Lights (Is my setup good enough?)

Hi,

I am new to growing. I received some seeds from a friend and decided to have a go. I thought I would try germinating 12 in case I lost some but all germinated and are growing.

I have set up a 20" * 64" lighting area which consists of 14 CFL 20w warm white lights (3 rows, 5 on the outsides and 4 in the middle) which are evenly spread apart with reflective foil over the top. I now know that cool white would have been better for veg growth but how much of a problem is this as they seem to be growing ok.

The plants are about 4" tall (4 weeks from germination) and looking fairly healthy but I need to know if this lighting will be enough or should I invest in an HPS setup with adjustable wings?

Some of the lower leaves look a bit dry and curled, could this be a lighting issue?

Thanks in Advance.

You want to have a cfl above each of the tops, about an inch away, maybe a little less. those lights will do O.K.

I would still suggest an HPS, but if that's all you got.. that's all you got, adjust the cfl's daily for maximum efficency.

well i wouldn't get the CFLs to close, an inch is okay, half inch only with little ones below 27W as i noticed that the bulb/ballast of bigger CFLs can reach 175°F at the surface of its body so a little air should be left in between

i would veg with a HPS since normal hps bulbs are way to far in the red/yellow range. for flower i'm sure with the use of HPS

AlteaMan said:

I have set up a 20" * 64" lighting area which consists of 14 CFL 20w warm white lights (3 rows, 5 on the outsides and 4 in the middle) which are evenly spread apart with reflective foil over the top. I now know that cool white would have been better for veg growth but how much of a problem is this as they seem to be growing ok.

The plants are about 4" tall (4 weeks from germination) and looking fairly healthy but I need to know if this lighting will be enough or should I invest in an HPS setup with adjustable wings?

Click to expand...

Hiya AlteaMan, welcome to growing !

The setup you have at the moment is fine for the stage of growth they're at, but as they grow taller you're going to have to have a re-think about your lighting. It's not ideal to be using 'warm whites' at this stage for the simple reason that light at the red end of the spectrum tends to produce more stretching of the stem than light at the blue end - and this is something you're going to have to think carefully about as your plants grow bigger.

Additionally, the lumen outputs from your small 20w cfl's whilst fine at the moment, aren't going to be enough as they grow taller. You can't add lumens together for depth penetration although you can for area illuminance. What I mean here is, you can add the lumens together for how they illuminate an area across it's width and depth, but you can't do it for how far the light penetrates down into the plant foliage - as they get taller - you'll have more of a 'stretching problem' from 1) The wrong kind of light spectrum and 2) from the lack of lumen depth penetration.

Ideally you need about 2,500-3,000 lumens at the plant tops for healthy vegetative growth, your 20w cfl's are currently putting out about 1200 lumens at 1 foot distance, that will be more the closer the plant tops are to the light, but as they grow taller the lumens will diminish rapidly.

Thanks all for the swift replies. I have just this minute ordered a 600W HPS Kits with a Son-T Green Power bulb and adjustable wings. Don't want to ruin the crop because of lights.

Quick question on that, how high would I hang a 600W HPS from the plants. I take it they are a lot hotter that flo's

AlteaMan said:

Thanks all for the swift replies. I have just this minute ordered a 600W HPS Kits with a Son-T Green Power bulb and adjustable wings. Don't want to ruin the crop because of lights.

Quick question on that, how high would I hang a 600W HPS from the plants. I take it they are a lot hotter that flo's

Click to expand...

My advice to you if you're going to be using a 600w HPS is to get either a Metal Halide conversion bulb or a standard Metal Halide bulb if your ballast is switchable for vegetative growth - it's not a good idea to veg under HPS for the same stretching reasons as it's not a good idea to veg under 'warm white' cfls. Metal Halide light is a blue light as opposed to red/amber light of HPS.

At the stage they're at at the moment, I'd be having that 600w HPS at least 3-4 feet above the plant tops and gradually lower it down over time and as the plants grow taller to a maximum of 2 feet above the plant tops.

babygro said:

My advice to you if you're going to be using a 600w HPS is to get either a Metal Halide conversion bulb or a standard Metal Halide bulb if your ballast is switchable for vegetative growth - it's not a good idea to veg under HPS for the same stretching reasons as it's not a good idea to veg under 'warm white' cfls. Metal Halide light is a blue light as opposed to red/amber light of HPS.

Click to expand...

ok. Have just convinced the wife that the money was justified getting the HPS. Do you think I could use HPS and maybe flower earlier? If not, whats a conversion bulb and what do you mean about a switchable ballast?

I bought : Kit Sinse-Wind 400W.
(It is actually 400w or 600w)

And they have a MH bulb : Philips 250 W. Hpi-t plus
(The bulb can be 400w)

Maybe I could just buy the bulb however if I could get away without buying anymore stuff at least until my first crop (to prove my skills to my wife) that would be better.

I have a similar lighting setup-

DO NOT get those lights closer than 3"-4" from the top of your TALLEST plant.. the warm white CFL's like you and I are using will BURN the plants, especially that young...(its the COOL whites can just about touch them). Your plants will stretch quite a bit, but you can always add more soil to compensate for the stretching...the Warm white bulbs will do fine for vegging and flowering, as long as you dont veg longer than 21-28 days or else they will get really bushy and make it hard for the light to penetrate the canopy.. good luck and make sure to track EVERYTHING in a grow journal especially for your first grow

Edit: added pics of my seedling that got burned pretty bad by the Warm White CFL's



HEAT STRESS will cause the plants to curl up and turn brown or bronze. If that happens to you, ust move the lights further away ASAP.. but thats the only potential problem i see with your lights.