What kind of lights do you run, how many, and why? Do you have separate rooms for veg and flower, one big room, or do you have a small grow in a closet/grow tent?

All of my experience thus far is with outdoor gardening (with the exception of 1 or 2 T5 lights to veg clones before transplanting outdoors and to keep genetics going through the off-season). I plan on starting my first indoor grow this winter so it'd be great to know what other members are doing, given that people are comfortable sharing of course.

Everybody seemed to want this cannabis sub-forum so it's kind of a bummer nobody is posting in it. I'd love to see more conversation happening here, especially in regards to the cultivation of our favorite herb.

Veg Tent

4 x 4 foot T5 54w bulbs in a 4 foot four-fixture ballast
1 x Oscillating table fan
Clones and Tangerine Dream mother

Flower Tent

1 x 600w HPS Lamp
1 x Oscillating fan for bottom of interior
1 x Oscillating fan for top of interior
1 x 450cfm exhaust inline fan


The reason I chsoe this setup is because I wanted to be able to get the msot bang for my buck. While I'm not planning on growing pounds and pounds of good smoke, I do at least want to sustain myself in my consumption habits. The T5s are efficient and cost effective as well as the 600w light. Along with all the other equipment, I don't go over 1000w on the power consumption side of things which helps with keeping a low profile. I have yet to get a carbon filter, but with my current setup, the ventilation system is setup to my kitchen fan that goes directly outside. If things start to get smelly, a good pan of bacon on the stove takes care of the smell for about a week and then I have to repeat. I will post pics soon.

Please stay tuned VTSeeker, I have a drying and curing post I am editing and writing for the forum that will be very informative! And I have other tips to follow soon too!

Very nice, sounds like a solid set up!

600Ws are definitely far more efficient. If you have the space for it (and the plants) I'd recommend 2 600w HPS lights as opposed to a 1000w. You get far more lumen output per watt and it's substantially more efficient.

Heh, yeah I've read about the bacon trick and it definitely does the job. I wouldn't worry about a carbon filter unless you're in a crowded residential area and/or you've got a fairly large crop.

I'll definitely stay tuned! Drying and curing are arguably the most important parts of the whole process; can't wait to read about your process!

Thanks for sharing Ancotar

Plants don't have eyes, lumens "are the SI derived unit of luminous flux, a measure of the total 'amount' of visible light emitted by a source."

Plants deal in PAR or Photosynthetically Active Radiation.

You're totally right about that; but if you have 2 lamps that put out light of the same wavelength wouldn't more lumens correlate to more light for the plants?

Here's a good thread on another forum that explains the conversion from lumens, to lux (lumens per sq meter), to PPFD (Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density) which is a way to measure PAR.

From what I understand if you're using lights with the ideal wavelength/color output, higher lumens means more surface area receives light and therefore better coverage and more usable light for the plants.

I'm still new to all of the intricacies of indoor gardening so forgive me if I'm incorrect here.

Thanks Snozz

EDIT: This chart is from the thread in the link above, but it's easy to read and pretty straightforward if you don't want to do a bunch of math. (This chart is not universal. I think factors like brand/manufacturer play a role as well)

I have a very small setup consisting of a small veg. box and an also small flowering box.

For veg. I use 2x36W fluorescent tubes.

For flowering I have a 250 W HPS cool tube.

This setup is big enough to sufficiently supply my wife and me. We use about 30g of canabis a month together.

Pics attatched...

Nice setup, Steppa!

Those fluorescent tubes are supposed to be good for veg; I was thinking of using T8s just for seedlings/clones and then switching to MH once they reach a certain size. You've had a good bit of success with them?

I think I'm going to be moving away from T5's to a 400w MH setup, tbh....

T5's are good for heat control and low cost.... but they just don't have that "canopy penetration" ability that HID's do.

veg:

2x indagro 420w
1x 4foot t5

flower:
4x 420w indagro with red led

I switched from HPS to these mainly for energy consumption reasons. The heat is alot more manageable and the bulbs have 5 year warranties.

I have no air conditioner which is why the lights are further then I keep them now since I got a swamp chiller. Also, now about 2 weeks before I send them to flower I trim off the bottom 3/4 of branches and leaves. This helps encourage large colas where the light is plentiful. Noticed a big increase in yield with this.

The 420w induction lights are equivalent to 1000w hps and have a better PAR rating. I like indagro and igrow both are good companies ime.

If you are investing to do this for a long time and live in a climate that can be warm, I think induction lights are the way to go. I have 2 fans and a humidifier.

23days into flower several different kush strains.

This picture is from 3 cycles ago, I have since gotten bigger yields everytime. There is a bit of a learning curve if you are switching from HPS or HID , mainly it was weird to me to put my plants so close to the light.

Now I also trellis the plants to keep the canopy as uniform as possible so I can really get the light right on top of the plant.

Yes, this is exactly why I only plan on using fluorescents for fresh cuttings/seedlings. They're great for promoting veg growth without much stretch, but you're totally right that they lack in respect to canopy penetration. I know lots of people who run T5's until their plants mature to a certain point and then switch to MH for the rest of veg.

Great pics adam! I am not familiar with induction lights but you've got me interested. It's a bit late now and I should go to bed but tomorrow I will most definitely be reading about them. Your plants look great, by the way! Healthy and happy!

Know this is an old topic,
But a year or two ago I grew 2 small plants from seed to flower under only CFLs.

Veg;
7x 23w cool white
Flower;
5x 23w warm white and 2x 23w cool white

Didn't get the greatest yield, 16.34 g dried.

Next grow I plan on using T8 fluorescents.