A question from a fellow grower:
Could you flower using a 60 watt warm led light?
If you were to use that light then don’t expect more than a half ounce to ounce yield
What if I use some cfl lights with the 60 watt warm white led?
You need about 40-50 watts per square foot, so adding other CFLs could help.
Actual watts, not equivalent watts, not theoretical watts.
~MacG
What type of cfl lights? Should I mix them or stick to warm white?
I don’t know why everyone thinks warm white is a good idea, maybe during flowering, maybe because that is the color of most HPS lights, but the color of the sun’s light is about 5800K (sunlight can be around 5500-6000 depending on various factors such as it being cloudy or overcast) and I believe this color throughout the entire life cycle is what is best for plants. That is why they often call the 5000k-6500k color rated lights “daylight”.
THIS IS HOW IT LOOKS. I’VE BEEN GROWING IT OUTSIDE BUT I LIVE IN UT AND THE WEATHER IS CHANGING. THAT IS WHY I WANT TO TAKE IT INSIDE AND BEGIN TO FLOWER. I HAVEN’T USED ANY NUTES. WOULD IT BE TO LATE?
No, its not too late, and you can bring it outside often – if the conditions will still allow, to further supplement its light.
How many cfl lights would I need if my grow room is 2ft by 4ft and which type would be better.?
2ftx4ft=8 square feet. You basically might want at least one 40 watt CFL per each square foot.
8x50watts=400 watts total for the whole room.
Nice thanks man. Do you know you if those 400 watts would increase my electricity by a lot? I don’t want it to look all suspicious if it does increase dramatically.
Many desktop computers run at near 400 watts or maybe a little more with a high powered graphics card under load, and probably averages around 250 watts for most of its usage. At idle they’ll average probably around 50 watts.
Portable heaters often run 1000 to maybe as much as 2000 watts. A window air conditioning unit will use as much when in operation. Electric stoves, dishwashers and dryers can exceed 2,000 watts when in use, to give you some perspective.
As far as which would be better? A cheap CFL is likely better than a similarly priced LED. Really cheap LEDs tend to be of very poor quality and are likely to not last as long at all.
LEDs can be found for relatively affordable prices but you really need to do your homework to find quality at a frugal price. If you can afford a well known name brand, you’ll get tons of support from the manufacturer and an excellent warranty, which to many is well worth having to spend maybe twice or more on a similar wattage LED from a lesser known but reasonably quality manufacturer.
A really good LED system could cover your area with as little as about 30-35 watts per square foot because they don’t really waste much electricity on the green spectrum, white light is roughly made up of equal parts red, blue and green, and most of the green is useless to plants and is reflected away from the leaves, this is why leaves look green to our eyes, it’s absorbing the blue and red and mostly only the green is reflected back to our eyes.
happy growing,
MacG
I am also going to be using a fan in my grow room. Does it need to be on 24/7? And is adding a ventilation system essential, or could you grow without adding ventilation?
Plants need to breath in CO2 and they’ll expel O2. If you don’t have good ventilation they won’t have access to fresh CO2. Ventilation is not as important during the dark period, but you still don’t want too much humidity building up during the dark period that might contribute to mold problems.
happy growing,
MacG
How late into flowering could you plant insecteside? My plant is in flowering stage and I am having pest problems. would it be to late to use organocide 3-1 garden spray?