Ninaz1
Member
No worries! It’s easy to get overwhelmed with the amount of lighting options out there. Lights are all about how much money you can spend but the #1 thing to look for is a an LED fixture that uses Full Spectrum White LEDs.
9x6 is a large area to light properly. A good rule of thumb for LED is to shoot for 35-40 watts/square foot of grow space, which is far more space than you’ll need for 5-6 plants. You’d need roughly 1,900 watts of LED to light that space properly which is not going to be cheap. HID would be a better option if you have a small budget. 2 of those lights that you linked could do a 4x2 tent but not much more than that.
Figure out exactly how much you can spend on lights as we’d then be able to recommend a good light based on that. To grow the best quality plants, you need a light that is properly matched to the grow space. So like Chad said, I would look into putting a grow tent into that room to start with and go from there. 3x3, 4x4 or even a 5x5 work great. And just like with your lights, you’ll want to properly size your exhaust fan to the grow space.
I use a 3x3 tent which can flower 4 decent sized plants in 7g pots. I use a 4” exhaust fan. My lights are 2x Spider Farmer SF2000 and I spent about $600 for the pair. It’s a little much for my 3x3 but I can dim the lights and it gives me the ability to upgrade to a 4x4 without having to get new lights.
To give you some ideas, Spider Farmer, Mars Hydro and Maxisun are some of the cheaper Chinese made LED fixtures that use white LEDs.
You are my new hero! This is what I needed to know, something with a perspective of what to actually start with. I did my due deligence and researched but the more I did, the more I got overwhemled and felt like quitting even before I started.
Mahalo nui for the information. Aloha.I'm assuming you will be growing photoperiod plants, which flip from vegetation to flower when the light/dark period is 12hr/12hr. If your room isn't light proof, and during the dark hours external light is getting into the room, the plants may stay in veg because the plant is getting more than 12 hours of light.
Another type of herb you could read up on is autoflower plants. These plants flip to flower based upon age, not the amount of light it receives. Different folks will call out different pros and cons about autoflowers, but just wanted to share.