From a fellow grower: Previously, on my first grow l used seeds of Carmelicious, Blueberry, and another variety. l grew 4 plants for a harvest of 21 Oz using MH 600 watt fixture with carbon filtering and heat exchange plus supplementary light using a 4ft T5 fixture with both vegetative and flower spectrum bulbs changed at appropriate time. This time I only plan on 3 plants using only 2 four foot flourescent Hi output T5 fixtures with 4 lights of about 90 watts each. That’s about 700 watts for both fixtures. I also line with mylar for light reflection and will still use the heat exchanger and carbon filter My question is this: would the T5 fixtures be sufficient for 3 plants or reduce down to 2 or should l screw the electric bill and use the MH setup. I’m planning on one plant each of GSC Ex, Cherry pie, and Wedding cake, my ordered varieties. Thanks for the advice.
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If it’s actually 700w with the 2 that should be plenty of light power for 3 plants. @dbrn32 might lead u better as he is the lighting expert. I’m sure this is doable tho
Where are you finding 90 watt t5 bulbs? The standard t5ho designator is F54, which is 54 watt bulb. I have seen F80 before, but only in cold white.
The standard 400 watts of t5ho should be considered good to veg up to a 4x4 space. Most people don’t attempt to flower with them due to poor efficacy.
Assuming you do actually have 90 watt bulbs, running 700 watts of flourescent will cost more to run than 600 watts of mh/hps. And mh/hps will produce more light per watt than t5.
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