Please don't rape my questions

[death1eater]

Okay first off I don't know a damn thing about growing.
I've been searching through a lot of different ideas...
Still confused as ever.
I have grown one plant inside, and all I did was put it in the window.
It died but only because it was murdered.
Anyways how about you picture this (Please just try to tell me what to do with what I have, not what I can get).

First light...
Worst problem I have.

65W, 120V, Miser, Indoor Reflector Flood Light Bulb
770 Lumens

(Please tell me why not exactly)

Any way's now to the space I have a closet
22"x25"
Would be ideal.

My cooling wow!
Simply a house fan.

Would just a box work?
Out lined in white paper?
I know it's dumb but someone has to know how to macgyver this!
Save me and my unborn plants!

[death1eater]

I see that this dosen't go here but I don't know where it goes.

[ganjaFeirmeoir]

you should wait till spring and do an outdoor grow man..that will give you time to read up on cheap and easy ways of doing it inside. and when you grow outside your guaranteed a nice bita yield at harvest time.
dont rush in to much, it can take years to get right so why not start right.
also if your trying to keep your plants from getting murdered again dont grow inside because the smell can be very strong and evrything about it is obvious. (im imagining someone didnt want you growing btw)
anyway just dont grow with a flood light, your plants will be stringy and shit and you will have just wasted 4 months of loving care for a kick in the nuts, instead you could get some cheap clfs together and about your space, its big enough for one plant if you grow the plant right..white paper will do. some people say tin foil others say it burns holes in your plants by concentrating heat because of the wrinkles but i think thats only with high powered lamps so investigate.
and one more thing, if your grow is shit well then write down what u did wrong and how you can improve and start again..hope i helped..good luck.

[death1eater]

You did indeed help me a lot.
Thanks I am going to get some light's first.

[bonedaddy420]

I highly suggest you check out Bodoms DIY rubbermaid grow box (http://boards.cannabis.com/grow-faqs/99373-diy-how-rubbermaid-tub-growbox.html) thread and Headshakes King of cardboard (http://boards.cannabis.com/grow-log/171501-vote-headshake-king-cardboard.html) thread if you want a lot of useful info on what kinda gear you should get together to have a successful grow. Also remember, THE SEARCH FUNCTION IS YOUR FRIEND! It works very well, and most questions can be answered with a little work.:thumbsup:

Hope that helps.

[the image reaper]

I suggest you check out the Cultivation section, read the Basic Growing threads, and take advantage of the 'Search' function, as well ... you have a LOT of learning to do, before putting seeds in soil ... it's a lot easier to start correctly, than to try fixing problems, after they start ... we all had to start somewhere, and you have the benefit of lots of information, being available right here, at Cannabis.com ... keep in mind, the advice here is both correct, and some of it is crap :wtf: ... logic plays an important part ... 'when in doubt, imitate nature' :thumbsup:

[death1eater]

Thanks I will figure this out, I really am ready for a baby...
Thank you all for your help.

[death1eater]

I got 2 13 watt compact fluorescents.
2 pin design.
800 lumens.

Then another fluorescent, but it's 23w.

[bonedaddy420]

that will be fine for seedlings but after a few days you will want moooooore. I got this going in my rubbermaid with 6 23w CFLs, 4 6500k and 2 2700k, with the 2700s in the middle of the lightbar. This was germ'd august 31st, pic taken a few days ago, so its a bit bigger now and I've started to LST.

Hope that gives you a good idea of what you will need.

[death1eater]

I have one that's sprouted already...
How long before it's not enough.
I have a computer tower that has some fans in them, is it possible for me to take them out and rewire them?
I have old phone chargers...

[death1eater]

Hey I have a type T bulb...
Two of them on a work light.
It's 500w so each bulb is 250w.
Is this type T bulb bad as well?

[LetsSeeYa]

Dude these guys are trying to help you. But are you hearing them? Your lights prolly even will not get that hot. Iv done what your doing a couple of years ago, only outside. What i got was two big hermi's, because i had a light leak. I never knew why till this year while reading a grow log. Thats two years of reading and just ran into it. Trying to start out inside will only let you down. First of all, you dont have close to enough lumen's to get any real growth. Also, do you know about light leaks? and thats if you get that far. People on here want ya to read, so when you have a problem and ask for help, you understand it.

Read and find some good seeds and then grow outside. Its much easier, more yield and you learn a ton. I just bought lights and only have 3500 lumen's of light and that is not enough. I can start a seed, but would only get a skinny little thing to grow and wouldnt even think of it till i get to 5000 lumen's of light or more. Read the closet/set up and lighting section. Look at bonedaddy420's set up. Now that what you need to read about and understand why he has that much output. If you think about it, everyone in here would be growing w/ that low of light range. These guys dont buy lights just for fun:thumbsup:

Im just trying to help man. Reading is something you cant skip:rasta:

[LetsSeeYa]

Hey I have a type T bulb...
Two of them on a work light.
It's 500w so each bulb is 250w.
Is this type T bulb bad as well?

