Wattage vs price vs number of lights (Noob grower)

R

Rotnpankake

Member
Alright, so I haven't actually started growing yet but I will in the near future. I'm kinda planning ahead, and one of the things I've never really looked into is the watts necessary for lighting. I'm particularly interested in CFL growing because of the low relative cost (well maybe ;P).

The likely size of the area I will grow in is 2w x 4l x 5h, with 3 or 4 plants.

I've done a bunch of simple multiplication and found out that from greners.com that getting 16 of the 125w bulbs (8 of 6500k and 8 of 2700k) would be $200 cheaper than getting 8 of the 250w bulbs (4 of 6500k and 4 of 2700k). This seems fantastic, you get the same watts, more lights for $200 less, but is it even worth it to have more lights? How many watts would even be necessary for the size of my grow room? The total (going with the 125w bulbs) would be $575 or below (depending on how many lights I get). At that price would it be WELL worth it to invest in HPS or MH?

TL;DR Summary- How many watts do I need?
How many lights should I use?
Are CFL's the right way to go?
Any other elegant solutions to lighting that are cheap?
 
Buddingbishop

Buddingbishop

Well-Known Member
Rotnpankake said:
Alright, so I haven't actually started growing yet but I will in the near future. I'm kinda planning ahead, and one of the things I've never really looked into is the watts necessary for lighting. I'm particularly interested in CFL growing because of the low relative cost (well maybe ;P).

The likely size of the area I will grow in is 2w x 4l x 5h, with 3 or 4 plants.

I've done a bunch of simple multiplication and found out that from greners.com that getting 16 of the 125w bulbs (8 of 6500k and 8 of 2700k) would be $200 cheaper than getting 8 of the 250w bulbs (4 of 6500k and 4 of 2700k). This seems fantastic, you get the same watts, more lights for $200 less, but is it even worth it to have more lights? How many watts would even be necessary for the size of my grow room? The total (going with the 125w bulbs) would be $575 or below (depending on how many lights I get). At that price would it be WELL worth it to invest in HPS or MH?

TL;DR Summary- How many watts do I need?
How many lights should I use?
Are CFL's the right way to go?
Any other elegant solutions to lighting that are cheap?
Click to expand...
Dont worry about watts, while this matters for your energy bill it doesnt for plants, its all about the lumen output. But in my opinion if your going to spend over 100 dollars on cfls, which you probably will, your better off investing in an hps setup cuz it will pay for itself in the first grow
 
pyrosfire

pyrosfire

Active Member
serriously go hps and a good hood for that price, cheeper in both the short and the long term with better results cfls are realy limted to small areas and grows, even i would be better with a 150 hps instead of 8x20w but it was all free so went with it.... for you a single 1000hps would be killer could even 600hps would be great in there
 
cbr1000rr18

cbr1000rr18

Member
If you do decide to go with cfls buy them from amizon.com they have the lowest prices that iv found and trust me iv checked everywhere. you can get 150 watt bulbs in a 6 pack for $50 for 2700k. The 6500k are a little more expensive but you could get 6 150 watters for no more than 80.
 
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