Vegging Cfl. Flowering HPS?

kenaz

Well-Known Member
I'm presently using a pair of 105w CFLs to illuminate a pair of babies who are going into their third week of vegging. I've ordered a 400w HPS and Cooltube and was planning to trick the cabinet out for that bad boy in time for blooming.

I was going to do a straight CFL grow, but the cost of getting high wattage 3000k+/- CFL growlights (or hassle of putting together a bunch of low wattage ones) was comparable to or greater than the cost and trouble of setting up an HID system.

Given my current grow cabinet (a 4' x 2' x 6' cab with one 2' x 2' x 6 and two 2' x 2' x 3' sections), I'm not sure there would be any advantage to vegging under HID. I don't need my plants to get huge while vegging -- quite the opposite, in fact! With CFLs placed close I'm getting nice bushy little plants which I am going to start LSTing soon: I'm hoping when I kick the HPS into play they give me some nice tight buds.

Has anyone here used a similar setup? This is my maiden growing voyage: I already see a few modifications I want to make for round 2 but I'd like to hear what the pros think.
 

psynide

Member
This is a very common setup.
CFLs are a great choice for keeping moms and starting clones, while that 400w HPS in such a small space will make those dense buds we all want.

Make sure you have a fan blowing through the cooltube keeping that bulb cool so your plants can grow close to the light without burning.

Soil or hydro?

The 23-32 watt cfl work great and don't run very hot with a light breeze across them.
Seems like (8 ) 6500-5000k bulbs would suffice for the (2) 2x2x3 rooms.
4 in each room.
Most CFLs have a lifetime warranty, if you take them back to the wholesale retail stores you can exchange them for new ones.

400w hps might get warm in there.
 
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