Those shop lights can sprout some seeds and help veg, but you need more reading.

Start here, it's on top of this forum


A guide to cheap lighting for the broke newbie stoner

Fluorescent Bulbs
Fluorescent tubes have good efficiency and put out very little heat, but they usually aren't intense enough to produce a lot of buds. Still, for the vegetation stage of growing, they're great. All types of fluorescent bulbs usually have several numbers written on them that you should pay attention to.

One is the watts. This determines how much energy a bulb uses, and also how much light it gives off.

The other number is the spectrum. This is written as ****K, where **** is a 4-digit number. This is the temperature in Kelvin that an incandescent filament would have to reach to produce the same spectrum. For instance, 3000K is more yellowish-orange, while 6500K is very blue. Plants can absorb both ends of the visible light spectrum pretty well, but they reflect most of the middle, where yellows and greens are. For this reason, it's better to use either low or high spectrums for your plants. High spectrums are better for vegetating and low spectrums are better for budding. If you are only buying one kind, go for low spectrum, since you want a lot of buds, right?

Another number is lumens. This determines how bright a bulb looks to the human eye. This isn't the same as how bright the light would be to a plant, but it is of some use, for instance, when comparing bulbs with the same spectrum number.

Compact Fluorescents
The cheapest lighting, and probably the best lighting for a very small setup is compact fluorescent bulbs, usually abbreviated here as CFL. These are those curly high-efficiency lights that can replace incandescent bulbs. They can be purchased at wal-mart, three 26-watt bulbs for about $8-$10. You can get them at sites like Light Bulbs, Rope Lights, Halogen & Fluorescent Light Bulbs too, but since they're so cheap anyway, after shipping it's usually not worth it. When you buy them, they usually have two wattages on them, the actual wattage, and the wattage that an incandescent light bulb would have if it was the same brightness. The actual wattage is more important, but the equivalent wattage gives you a good idea of the brightness. Most CFLs have a spectrum of about 3000K.

You can buy higher-wattage CFL lights, but they're usually more expensive per watt. Still, they may be a good option if you're low on sockets to put your bulbs in. Most people have a few unused desk lamps laying around and use these for their lights. However, if you don't have spare lamps, you can buy a bunch of ceramic light bases at a hardware store and wire these to a board, then use that as your light. You need some electrical experience for that though.

Even if you're not planning on growing pot, you should buy some of these bulbs anyway for your lighting needs, because they only use like 1/4 the power of regular light bulbs.

Fluorescent Tubes
If you have a somewhat larger operation, fluorescent tubes might be a better option. The cheapest fluorescent lighting per watt usually comes from the 48-inch tubes. Tubes are designated a number, like T12, T8, or T5. The main thing this tells you is the diameter of the tube in eighths of an inch. A T12 is 12/8 of an inch, or 1.5 inches in diameter, for example. However, different tube sizes usually require different wattages, and many ballasts can only handle very specific wattages. You can get 48" shop lights in Lowe's or Home Depot for about $9 for a two-tube fixture. You have to buy the tubes separately, and they're about $3-$4 apiece in Lowe's or Home Depot, or about $5 apiece at wal-mart. Shop lights can often use both T8 and T12 tubes, but make sure you read the directions. If you have a choice, you should usually go with the higher wattage.

The great thing about fluorescent tubes is that they can be touching the plants without harming them, so you can put them very close. The bad thing about fluorescent tubes is that they don't give off a whole lot of light considering how big they are. This can be mitigated by using more tubes, but the tubes are kind of big so you can only use so many.

One type of fluorescent tube that is becoming more popular is high-output T5 tubes. These are very thin, so you can pack them closer together, and thus produce more light. Fixtures for these bulbs are a lot more expensive though, and may necessitate a trip to a hydroponics store.

Hardware stores usually also sell plant and aquarium bulbs that emit a spectrum close to what plants use. The consensus seems to be that these are only marginally better than regular tubes, and they're a lot more expensive, (about $10 apiece) so they're usually not worth it.

High-Intensity Discharge Lighting
All the best growers use HID lighting, and if you want lots of bud, you should too! These come primarily in two flavors, metal halide (MH) and high-pressure sodium (HPS). These are very efficient, bright lights, and they're what streetlights almost always use. If you look across any city at night, you'll see a lot of bluish lights and a lot of orangish lights. The blue ones are MH and the orange ones are HPS. HID lighting requires a bulb and a ballast, and ballasts are usually very specific about what bulbs they can be used with.

