can anyone suggest a compact flourescent light

xgenra · #1 12-11-2008, 04:50 PM

I am looking into growing organic medical grade chronic in a closet or cabinet. this will be the first thing I have ever grown.
can anyone suggest a compact flourescent light, organic soil. and a good fertilizer?
books and websites would help.

SkyHi · #2 12-12-2008, 05:34 PM

#1 Buy a grow book, there is one w/over 1000 photos. $25, buy it.
#2 T-5 compact flourescents will work OK for veg., but I don't think that they work well enough for bloom.
#3 Fox Farm Ocean Forest Soil
#4 Botanicare's organic products, Bio-Grow & Bio-Bloom, or Age Old Organics. Keep it simple to start with. If using Fox Farm soil you not need very much Grow nutrients, because it is allready is in the soil. Don't overwater, so that you are not flushing all of the nutrients out of the soil.
Read #1.

supeRoots · #3 12-12-2008, 10:02 PM

If you do go with t-5s try a 6-8 light ballast. You'll need a lot with such a weak light source. Keep your crop very short because florescents do not penetrate much farther than 8 inches or so, anything below that will not get enough light (and you can just toss those buds before they finish). Let us know how it turns out with flos!

I second fox farm. But with indoor you'll probably get some pests because they looove decaying matter (found in organic soil). I just tried Technaflora's Pura Vida and it rocked my ladies hard! It's OMRI certified and made my meds very tasty and frosty. I would recommend it because it's a two part feeding formula and is fairly inexpensive, it's pretty forgiving and good quality. Just don't try to put it through a drip system.

Um.. I suggest this website for all your questions, he he. Jorge Cervantes has some good grow guides out too.

farmer jay · #4 12-23-2008, 11:47 AM

I saw a wide variety of compact fluorescent lighting set ups at http:homeharvest.com. They had an awesome selection of t-8 with HIDs and or HPS combined in the same fixtures. SkyHi said it best... get a book and read up. Its not a hard thing to accomplish nice, potent ganja in only a few square feet of room.

Good luck,
Farmer Jay

fredstrong · #5 08-04-2009, 11:23 PM

I am going to apply for my medical marijuana card. I will legally be able to grow 6 plants. I am going to construct a DWC system with a submersible oumt that drives water from the reservoir to sprayers for the roots, so a Hydro/aero system.

I have limitted amperage, so instead of two 250W HPS, I was going to go with 3 80 watt 2700K CFLs from Phillips. Or possibly, one 6400K and two 2700K, in the flower room, and one 80 watt for flower. I would have 11500 lumens, on the right sepctral wave length for flower, and I would have 3 points of light for the plants. They use so much lass electricity, and emit so much less heat, so you can put them much closer to the plants.

Jorge Cervantes, in the Bible, says they work, and for a small crop I hope I can make them work in my favor. It does alarm me that I have not heard, or read, of too many other people using them. Anyone with input, or experience with CFLs, oplease give me your two cents. THX, FS

Dopey Taylor · #6 08-05-2009, 01:23 AM

I repiled to your other thread, good healthy clones are easy to get if you're a med patient.

burnin1 · #7 08-05-2009, 04:40 PM

Make sure that you do not get T-5 fixtures or bulbs from someplace like Home Depot. You will need the High Output T-5 lights and fixtures from a hydro store or someplace like http://www.plantlightinghydroponics.com.

They make high output 3000K T-5's for flowering. Yes they do work for flowering. I know a fellow MM patient that uses these T-5's for a small grow area. He has grown some really quality medicine with these. Screen of Green method gives the best yield for this type of grow.

I agree that you will need at least 6 lights, preferably 8 for a small area.

Good Luck!

DWCjunkie · #8 08-06-2009, 01:01 AM

http://www.stealthhydroponics.com/pr...od=196&xSec=42

stealth hydro bubbleponics setups look janky as all hell but i have a friend who uses their cfl's with good results.

they sell individual bulbs and single or multi bulb setups like the one linked to above.

i would have to echo the recommendation for t5 HO's. i got my 4 tube 48" fixtures for $110 each out the door with bulbs and chains at an industrial lighting store and each one is almost 19,000 lumens. i use two 4 tube fixtures so i can hang each at opposing angles and it seems to spread the light better than a single 8 tube fixture would. also, 8 tube fixtures are a lot of money. either way, cfl's usually end up costing more to match the lumen output of t5 HO's and then you have to hang them all like x-mas lights...not a good primary light source but i have some 28w cfl's i use for dark spots under the t5's and they're great for that.

tatooedtrash · #9 09-13-2009, 09:16 AM

i agree with the guy's on the t-5 high output lighting but i just did a cool lil closet grow and i only used (1) 22" single t-5 fixture and (1) 4' t-8 with a cool white and a warm white bulb i am using a flood table in my set up if your out side go soil but in the house rock the hydro very easy and cheap i built my set up for under $180. i am using CNS-17 grow,bloom,ripe and a thing of ph down .....hydroton clay rock and loving it ....the green guy on a you tube sold me on this set up and i tried it and it works great ....but if you are all about the organics good luck please let us know how it turns out as well as post pictures of your mmj porn......

seventhchild · #10 12-06-2009, 09:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fredstrong

I have limitted amperage, so instead of two 250W HPS, I was going to go with 3 80 watt 2700K CFLs from Phillips. Or possibly, one 6400K and two 2700K, in the flower room, and one 80 watt for flower. I would have 11500 lumens, on the right sepctral wave length for flower, and I would have 3 points of light for the plants. They use so much lass electricity, and emit so much less heat, so you can put them much closer to the plants.

CFL's use more electricity than HID's and generate more heat in an enclosed space.the 240 watts of CFL will emit 11500 lumen's. a 150 watt pulse start metal halide will give you 13,000 lumen's. Screw-in CFL's have a ballest in their base that you can not access which add heat to the cab, HID ballest can be set outside your grow area http://www.1000bulbs.com/150-Watt-Me...e-Light-Bulbs/