowers that will keep my sugar bowl full and me away from the prescription codeine the doctors had me hooked on for a couple more months.
Right now my T-5 fixture, which completely covers my grow, is about two to three inches off the tops of my plants and that's the same thing I did with T-8's. The only thing you have to look out for is that first growth spurt at the beginning of flowering because they can really spring up into the lights. But under any other lighting they'd be smokin' now. I hope that helps. HSA
And they aren't all ready at the same time. I grow a mix of Sativa and Indica because of the seed batch I've kept going for the last twenty-seven years. I have one grow going right now that I started in April and some of them are at least a couple of weeks away from being ready. Whether I could speed it up with MH or HPS I don't know as I've never used them. It was: T-8's, Aerogarden's CFL's and now T-5's.
Presently I'm at 13 hours of dark and 11 hours of light and I'll drop them another hour next week. I generally keep them at 14 hours of dark and 10 hours of light for about six to eight weeks or until over half of my trikes have changed color under the scope. I have a lot of lovely flowers that will keep my sugar bowl full and me away from the prescription codeine the doctors had me hooked on for a couple more months.
Right now my T-5 fixture, which completely covers my grow, is about two to three inches off the tops of my plants and that's the same thing I did with T-8's. The only thing you have to look out for is that first growth spurt at the beginning of flowering because they can really spring up into the lights. But under any other lighting they'd be smokin' now. I hope that helps. HSA
Fortheloveofgreen
Active Member
I am going to echo some of the same things HSA said.
I grew my first crop of 3 plants under a 4 bulb t5 setup. I didn't have a lot of knowledge, so the plants stretched on me, but I still ended up with around 1oz off each plant, and it smells and smokes amazing. I recently picked up a couple 3ft plants from another grower who has a 4000w hps grow. Yes, his buds were MUCH harder than mine, and larger in size. He included some samples of finished meds with the plants, and frankly, the bigger harder buds still have a very green, hay like odor to them after 2 weeks curing in the same fashion I am curing mine, and mine have a very pungent, bud smell.
I passed a little of my harvest along to a more experienced smoker, and the feedback I got was that he was amazed at how smooth it smoked, and the awesome flavor, even out of a pipe.
I just upgraded to an 8 bulb t5 fixture, and moved my 4 bulb to my veg area. I am currently using 4 "blue" bulbs and 4 "red" bulbs in the 8 bulb fixture.
So for yield, I would echo what everyone else is saying, go MH/HPS if you can deal with the heat. If you are patient, and are growing for personal use rather than donating to a club, t5's seem to be an excellent choice, when coupled with some sort of training of the plant to maximize your limited light. Keep your plants short, wide, and well topped and you will have a great canopy to harvest.
I grew my first crop of 3 plants under a 4 bulb t5 setup. I didn't have a lot of knowledge, so the plants stretched on me, but I still ended up with around 1oz off each plant, and it smells and smokes amazing. I recently picked up a couple 3ft plants from another grower who has a 4000w hps grow. Yes, his buds were MUCH harder than mine, and larger in size. He included some samples of finished meds with the plants, and frankly, the bigger harder buds still have a very green, hay like odor to them after 2 weeks curing in the same fashion I am curing mine, and mine have a very pungent, bud smell.
I passed a little of my harvest along to a more experienced smoker, and the feedback I got was that he was amazed at how smooth it smoked, and the awesome flavor, even out of a pipe.
I just upgraded to an 8 bulb t5 fixture, and moved my 4 bulb to my veg area. I am currently using 4 "blue" bulbs and 4 "red" bulbs in the 8 bulb fixture.
So for yield, I would echo what everyone else is saying, go MH/HPS if you can deal with the heat. If you are patient, and are growing for personal use rather than donating to a club, t5's seem to be an excellent choice, when coupled with some sort of training of the plant to maximize your limited light. Keep your plants short, wide, and well topped and you will have a great canopy to harvest.
kinamongpawns
Member
the first bud was a previous grow and the 3 are current all grown with cfls in an old tv, i use 250 and a 125 watt feliz bulbs with 4 25 watt side lights and the plants love it
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sandiegojack2
Well-Known Member
yes. But it's all about the bud plan out your grow for success! Wishing you the best! look at sizes of flower room plant's and clone's ready to go in next..and keep going... jackView attachment 2214315
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View attachment 2214317View attachment 2214321Always blitzed
Member
Nice one for the advice the bulbs are lumilux cool white 58 w /840 it has written 5200 lm beside that too??? I usually use a 400 w hps bulb for veg and flower(is this ok???) but I wanna use 600w for flowering as my recent yeids are brutal so I'm putting my best efforts into this crop. I have 5 of og lush 3 northern lights and 3 of another strain. Do you think these fluorescents will do for veg ??? Cheers. Slain leat..... As gaeilge