Not sure if my lights are strong enough

[brainwreck420]

just started setting up my first grow box and im a little unsure about my lights. i have 2 20watt cfl lights do you think this would be enough to grow one plant from start to finish? if not what watt cfl lights should i get? any help would be much appreciated

 

[ryken]

Holy crap no way. I'll make it real easy, go to completed journals and search cfl grows. That will give you exactly the info you desire.

 

[Hosebomber]

Every grower, grow style, and plant are different. What works for you may not work for the next guy. A good rule of thumb for lighting is: LEDs 35 watts per sq ft, HPS 50 Watts per dq ft, CFL 65 watts per sq ft. I personally do not know much about tube florescent's but there are many on the site here that do complete grows with t5 and t8 light systems (completed journal section as Ryken mentioned).

 

[YardDog35]

just started setting up my first grow box and im a little unsure about my lights. i have 2 20watt cfl lights do you think this would be enough to grow one plant from start to finish? if not what watt cfl lights should i get? any help would be much appreciated

2, 20 watt CFL's won't go from start to finish. CFL's lose lumens in very short distances. As your plant grows, it becomes impossible to position those two bulbs in a way to provide enough light to the plant.

I've done a start to finish using two 65 watt CFL's. The plant produced 50 grams of dried, manicured flowers. It was an Indica (a must for a cfl grow). I topped her more than a few times, tied her branches down, LST style. The trick is to 'flatten' the plant out to absorb light efficiently. Look up LST (low stress training) and SCROG (screen of green) grows. That approach will give you the best yield for a low light, small space grow...shoot, most any grow for that matter!

The space I use for the 2-65 watters is very compact, painted flat white for good reflectivity. The cabinet is 16" deep, 20" wide, by 30" tall.

If you only have a very small space to grow, go for it! Otherwise go with a small HID set-up, or even a T-5 using mixed kelvin bulbs, if you have 3-4+ square feet to work with.

Good luck to you! Keep us posted

 

[brainwreck420]

just curious do the 65 watt cfls have any problems with heat?

 

[mikey232]

I use 3 300 watt cfls in a 4x4x4 box to veg my clones to flower time I also have a second veg that is under a 16 lamp badboy T5 after the veg there moved to either a 1k set up or a 600 watt set up depending on the type of strain. Your lights will not be of much use once they get higher than 2 in they will still live but they will grow very slow and they will not flower under them at all. I don't know your growing environment but you should read some post and decide what lights would work best for your style then figure them into your budget

 

[YardDog35]

just curious do the 65 watt cfls have any problems with heat?

They put out some heat, not too much though. I use a 70 cfm computer fan to exhaust air out of the top. The cabinet runs about 4* F warmer than the room it's in.

 

[nachomama]

Think simple when looking at the inside of a small grow cabinet , lights ALWAYS go near the top and are mounted on the sides of the box . Your box has 3 sides ( do not include the door ) So you can put in ONE socket on each side for 3 sockets total . Put in Y splits to make 6 total bulbs of lighting . Average size is 23 watt CFL . 18 hrs light for vegging then 12 hour light for budding .
Use daylight style CFL bulbs for vegging and soft light style for budding .
Simple , easy , no stress and low hassle .

 

[brainwreck420]

Thanks for all the help just got it officially started. I've currently got 3 26 watt cfls on one plant but plan on buying stronger lights by the end of this week. I could really use some help with light proofing my box. Like I said before any feed back would be great help

 

[Spliffd]

how big exactly is your box? Theres a link in below in my signature for a CFL-microgrow journal I have going at the moment if you want to check it out. Good luck!