Inexpensive Grow Setup?

[woody3says]

Ronnie how big an area does that 6 bulb vanity light cover?

Those 42 watt cfls are 10.97 each at the Depot. I am in one right now.

This is the exact setup AJ is talking about. Full props to him, I blatantly copied it off him. Shelves are 2x4, that's the 6 bulb vanity light, in it I have x3 2700K 2650L. As he mentioned, HD and Lowes don't have 6500Ks in 40w (150w equivalent) so till tomorrow I have in x2 5000K 1750L and one 6500K 1600L to take their spot. When I get those upgraded I will be putting out 3000L+ ft^2.

Here's the cost breakdown for you.

$20 for the fixture
$10-12 a pop for the lights
Whatever shelving you desire for whatever cost. I bought the steel heavy duty shelf at Lowes. For all the lights, fixtures, and shelf I dumped $311 out the door. I can fit 4 flats of 18 ct 3.5in pots per shelf...... Plenty of babies for me =)

 

[Dulac]

for your initial grow, you need a warm place (~80F) and good strong light...probably at least 1500 lumens/ft[sup]2 [/sup]to promote good growth.

your cheapest solution is a 4' shoplight fixture or two (or 3) side by side. Use a mixture of 4100K and 6500K bulbs...I use this setup in my slow grow area...three shoplights side by side will cover an area 20" X 48" and will give you ~ 1700 lumens/ft[sup]2[/sup]. You should be able to find the fixtures for about $10 each and the bulbs will be about $3-4 each.

this setup will handle 72 seedlings in 3.5" square containers.

if you can find a one hundred dollar bill a better alternative is a 6 light vanity light bar from Home Depot (19.95) and 6 42 watt CFLs...the CFLs are about $13 each

I would not use a heated fan unless you have a thermostat hooked up to it...don't want to cook them...

Thanks. I just have to figure out how to hang the shoplight fixtures. Those should work very well.

 

[Hot Pooper]

What AJ has said is gold. (Woody as well.) If you are JUST going to grow the plants indoors until you can put them outside, all you need to do is get you some cheapy lights from Wal Mart, or even a yard sale. If you get the correct light bulbs for the fixtures, and for your babies, then they will grow just fine. They will do all you need, and then some.
I'm about to go post this year's set-up for me. You'll see what I mean by CHEAP! lol

 

[SuperHot]

My plants have done well with (just 2 (T5s) 6500k on a 20" x 4' shelve) x 8. As I continue to research my setup I do suspect my plants would benefit from the addition of a 4100k T5 light and give me 1.5k lumens per shelf thereafter. It seem to work well last season on my 500+ supers, but I guess there is always some tweaks here and there that one could make to improve the overall process.

AJ's word is definitely gold!!

 

[dinick]

i have a 10,000k is that to much? i plan on growing 4 thai plants indoors under 2 10,000k. is that to much? and should i use lower light when the seeds are just starting to grow?

 

[woody3says]

Go back and look at the picture AJ posted of the light color spectrum. 10,000k is way up there. Do a search for smokemaster's posts about photosynthesis and nm. 10,000k may be out of the plants usable range. 7000k-2500k mix would be what you want IMO. I use 6500k, 5000k, 2700k, and I had some 3500k around here somewhere...... The more spectrum you cover the closer you will get to sunlight.