# Need light advice please



## Brohio (Sep 19, 2014)

Hello
Looking for some bulbs to keep a few late bloomers alive through the winter (hopefully) .  Anyway , the T5 was recommended , but not sure what wattage to buy   for like 6 to 8 plants. Thanks ! :vap-Bong_smoker:


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## Locked (Sep 19, 2014)

HO T5's are more suited for Veg, not Flower. 6 to 8 plants would be a lot of HO T5's. 
Think more like HPS.


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## Brohio (Sep 20, 2014)

Thank you,  Is T5 the size of the terminals ?   Are they like an average shop light ? Also, if I go with the T5s, what wattage, or anything else I should know before buying ? Thank you kindly...


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## orangesunshine (Sep 20, 2014)

light u choose is dependent upon how large u will allow these plants to grow and what ur plan is---are u finishing them for harvest or carrying them over for next years od season?

both blue spectrum and orange spectrums are available for the 4' t5 allowing u to veg or flower w/the t5

if just keeping them thru the winter---i get the t5 and cut them back so they fit under the light for the winter


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## The Hemp Goddess (Sep 20, 2014)

Brohio said:


> Thank you, Is T5 the size of the terminals ? Are they like an average shop light ? Also, if I go with the T5s, what wattage, or anything else I should know before buying ? Thank you kindly...




 The number after the T denotes the diameter of the tube in 1/8s of an inch.  For instance, T5s are tubes that are 5/8" in diameter, T8s are 8/8 or 1 inch in diameter, T12s are 12/8 or 1-1/2".  Four foot, high output T5s are the highest wattage tubes at 54W and emit the most lumens per watt, which makes them the best to use if using fluoro tubes.

 However if you have 6-8 plants flowering now that you want to try and finish, you are going to need more, better light than that.  Just trying to keep them in some kind of stasis through the winter is going to be tough....


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## Brohio (Sep 20, 2014)

Well I am open to suggestions....I'm fighting the climate about now, we have so much effort in them, and time.  I have three options. 1) just let them grow as long as we can before frost, 2) bring them inside, and either try to finish budding or keep alive in a veg state till spring, 3) try mixing in a male plant, and try to harvest seeds our selves.  Not sure what it takes to do this, we have plants that are just starting to bud and one male plant that has the seed sacks all over. Do they have to be a certain age ?  How would I go about it if we wanted to try for more seeds ?  Thanks....realistically, if they come inside, we will be very limited as far as equipment, we would just buy a couple bulbs and water them in there pots. Thanks !


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## Brohio (Sep 20, 2014)

Also, can someone post a link to some T5 bulbs that would be good for both flowering and vegging ? Would typical garage/shop light work ?


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## orangesunshine (Sep 20, 2014)

check out 1000bulbs---they likely have bulbs both veg and flower to burn according to fit your fixture size---as THG said---t5 bulbs are best but do not fit in a garage shop light fixture


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## orangesunshine (Sep 20, 2014)

this is a good fixture---8 bulbs

http://www.greners.com/i/grow-light...un-blaze-t5-fixtures-4-foot-2-4-6-8-tube.html


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## Brohio (Sep 20, 2014)

Thanks, that is a little out of reach budget wise.lets say I go with just trying to keep alive, maybe try some clones and keep them alive for 4 or 5 months ?  What's the most cost effective set up ? Please post links if possible.


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## orangesunshine (Sep 20, 2014)

shop around you can get a bulb will fit your shop light fixture... or you might try buying a bunch of CFLs... either way you're going to have to prune the clones once they start to grow so that they don't outgrow their lighting


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## The Hemp Goddess (Sep 21, 2014)

Really, there are soooo many excellent strains out there that trying to keep something alive through the winter and into spring is going to be a feat that is not worth the effort.  There is no ONE STRAIN, no Holy Grail out there.  There are dozens, probably hundreds of really outstanding seeds available that will produce bud equal to that which you are trying to keep over the winter.  I know that when we first went from growing bagseed in the 90s to buying beans from Amsterdam, I was amazed at the quality and availability of so many strains.  It has increased a hundred-fold since then.

Especially since your budget is so limited, I question whether this is really worth it?

Shop light and CFLs are most likely going to create tall stretched plants that are hard to contain and control.


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## Hackerman (Sep 21, 2014)

Back in the 60's and 70's I used nothing but shop lights.

Toss them in a closet with a couple shop lights for the Winter and throw a glass of water on them now and then. LMAO Exactly what I did for years and the plants lived fine.

However, like HG says, seeds are easy to get, now and no strain is, as she put it, the holy grail.

I never toss plants. LOL I would stick that baby in a closet with a shop light at 12/12 and play with it over the Winter. The worse that can happen is that you learn something.

Meanwhile, do what you can to set up a proper grow room and order some nice seeds.

JMO


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## The Hemp Goddess (Sep 21, 2014)

You cannot keep a plant in 12/12 forever.  If you take it too long, the trichs turn black and die and then the plant will die.  He is either going toh ave to finish them indoors or keep them in some kind of stasis throughout the winter, which, like I mentioned, will be difficult at best.


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## Hackerman (Sep 21, 2014)

Sorry, I didn't mean to suggest that it could stay 12/12 over the Winter. If it were me and I (for some reason) wanted to keep that specific plant alive that long. I would flower and reveg. By next year he might have enough plant to take a clone or 2 and a sample meanwhile. And, I only go that way because it already started to flower.

Otherwise it wouldn't be to tough to keep it vegging until then.

But, like you said, why bother? Seeds are everywhere.


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## The Hemp Goddess (Sep 22, 2014)

Revegging is always iffy.  I have a Larry OG Kush I am trying to reveg, but she is not looking like she is going to cooperate.  It seems some strains reveg better than others.  

I guess one of the things I wanted to say is that I grew with bagseed for many years before I discovered sometime in the late 90s that we could buy seeds from Europe.  While I though that the bagseed I was using was producing great smoke, when I got some really good genetics, I discovered that what I thought was "special" wasn't.  There truly are so many excellent strains made by reputable breeders that have put years and years and generations and generations of work into breeding the best they could.  To go to huge lengths to try and save a specific strain through winter seems like an exercise in futility with all the great strains that we have to choose from.  And really considering what we get, the seeds are very reasonably priced.


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