Lighting: Lets have the facts

[stifler]

Hi guys.. no doubt all of u know ive jus started myfirst grow and i just want to be able to optimise everything this time and get my techniques down on this one so i have it all ready for the next one...
With that in mind id like to get the facts on lighting, I have read up as much as i can but i cannot find any stickys or anything set in stone so to speak re lighting.

So my space is 93"tall 24" wide and 30"deep and i have 2 plants currently vegging in coco.

I bought the 65w cfl's one 650k onr 2700k and thought i was set but sadly using the 6500k veg one is growing them out but only slowly wheras my friend has the sister clones to mine and his are twice as big from his 400 sodium (but he has a bigger space to me)
I now also have a 80w mercury vapour lamp inc ballast etc which this am i swapped onto for veg.
Technically my cfl should be more powerful as its rated at 4300 lumens wheras the mercury is 3800 lumens BUT its more watts and when i test them with my light meter im getting 200 lumens at the bottom of the plants with the cfl and 500 in the same spot with the mercury vapour. is this mercury vapour suitable as a veg lamp?

As a rule of thumb ive read you need 50w per sqft but is that a minimum, maximum or an ideal amount?
my floor pad is 5sqft but if were including the height then im at about 67cuft so what is best for me?

Do i get a 250 sodium a 250 MH a 400 sodium or a 400 MH for my room or do i keep the cfl's plus use the mercury and add a small sodium? lose the cfl's and add a small sodium?
im scared a 400 may be too much for the space tbh but i want the facts from the experts if possible.

Thanks for the help guys

 

[sky high]

Yo

A 250 will give you the 50 watts per sq ft yer looking for.

Forget the "height". You will (IMO) want to keep your plants short to medium in height because a 250 (or even a 400) only casts those lumens so deep into the canopy before they diminish to where you are "growing"...but it's lanky/stemmy shit down low. If you keep your plants short...SCROG....LST.....trim/etc.... and fill the entire foootprint with a canopy you will do better than letting them s-t-r-e-t-c-h really tall and...in essence...have a canopy that sits 5 ft off the ground with nothing but junk under it. Follow?

I'd look at a cool tube/fan set up....and go with the 250......or...if there's a way for you to source a digital ballast that is dimmable and is a 400....maybe go with that. (some of the 400s allow you to burn both MH and HPS with the same unit. That would be nice for you with only one space to do it all.

FWIW.....spend yer $$$ (ok, pounds) on a good ballast and >don't< spend anyhting else on CFL. Look down the road for where you wanna be...not where you are at. If you do this when you buy equip you will save a lot of money in the long run because you will end up buying all of that stuff ANYWAY. LOL

good luck

s h

 

[Zonkerly]

400

Go with the 400,I did the same with CFL and then switch to a 400.Got two now,u will luv it!! Big improvement!!!

 

[Mr.GoodCat]

400 Switchable so you can use MH for Veg and HPS for Flower. 2x2 = 400Watt. Your harvest depends on gram per watt, but anything over 400 in this space would be overkill. Scrog like SkyHigh said. I saw some metal shelving units at Lowes that had 2x2 squares and were 2ft square. Air cool that bitch and keep it as close as possible to the tops. 8-12" and you will be rockin and rolling

 

[stifler]

Hey thanks for the replys guys really like the advice and ill look straight into it.

BUT my original question still stands... is 50w/sqft the 'ideal' the minimum or maximum amount we all look to have and if its a min/max amount then whats the opposite limit?

 

[Mr.GoodCat]

50 is minimal, 60-70 ideal IMHO

 

[bonerface]

400 watt cool tube would be ideal. Not sure how much you're looking to spend, but that would put out great results. Cool tubes run super cool too. Great for small spaces. Just run an hps if you're on a budget. You wont notice the difference over the mh in veg on your first run. A hps will do just fine for veg and flower.

 

[robz]

Get a bigger space and grab some 1k. Closest substitute we have to the sun. Do it right or don't do it at all is my motto.

 

[stifler]

cool tube sounds like a great idea.. ill see about finding one.

How do you know if a ballast will run a dual spectrum bulb or not?? or do both mh & hps use the same ballast?

 

[spider125]

I think I read somewhere that the sun puts out 2000 watts a square foot. So more is always better. I have a 600watt hps for a 4x4 space.

 

[stifler]

do you have to run the light far away in that case and end up stretching the plants out as a result or u running a cool tube spider125? and in your 4x4 space how many girls u grooming?

 

[messsa]

from what I can tell you , mercury vapor is usless , get rid of it , plants dont use that type of light . as far as distance.. you want it as close as you can without burning it of course. I dont run a hood cooled light but 12" from the plant if its cooled properly is fine .. put the bakck of your hand on the plant and if it doesnt burn the back of your hand in 30 sec its fine , use ur judgment .
in a 4x4 I do 9 plants, thats with a 1k tho

 

[spider125]

Really depends on the grower about how many plants. My first run is 4 plants. I've only grown outside before so I only wanna dial everything in this first go around. That's just me. Do what feels comfortable for you.

 

[Reefer Franklin]

cool tube sounds like a great idea.. ill see about finding one.

How do you know if a ballast will run a dual spectrum bulb or not?? or do both mh & hps use the same ballast?

It depends on the ballast. Some will and some won't. Ask your friendly hydro shop.

But you can use high pressure sodium lights for both veg and bloom. IMHO it's the most efficient way to go especially with a limited budget and a small area. You don't want to buy two bulbs, also a straight HPS ballast will be cheaper.

Are you planning on expanding your growing space ? If so buy a larger lamp now and move it further away from the grow.

Attached are pictures of my 48 plant grow. It's in 2 gallon ebb and flow buckets with a 50 gallon reservoir and a control bucket. It's a very elegant hands off way to grow. I'm using 4 x 1000W
Hortilux HPS bulbs in Raptor hoods for veg and bloom in a 15' x 15' room.

Each plant is getting about 80 watts. The Raptors give wide coverage. The plants grow seriously faster than 50 watts per plant. You can't have too much light - unless it's burning the plants. I expect to get 6-7 lbs off this grow.

Keep at it and keep asking questions. There are some great people on this forum. You will get to know them.

BTW I used to live in Rotherham many years ago. Yorkshire rules OK.

The Reef

PS. Time between first and second pics is 11 weeks - 19 days veg, the rest is bloom. They get the scalpel next week.

Tetleys - It's more than just tea. It's what's for tea.

 

[stifler]

man reefer thats a serious set up u got goin there... i did get round to sorting out my room but i dont think i can expand it as id have to lose my office lol plus i have neighbours to think about.

So my set up now is the same room its 8' tall 2' wide 2.5' deep and ive got a 400 HPS goin and its cooking for sure!
ive got a fan to move the air and an extractor in the room which blows out of my roof ridge so its well vented.
ill post some pix of the girls now in week 6 of bloom the hairs are goin brown but i think they still have a week or two to go before flush.
Im runnung the canna a&b coco feeds plus canna coco from a bag (not a brick)
I used 'bud blood' in my first flower week and im using the pk13/14 but still feel im not goin to score too much off these ladies. My guess as to why is 1 genetics of the plant they were cloned from, god knows what it was, i got told blue cheese then blueberry but i can safely say its not either, it smells grape like to me - fruity but no idea what it is tbh and 2 i had a lot of wasted time on the wrong lamps so dont think that helped.

for my next one im goin to switch over to DWC buckets and ive got some Super Silver Haze seeds and some Royal Purple Kush seeds so goin to get them goin in the buckets for my next 2 grows.

What do you all think?

 

[stifler]

Check the pics

what do you think?