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Grow light

Melissa77754 said:
My HD carries these 300watt equivalent CFL's, I will consider myself lucky then! :) I call them monster CFL's, ridiculously bright when attached to a metal hood! I love them, and seriously would have never bought a T5. My brother was just nice enough to give me one he doesn't use, score!
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I got one of those 300w equivalent jobbers to. I just wish it was 6500k :rolleyes: instead of 2700k.


CIMG0017.jpg
 
Pepper-Guru said:
Thats because people at home depot don't know shit.

CFL's are awesome
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Those cfl's you get at the store have a coating over the bulb not to hurt ones eyes with harmfull UV rays. The UV rays are intercepted by a phosphor coating. Even with the plant cfl lights, there are more economical lighting options.
 
Sanarda, what is it exactly you are looking to do? You are going to get a whole bunch of conflicting information. Do you want to grow from seed to fruit indoors? Get quality starts to plant out in spring?(what I do) Overwinter? Knowing this info will help people giving you info. You can make any light work for any situation.

2011-09-10_11-19-05_859-1.jpg

Plants from my first year growing. These were all started under a 2 bulb t8 light. Nothing special compared to others but it can be done. I used t5 t8 and 400w halide lights this past winter. As stated before,Grow tech is a better place to post this stuff.
 
Pr0digal_son said:
Sandara, what is it exactly you are looking to do? You are going to get a whole bunch of conflicting information. Do you want to grow from seed to fruit indoors? Get quality starts to plant out in spring?(what I do) Overwinter? Knowing this info will help people giving you info. You can make any light work for any situation.

2011-09-10_11-19-05_859-1.jpg

Plants from my first year growing. These were all started under a 2 bulb t8 light. Nothing special compared to others but it can be done. I used t5 t8 and 400w halide lights this passed winter. As stated before,Grow tech is a better place to post this stuff.
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Hey, Nice looking plants!!!

Yea I would say cfl are good for starting seeds, I have used them to do so in the past.
 
YES Capsicum. I would like to overwinter the plants that I have and when I start some more in January or February I am going to need lighting. Thanks for your input. I have been checking out the grow tech glog a lot and i am learning a ton
 
Capsicum said:
Hey, Nice looking plants!!!

Yea I would say cfl are good for starting seeds, I have used them to do so in the past.
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Thats what do, I cant get 18/6 light scheduled where I live :P
I have raced seedlings and I feel my lights grow them faster until about 3-4 sets of leaves. Then I graduate them to a greenhouse.
 
Cayennemist said:
Thats what do, I cant get 18/6 light scheduled where I live :P
I have raced seedlings and I feel my lights grow them faster until about 3-4 sets of leaves. Then I graduate them to a greenhouse.
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Yea I used a reg 6500k cfl bulb to start some cherry tomatoes one year and it worked really good. I was able to start quite a bit under just the one bulb.
 
They sure did Saw and yes it did... There are some wicked intelligent people here that are willing to share their hard earned knowledge and I am so grateful I cant even explain.. thanks all.... still learning ... stay tuned
 
I only use CFLs for my overwinter tent. It's roughly 4x2 and about 4-5 feet tall. 2 105-watts (actual watts) and 2 65w do more than enough for my plants. They even fruit pretty well. All 6500k.
 
Rancor said:
I only use CFLs for my overwinter tent. It's roughly 4x2 and about 4-5 feet tall. 2 105-watts (actual watts) and 2 65w do more than enough for my plants. They even fruit pretty well. All 6500k.
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What is your overwinter tent made of? Did you put it up yourself?? I need to over winter my babies and I dont know where to start. Im in nj and weather here is umm.. unpredictable and cold. I need something sturdy thats for sure
 
Actually,when I first got my original T10 bulbs I had to cut the hours they were on down to 10 hrs. or my plants got sun burn.
The bulbs were Vtech ,93F , 6700K , 3240 Lumems , 40 watts.
I don't know if they make them anymore.

I liked some of these bulbs...some are about the same as the VTech bulbs I liked.

http://www.fullspectrumsolutions.com/full_spectrum_fluorescent_bulbs_33_ctg.htm

Google around and you can find similar bulbs cheaper.

Most of the bulbs I used were about $8.00 - $10.00 each but only lasted about 3 years max.
They ran 12-18 hrs. a day year round.

A small Kitchen Plant that recently got adopted.
Planted the seeds last new years eve.
Grew mostly under LEDs.

http://i403.photobucket.com/albums/pp111/smoemaster_2007/2012%20pics/th_PICT2163.jpg?t=1335592282

http://i403.photobucket.com/albums/pp111/smoemaster_2007/2012%20pics/th_PICT2162.jpg?t=1335592282

http://i403.photobucket.com/albums/pp111/smoemaster_2007/2012%20pics/th_IM004897.jpg?t=1335592282

http://i403.photobucket.com/albums/pp111/smoemaster_2007/2012%20pics/th_IM004898.jpg?t=1335592282
 
Thanks Jamison. I am probably going to have to go with the t5. I was kind of hoping I could use the bulbs that are used in the lamps instead of the long bulbs. I would have to rig up the ballast. No biggie tho.

Smoke that's great info and thanks for the links. The lumens and the wattage are most important when choosing a bulb???? I'm trying to google what the "93f" and "6500k" means.
 
Sanarda said:
Smoke that's great info and thanks for the links. The lumens and the wattage are most important when choosing a bulb???? I'm trying to google what the "93f" and "6500k" means.
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Not sure about the 93F (heat output?) But the 6500K is the color temperature of the bulb. The high numbers push more on the blue spectrum of light, and the low numbers push more red. Most people say that blue light is better for foliage growth, while red light is better for flowering. Actually, lumens are probably the most important part here. AlabamaJack (who is a very respected grower around here) states that 3,000 lumens per square foot is what you should shoot for if you plant on growing for the full life cycle of the plant (seedling to fruit production). So whatever wattage it takes to get you adequate lumens/ft[sup]2[/sup]
is what you need to worry about.

As for me, I grew indoors so I could get an early start before planting outside. I used 6 23watt (100 watt incandescent equivalent) bulbs in a 2x3 grow box I built. The lumens/ft[sup]2 [/sup]was 1600. So half of what is recommended. I got excellent growth out of them though. Not sure how I would have done at setting fruit though.
 
Gotcha. Thanks Comp. great clarification. Ok I am going to attempt to build my grow box soon and I will post picks on my glog. I have to figure out how many square feet I need for 16 plants. Dang. I'm goin to have to clean my basement. That sucks
 
Sanarda said:
What is your overwinter tent made of? Did you put it up yourself?? I need to over winter my babies and I dont know where to start. Im in nj and weather here is umm.. unpredictable and cold. I need something sturdy thats for sure
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My tent is a tent made for clones, which is why it's not very tall. I got it on clearance at Worms Way's website last year. I think it was down to $120 from some ridiculous price. Not sure what it's made of, but it's pretty sturdy. It's just a metal shelf system deal with a heavy fabric tent with proper vent holes. Light proof and all. I'd recommend it for over-wintering.
 
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