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I am man enough to say i feel alittle inadequate.....with my lighting..

Cracker08

Cracker08

New member
I am currently growing in a 3 ft high, 2 ft long, 1 1/2 ft wide cabinet. I am using 285 true watts of Cfl lights, 10 @ 23 watts, 1 @ 55 watts. I feel like there maybe a better option for lighting. I was wondering if anyone had the same setup, what better options for a light upgrade or enhancement would you consider? 150/250 watt Hid light, or led panel, or led ufo's, or flood lights (i read that somewhere) remember your space requirements (⬆as noted above⬆) and a small budget of around $200😂.....(thanks to my beautiful wife who allows me such pleasurable torments..growing...not my wife😍) and the fun of trying to grow enough tight beautiful girls to make it worth the time...(not my words)😨...as compared to alternatives.......What would you do.......What should you do....?.....What can you do...and thank you
 
You can get a 400 watt Apollo kit on Amazon for 125 with a gull wing (150 for air cooled reflector). I use Apollo myself, no issues in 9 months. The kit also includes a MH bulb, HPS bulb, ratchet ropes, and a timer.

Unfortunately, I think your cabinet is too small :(

3 feet tall is so small.... most pots are 8"-12" tall. I think you may be limited to CFL or a small LED.

I linked a cheap LED that may work for you, but keep in mind, I have no experience with it.... decent reviews, only 89 bucks... you're gonna need to do some research though. Maybe someone else has experience with it. I think it would be ideal for your setup.
 
Im using the above LED on my first grow. I would say 3 ft is really cutting it small. If you hang the light properly, your only going to get a very small plant in that space-

I am happy so far. Things look good- lights working properly... if I had to buy it again, i go for a bigger model and upgrade my space
 
Thank you for your advice.. I DO have a rather small space. I should upgrade that too. I like your ideas about led lighting. And i envy your lights.😎
 
No Title

How many plants are you growing? Are they autos or photoperiod?

I flower 3 or 4 plants in a 2x4 tent under LED but I've got 7' of height to work with (and the lanky sativa I've got going now is still too tall). LEDs need at least 16-18" of clearance above the canopy and typically a good 12" of ventilation space above the light unit itself.

If you want to stay in that cabinet and grow autoflowers, I'd say buy a T5 fixture (4x2' CFL bulbs). Ideally with a mix of warm and daylight tubes. You could continue to use your existing bulbs for side lights as the plants move into flowering. Check out the GWE page on CFLs for links: http://www.growweedeasy.com/T5-vs-CF...Light-Showdown

Your cabinet space sounds almost exactly like my improvised vegetation "room" shown in the picture. It's just a bookcase with poster board sides and a blackout blanket lined with a mylar space blanket thrown over it. I use a 55W, a 28W, and a 14W CFL (all daylight) on an improvised rig, and it grows out 3-4 plants in 2-3 gallon pots before I move them into the flowering tent. I have to do quite a bit of plant training by the end of my 2 months vegging. I vent it with a computer fan.

If you wanted to go the same route as me you could potentially get a cheap tent and cheap flowering LED and make that your flower room, while keeping your current cabinet space as your veg room...
 

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The trouble with LEDs in a short space is they often need to be kept 12-18" or more away from your plants to prevent bleaching or burning your buds in the late flowering stage.

Could you possibly fit a small T5 HO grow light in there? This 2 foot, 6 tube HO (High Output) T5 has the dimensions: L23.5"x W12.5" x H4". It seems like it just might fit in your grow space if you had even an inch of extra clearance length-wise. The cool thing about a T5 is you can keep it as close as 2" away from the tops of your plants, so you could use more of the height in your space. A T5 HO will give you better yields/watt than CFLs, too. In fact the HO versions of T5's are almost as efficient as a 150W HPS as far as lumens/watt but they run much cooler :) (the non-HO versions of T5s are great for seedlings but worse than CFLs as far as efficiency so I would avoid them)
 
I agree with NebulaHaze. The 2' T5 HO cool whites are 27 watts per bulb. I went to the local big box store and bought 4 pairs of T5 HO cool white lights 4' in length. The 4' lights are 54 watts per bulb. I have a grow area about 6' l x 3' w x 7' h. I converted my master bath bathtub since I have an extra bathroom. So it already has a ceiling exhaust fan and an A/C duct. I really like the fact that I didn't have to add extra air conditioning and I didn't get the strong smell that brings around unwanted attention from the roof vent. In 12 weeks I harvested the first of 3 plants. The other 2 are close behind. My electric bill barely noticed.
 
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