lighting question?

[notorious P.O.T]

hello all,
ok heres the situation, i have a small closet which is 4'x2.5'x6'
i have been doin my homework on growing and found some useful info but i do have one question... in that small closet ^ im planning to grow a maximum of two plants (one ice2000, and one nyc deisel). i was wondering if a 150 watt hps lamp would be enough or should i go for a 250. heat is not an issue because i have a great ventlation system in the closet already.
Q2 .. i read that a 150 is good for 6-11 square feet but is that referring to sq feet of plants or just the overall area in the room?
thanx for anyone who can help me, p.s im a noob

[BlazeIdo]

150 would be sufficient. Check out the thread (My 150 HPS cab) under this. that might answer some of your questions. A 250 would be better though. More light, more yield. Its really up to how much you want your electricity bill to go up. If heat is not a problem then I would go with the 250 for sure. Speaking of heat not being an issue you should go with a 400 watt HPS with a MH conversion bulb. That would get you some nice yields and you would have the proper spectrum for veg and flower.. Check out Justaseed's scrog posts. Now those are yields you just cant get with a 250. Add some supplemental CFL's at around 3000k if you go with the 150 or 250. Good luck. Peace

[BlazeIdo]

One more thing. if you go with a 400 HPS, go for a digital ballast and you will be running around the same amount of electricy as the 250. These are more efficient, cost a little more though. Also vent your hood with an inline fan and some metal ducting. Pull the heat right out of that bitch. Peace

[BlazeIdo]

If your growing from seed go with cfls (compact flourescents at walmart or homedepot) around 6700k until they grow up a little. You can get 2 bathroom 3 light wall fixures at home depot (10 BUCKS EACH) , hang them flat down with chain (kind of have to figure out your own way to hook chains to it-very easy though), wire em with a cord that you can also get at Home depot and your set (dont worry about the ground wire, just coil it up). Put 6 30-40 watt cfls in these fixtures and you should be good for a while. Hang cfl's as close to the plants as possible . 1 or 2 inches away. With the cfl's in rows like this the plants can grow up inbetween them and stay short and stalky. This could actuallly take you all the way to the HPS flowering stage without the metal halide. Hope this helps. any questions, holla ...peace

[BlazeIdo]

One more thing. when buying CFL's look for the actual wattage. Not the wattage compared to incadescents. VERY IMPORTANT!

[the image reaper]

I have to disagree here, while 150 will grow a plant, 250 is a minimum, and 400 would be ideal ... I also have a 2'x4'x7' ... also, you should have plenty of room for 4 plants ... I used to grow 8 plants in that size cabinet for years, just down-sizing to 6, then 4, in last couple of grows ... will go back to 6 next time, I have available space with just the 4 ... :smokin:

[BlazeIdo]

400 would be the best choice, But you can get yields off a 150 HPS with supplementary cfl's. Everyone rips on low wattage lights. You CAN get decent yields if the grow is done right. Is it as good as 400? no, but they deserve a better rep then they get. Just my 2 cents.

[Kush Over]

I use a 150 and I couldn't be happier.

[notorious P.O.T]

thanx blaze that helps alot, but i think imma go with the 250 cuz like i said i only need one or two plants, just for personal use..+ i can get a minisystem thats a 250 hps with a built in ballast (are these ok to use?). i really dont want to get that indepth with my growing i just want some stuff i know isnt fooled around with. because dealers from around my area have been known to raid the buds they sellto "make them stronger". which is the dumbest thing ive ever heard.

and i really dont care how much each of my plants yield even if its only 1 oz per. cuz i dont really smoke that much. thanx for all the help guys

P.S kush what are the dementions of ur grow room and how many plants do u grow with the 150?
~notorious~

[BlazeIdo]

The ballast mounted on the light is ok. It would help with heat to vent it. But if its not in a cab, it shouldn't really be a problem. I would add some cfl's in there for the veg. They need that blue spectrum and the hps puts outmore of a red spectrum. anything above 5000 k should be good. Look for cool cfls. seeds or clone?

[BlazeIdo]

As far as going in depth with it there is really no options with that. You have to learn or you simply wont be able to get good yields . read these forums a lot. thats the best advive I can give.

[Kush Over]

..P.S kush what are the dementions of ur grow room and how many plants do u grow with the 150?..

I light a 2' x 1.8' x '3 are with the 150. Sometimes I toss a couple CFLs in there depending on how many plants are in there at the time. Typically only one large plant [ one that'd fill the box ]; or two medium untopped/unFIM'd plants; or three small plants.

I could grow two small plants [ Indica dominant ] and a Lowryder in there if I wanted, but it'd be tight for space. Or even six Lowryders in narrow pots..