Digital (Electronic) vs. Magnetic Ballasts
Digital ballasts are slightly better in nearly every way than magnetic ballasts, but they are a lot more expensive. They produce much less heat and noise, and allow your bulb to last longer while producing more light. They also work with both HPS and MH bulbs. They will be very expensive at hydroponics stores, but you can usually get them on ebay for a lot cheaper. The following ebay stores usually have good deals on both digital and magnetic ballasts:

eBay Store - My Garden Shoppe: 600 watt digital ballast, Lighting Systems, Hydroponic Systems
eBay Store - High Tech Garden Supply: Light Bulbs Lamps, Advanced Nutrients, T-5 FLUORESCENT Grow Lights

Don't worry too much if a digital ballast is out of your price range. Magnetic ballasts are a good tried-and-true technology, and the digital ones are only about 10%-15% better. If you have a lot of time and not much cash, you may even be interested in getting a ballast kit, which lets you build your own ballast for not much money. You need some sort of case for it, and it seems old computer power supplies work well. You'd also need some sort of reflector, and a socket, and wire, so by the time you're done building it, it may not be such a great deal after all, but if you have access to that stuff, it may be well worth it. Here are the best deals I know of on kits:

High Pressure Sodium (HPS) Ballast Kits - Plantlighting Hydroponics & Grow Lights

Metal Halide Lighting
Metal halide bulbs are used for the vegetation phase. However, these are not a very good choice for small operations because they are expensive. With some ballasts you can switch bulbs for vegetation and flowering, but this means that you can only be growing one batch at a time. Also, you don't need super-bright light for vegetation, and using the same number of watts for both flowering and vegetation is overkill. Many if not most small growers vegetate under some form of fluorescent light and then move to a HPS light for flowering. Still, using a small MH bulb (100-250 watts) might be a good option, and you can get those types of lights in many hardware stores, although they will definitely be more expensive than say, fluorescents.

High Pressure Sodium
If you want to have one expensive light, make it one of these. That's not to say it HAS to be expensive, but this is the light that will have the greatest impact on your yield. For less than 10 plants, 400 watts is a good starting point. HPS bulbs are very orange, and are great for budding. There are special HPS bulbs for growing plants that also emit more blue light. They are quite a bit more expensive, but if you're on a budget, the regular HPS bulbs are very decent too. You can get HPS bulbs at eBay or Light Bulbs, Rope Lights, Halogen & Fluorescent Light Bulbs, or even at Lowe's or Home Depot, if you're paranoid about the police looking at your expenses. (although hardware stores usually only go up to 400-watt) If you want an inexpensive setup, this ebay store has some of the best deals I've seen:

eBay Store - High Tech Garden Supply: Light Bulbs Lamps, Advanced Nutrients, T-5 FLUORESCENT Grow Lights

Supposedly Welcome - InsideSun has good deals too, but I've heard their lights are not so great, and run really hot.

Other Lighting

Incandescent Bulbs
Do not use these. Same goes for halogens, and mercury vapor lights.

LED Lighting
This has a lot of promise, but to be honest, results have not been so good with these. They can only be used for vegetation and aren't that great even for that, since (like any first-time grower who decides to use them) they just aren't very bright. Still, they use very little electricity, they last for like 20 years, and they can be made to release light only on spectrums that plants can use. They are expensive, but you can get them for relatively cheap here:

LED Grow Lights Gro-Tek GroTec HID Hydroponic light Fluorescent leds Growing Metal halide MH growing indoors indoor Ultraviolet Infrared light emitting diodes

Sulfur Lamps
These are not available commercially yet, and if they were they would be very expensive. However, they are very bright, and I am writing another thread about sulfur lights, which I hope will be helpful to anyone interested.

I hope this has been sort of helpful. Just so you know I'm no expert grower but I do know a lot about electric lighting and I thought I would share this with you. Peace!

[death1eater]

Hey I don't know if you even looked up what I was talking about.
Because your 5000 lumens isn't enough
I am not sure but
3500 lumens
in each light bulb
7000 lumens for both.
Then it says that 2900k
I don't know but I think that's around what I need lol.
Your information helped, but made me more confused, with you telling me that it wouldn't work.
Because what you just said the light meets?

[death1eater]

Blah, Blah, Blah on that last one...

Okay I am going to Home Depot to buy 2 more 23 watt CFLS.
So 2 13w
and 3 23w cfls

Does Kelvin stack?
Like say

1600k= 23watt
825K= 13

All together they have
6450k

And 6500k is for Veg
All these together make that light spectrum right?

[LetsSeeYa]

Blah, Blah, Blah on that last one...

Okay I am going to Home Depot to buy 2 more 23 watt CFLS.
So 2 13w
and 3 23w cfls

Does Kelvin stack?
Like say

1600k= 23watt
825K= 13

All together they have
6450k

And 6500k is for Veg
All these together make that light spectrum right?


23w CFL = 1600 lumens = 69.6 lumens/watt
30w CFL = 2000 lumens = 66.7 lumens/watt
40w CFL = 2600 lumens = 66.3 lumens/watt

Yes 6500k for veg and 2700k to bud

[death1eater]

Thanks!
I got everything now, so I will be posting new pics of the setup!

[LetsSeeYa]

Thanks!
I got everything now, so I will be posting new pics of the setup!

Thats great man, i cant wait to see your set up:thumbsup:

Il be watching your thread, but ya might go to indoor grow guide and start off there and leave a link to it here so we can stop by:jointsmile:. Only cuz it seems like your comfortable with what ya got going on with your materials and such. Im finishing up the outdoor and will be heading over when im material friendly:thumbsup::rasta: