lighting?

DudleyC

DudleyC

Member
Hello All,

I was wondering what the best light is for growing with out needing a ballast?

How much does this usually cost?

Why is it (in your opinion) the best in these specifications?

How big is it(space not watts)?

Please and Thank you, Cam:mrgreen:

P.S. Sorry again for my ignorance I am still really new to this and I am just learning.:neutral:
 
G

growone

Well-Known Member
just about all usable lights have ballasts, even cfl's, their ballasts are just small and are 'built in'
HPS, MH, cfl's all need ballasts
 
B

bar

Member
dude, what size/specs are you growing in and how many plants, how much money have you got to spend, and also how secret does it have to be ?
 
DudleyC

DudleyC

Member
Oh. I did not know that. I ment buying a seperate ballast. I have low money, medium to low space, partially secret, no more than ten plants at a time usually 5 or 6. I bet you might be thinking why even bother, right?
 
G

growone

Well-Known Member
i grow 1-2 plants, for me it's enough, everyone has different needs
but on the ballast question, most grow setups need ballasts, if you want to avoid the cost/complication of a separate ballast, then cfl's might be the way to go
they're simple to setup, but a HPS will probably be cheaper for a 5 plant grow
it takes a good number of cfl's to cover a plant in flower
 
tsky

tsky

Active Member
yes it does, you can get som reflectors with the ballast attached but whts the point in that really
 
G

growone

Well-Known Member
you can buy some setup fixtures from home depot/lowes type stores
i think those are 150w typically, which can work for small grows
 
G

growone

Well-Known Member
size is everything with cfls and plants, i personally use a 3 cfl(26w each) grow chamber for a single plant
i'm a micro grower, this may not map well to your wants or needs
the usual cfl formula is 100w for the 1st sq ft, and 50w for each additional sq ft
for a 4 foot high plant, probably at least 200w in cfl's, maybe up to 400w
if you want to train the plant, which can make for a much smaller height and width, you can make do with a smaller setup
i do LST which results in a plant less than 2 feet high
 
DudleyC

DudleyC

Member
I need 6500k for veg? So is there a higher wattage bulb than 26 for 6500k cfl? So then I could maybe use say 4 or so of the higher(than 26w) cfls per 2 plants or does it not work that way? If you need me to try to rephrase just ask I feel as if I am rambeling(sp?)
 
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growone

Well-Known Member
DudleyC said:
I need 6500k for veg? So is there a higher wattage bulb than 26 for 6500k cfl? So then I could maybe use say 4 or so of the higher(than 26w) cfls per 2 plants or does it not work that way? If you need me to try to rephrase just ask I feel as if I am rambeling(sp?)
Click to expand...
i use 5500k bulbs from home depot for veg, they work great
6500k are good too for veg
you can use the larger bulbs, it's largely a matter of personal taste
i like 26w because they're the cheapest bulb, you can distribute them for closer coverage, and slightly higher lumens per watt
the trick with cfl's is getting them close to the plant, no more than a few inches away is optimal
 
hoss12781

hoss12781

Well-Known Member
www.1000bulbs.com has 105W CFLs for $18 and change. They toss out approx 7,000 lumens per bulb and work great with shorter plants, especially autoflowers. I use 1.5 105W per plant a total of 630W. Works fine.
 
D

dog

Well-Known Member
look on ebay you can find 150w upto 400w HPS or MH used floodlights with built in ballasts from £10, i got all in 1 150w MH for just £12, not so long ago.
 
Spanishfly

Spanishfly

Well-Known Member
I think the ONLY suitable lights without an external ballast are fluoros, tubes or CFLs. I am ignoring LEDs here.
 
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