[notorious P.O.T]

im going to be startin them out from seeds i ordered from holland. i was also looking at the metal halide lamp with the agro sun bulb in it which has like 30 or 50 extra watts of the blue spectrum for the veg growth. is it worth it for the extra money or should i just use the hps for flowering and the cfls+the hps for the veg. amd if so about how many cfl's should i use?
i know the hps shoudlnt be any closer to the tops then about 12 in but what about the flouros?
thanx again for all ur help... u guys are very knowledgable and helpfull

[notorious P.O.T]

If your growing from seed go with cfls (compact flourescents at walmart or homedepot) around 6700k until they grow up a little. You can get 2 bathroom 3 light wall fixures at home depot (10 BUCKS EACH) , hang them flat down with chain (kind of have to figure out your own way to hook chains to it-very easy though), wire em with a cord that you can also get at Home depot and your set (dont worry about the ground wire, just coil it up). Put 6 30-40 watt cfls in these fixtures and you should be good for a while. Hang cfl's as close to the plants as possible . 1 or 2 inches away. With the cfl's in rows like this the plants can grow up inbetween them and stay short and stalky. This could actuallly take you all the way to the HPS flowering stage without the metal halide. Hope this helps. any questions, holla ...peace

wow i must have missed this post before i asked that last question.. sry.. but thats really creative. thatnx alot for ur help blaze and i will be posting pics in about a month or two because i need to buy and set-up all my supplies all while balancing my finals. P.S school sux

also the water from my tap is coming from a fresh artesian well on my property. its pretty dam clean i will be doing ph tests on it but do you think this water will be ok or should i buy bottled distilled? thanx alot

[BlazeIdo]

Let the water sit for a day or so to evaporate chlorine (if there is any). I would reccommend RO water with Calmag Plus though. 0ppm to start, no bad stuff you dont want on your plants.

[BlazeIdo]

calmag replaces the minerals lost during the Reverse Osmosis filtration. I have heard people say that they have not really seen a difference when used with or without.

[notorious P.O.T]

nope theres no chlorine in my water but i think im goin to use a brita filter(just to be safe) and put it through twice to make sure no nasties get my plants.
thanx

[notorious P.O.T]

also what kind of nutes should i use.. i know about the hign phos for the germ and rooting..and high nitrogen for the veg .. but what about the flowering?
and what type of nutes should i buy because my friend grew with miracle grow and his buds had a very strange taste to them..and i really dont want to be smoking those kinds of chemicals. so i was thinking maybe organic nutes?

[Trivium]

Your personal smoke hey?

Why dont you purchased 2 150's instead of 1 250w. That way you can have a steady monthly flow of personal bud, cloning and flowering monthly.

[notorious P.O.T]

i wish i could have a two compartment grow room for a mother and the little flowering plants but its just not feasable in my little area+ i dont really have that much money to completely trick out my grow room yet.. im a freshman to college and im strugglin wit my car insurance bills and school tuition.but im thinking i can spend about like 450 or so on the light/s the nutes, a thermometer/humidity, and a ph meter. i think thats about reasonable plus its about all i can afford now. but yeah i wish i could buy two lights .. thanx for the input man,
notorious

[notorious P.O.T]

ok so if i get a 250 hps light and also one of these bad boys http://www.onestophydroponics.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=1_12_37&products_id=120 id be set for light right?
i also plan on topping my plant to eventually have a single plant with 4 tops. does anyone know if the strain ICE takes well to topping? thanx again for anyone who can help this schmuck newbie!

[Dutch Pimp]

I have to disagree here, while 150 will grow a plant, 250 is a minimum, and 400 would be ideal ... I also have a 2'x4'x7' ... also, you should have plenty of room for 4 plants ... I used to grow 8 plants in that size cabinet for years, just down-sizing to 6, then 4, in last couple of grows ... will go back to 6 next time, I have available space with just the 4 ... :smokin:
I agree with what he disagreed with. (sorry, stoned) Six is ideal!

[notorious P.O.T]

yeah i bet i could fit 6 or even 8 in there but i dont really need that many... all the stuff left over will get stale and dry. i would rather have a constant supply of one or two plants producing fresh buds.

[BlazeIdo]

I use a 150 and I couldn't be happier. What are you yielding with your 150. How many plants? Scrog? LST? Cab? if so what size?

[notorious P.O.T]

hey blaze i have a question? ive been looking all over for the cool white cfl's and no one seems to have them.. or even have room for them in the stores.i was just wondering where u got yours? thanx again man .. uve been a big help!

[BlazeIdo]

walmart. I'm pretty sure the package said sunlight bulb (lights of America). Look at the back of the package for the kelvin. I think there 5700k or 6700k. Can't remember. Mine are 25 watters.

[notorious P.O.T]

ok cool. i bought a couple of 42 watters today but they were soft white. which produces a more yellowish color ... prolly good for budding but i need some cool whites too... once again thanx alot man

[cactusman23]

be careful not to get the 4200k cool whites, you want something thats at least 5000k and up.

[notorious P.O.T]

ok cool thanx cactus..but the cfls are only gonna be suplimental to a250 mh if that makes a difference..

[notorious P.O.T]

also i was lookin at nutes today and is potash the same thing as potassium?cuz i couldnt find anything that said potasium on it... but there was one nute with only a little bit of potasium nitrate... what nute should be used for the floweing thats high in potasium