I’m preparing for my first time growing. I’m very overwhelmed with information, so I’m going to try growing only 1 plant since it’s just for me anyway. I only have a 3ftx2ft closet and very little funds with which to work. My first question: would it be acceptable to simply line the closet with foil? And even more importantly, can someone please tell me what kind of light to purchase/use. My home is very old and also has no a/c. We rely on fans and a small window unit to try and keep it under 80 in here. I’m leaning towards LED due to temperature and power issues. But which one? Please give me some good, budget friendly options here.
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Don’t use foil. A clean flat white surface will provide the ideal amount of reflection.
As far as light goes, a good light isn’t going to be the most budget friendly and a cheap light isn’t going to have the best par per heat watt ratio. So you’ll likely have to find something middle of the road, what is your budget for light?
80f is about the ideal canopy temp if you’re running led light. Unfortunately, your grow space is going to run probably 5-10f higher than whatever ambient temp is, which is getting into problem zone for indoor growing. Make sure you setup a good air exchange system for your closet to be most successful.
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Thank you. I’d like to stay around $80 or less for a light if possible. As far as temperature restraints, would you recommend LED lighting over other options? One of the full spectrum ones for a 2x2 or 4x4 space? I’m looking at something like this:
Look at a spider farmer sf1000. If you keep your plant short, it would probably do you alright for a cheap led light.
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Also, will a good fan on the plant suffice for air exchange?
Not really. You need to be able to remove air from the closet and have it replaced with fresh air. With no air exchange your temperature will increase too high while light is on and your plants will deplete the co2 within the closet.
Mars hydro ts600 isn’t really a big enough light for 6 ft². Maybe 2 of them, but even then it’s not that great of a light to justify buying two in my opinion.
Viparspectra has one more appropriately sized. It’s probably not a “great” light either, but if looking for something inexpensive that is sized appropriately I think it fits into the category.
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Hello Growmie I wish you all the best of luck and you are at the right place to get help
Here’s my closest grow journal hope it helps. Growing indoors is not cheap even in a closet.
But I was rewarded for my pains
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I recommend you don’t cheap out on your light. Also as @dbrn32 said you will need ventilation.
I don’t know where you are situated but I would suggest you look at the AC Infinity range of stuff if its available where you are. ACI make some decent products at sharp prices, are very popular and importantly are controllable. You will even get one of their controllers included if you buy the ventilation kit.
Also buying disparate products can lead to head aches and more money spent quite quickly. Sometimes you can mix and match but its best to know what and how first. Luckily I found ACI early on and even better my existing grow lights were connectable. But this was by luck more then anything.
I have recently removed some items from my growing which I hardly got use from but quickly found their weaknesses and replaced them.
There are other good light products out there so if you decide on something else at least make sure its external controller capable. It will need to have an RJ11/12 socket on it. I have seen lights which have an “ext” switch but were not connectable. It was just a manufacturing thing - possible shared parts across models.
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Continued:
The temperature thing is real. I have my ventilation continuously running on low and can still see a noticable difference with the lights on. If you fail to ventilate adequately, your plants will cook and at worst it could be a fire hazard.
Additionally, the heat and humidity will kill your electronics like your light if you don’t keep both in check.
One of the benefits I have with my ACI controller is I have it programmed to turn my main lights off if the temperature exceeds 35C as a fail safe for the ventilation.
While I am on the subject of safety be sure to run your setup on a RCD/GFCI protected circuit. You can use an inline unit if its not built into your switch board.
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Good luck on your grow!
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Welcome to the site, consider used stuff kijiji classifieds etc
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Hey @Hopefulgreenthumb click on the H your icon in upper right, I sent you a link to my closet grow, hope you are enjoying this forum. I am following this thread so if you post here or on my thread I will get notifications 
Happy growing man
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Welcome to the community, Run your light at night and off during daylight hours will help you a few degrees on temperature. Also will save you a few pennies on peak hour. Good luck 
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I haven’t been paying much attention to them. Is Viparspectra now selling competitive products that perform?
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Not that I have seen, but I certainly haven’t seen everything either. I was just trying to offer something comparable to the mars that I thought was a better fit for what OP was trying to accomplish.
I’ve got 2 hlg 135 watt rspec lights witch i like very well im always looking at different lights maybe some better and i ran across this light the name is photontek the have good reviews but i haven’t seen anyone here talk about them does anybody know anything about them