Stuck in the closet

[HornyLittleWeedElf]

Hi all glad to be part of the comunity.
I am about to undergo a closet grow with 5 white widow or blueberry babies.
I only have the resources to build with fluorescents. looking for any advice on anything i may need to know. this will be the first time i grow anything other than M's. i have grown before so im not completely in the dark just looking for any knowledge on theses strains and if it will be possible to pull off with fluorescents.

 

[ShOrTbUs]

yes you can pull it off with florescent lights, but the buds will be light and airy. you wont be able to pull much weight at all. i promise when all said and done you will spend just as much on flouro's as you will a hps light. the cheapest and best way to do it, would be to go with an air cooled hps setup. you can veg and flower under the hps lights.

 

[loolagigi]

forget floros...use cfl's and then flower with hps......i did......and it worked great...Loola

 

[HornyLittleWeedElf]

Ok thanks. If i switch to CFL can i go all the way with them. and if so what ones are the best suited for the job.. Hps is out for the time being.

 

[Locked]

Welcome to MP....

 

[ShOrTbUs]

how big is your space?

 

[HornyLittleWeedElf]

Welcome to MP....

Thanks glad to be here!!!.

 

[HornyLittleWeedElf]

how big is your space?

Im going to make the space 3'wide 51/2 tall and 5' deep.

 

[HornyLittleWeedElf]

Ok guys going to find a thread to post pic of the room and start building.

 

[ShOrTbUs]

ok, a 3x5 space is 15 sq ft. you need at the MINIMUM 3k lumens per sq ft for veg, and 5k lumens per sq ft for flower. so you will need 45k lumens for veg and 75k lumens for flowering. remember, these are your minimums.

you are going to spend more money on cfl's/t5's, and get a lesser quality & quantity product. i strongly suggest you research hps as your light source
for your grow room.

if you decided to try to go with the little 20watt cfl's. you will need 50 of them. that means you'll need 50 fixtures as well. if you go with the large cfl's. it will take 5 300watt cfl's for your space. that means you'll need 5 reflectors as well. if you go with t5's. i believe sun blaze has a 4ft 12 bulb fixture they sell(bulbs not included).

NONE of these options will produce a better quality product then a hps. ohh, and quantity will suffer the most. cfl's and flouro's just do not have the penetration power required to produce proper buds. so hypothetically if your 600w hps would net you 1lb, then your looking at 1-4 oz from cfl's or t5's

edit: why is hps lighting out of the question atm?

 

[HornyLittleWeedElf]

Thanks very helpful. Hps are out for cash on hand reasons. If I put them under Flos's for 2 weeks do you think they'll survive. Their babies about 6-12". and when i say Flos's I mean like what i have on hand 4 34w in a reflector.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I have checked out your space. Like Shortbus mentioned, it will take a whole whole bunch of CFLs to light that space. In addition, when you get as many CFLs as you are going to need in there, the heat will be really high Of all the lights we use to grow, lumen for lumen CFLs are the most expensive to run, put out the most heat, and produce the least. If you are serious about growing and you are going to use a space that large, you are absolutely going to want to step up to a HPS. CFLs will work while the plants are small, but once you get any size at all (like 6-12 "), you need more light.

This is a hobby that takes a whole lot of time, education, study, effort, love, and money. While it is possible to do a small grow with a smaller amount of money, setting up a room that is 15 sq ft is probably going to run you between $500-1000 depending on what kind of deals you can find. You need a minimum of 75,000 lumens or a 600W HPS, you need a 6" centrifuge type fan, an oscillation fan, some kind of reflective something on your walls (you can use FLAT white paint), pots, medium (you can't just use any old dirt), and nutrients (I prefer those formulated for mj) just for starters. You will probably find that you also need a carbon filter to control odor.