3 plants- 70cm at veg, going into flower- tips on lights please

Hello everyone,

I have realised how much I am enjoying my first grow and would like to spend some $$ on upgrading my light system.
I can see alot of information online, but often it is suited to larger grows. I have 3 plants and when I flower these, I will grow another 3. I doubt I will ever move upwards of 3 plants as I have no intention to sell.

Can someone please, in your experience, recommend what I should spend my hard earned money on?
I don't want to upgrade and overspend on something that is too much and too fancy for my small grow.

I have a 250W Flowering 2700k 12000lumens CFL.
Since my plants are quite large now (70cm) and will probably become quite massive at flower (1.2metres i can imagine?) the single bulb I have won't be enough.
Will 2x125W CFLs (one red, one blue) +the existing 12000lumens flowering CFL be enough light all through flowering?
My spend for these 2 CFLs will be £50 (about $85 US).

Should I buy a HPS instead? I have heard 400w is good for 10 plants.
This will cost me £170 (about $280 US).

You can see that it's ALOT more of an investment- so please let me know what your thoughts are for 3 large flowering plants.

Weez, Dutch, esteban, shovel, built2 and everyone else who has helped me with my grow so far, please drop in and share some pearls of wisdom :)

Many options you have. Are you using this 250w cfl vertically? You can do that and add another or other smaller ones on the side or in the middle of the three. This should nicely cover plants that are that tall.

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Originally Posted by Shovelhandle

Many options you have. Are you using this 250w cfl vertically? You can do that and add another or other smaller ones on the side or in the middle of the three. This should nicely cover plants that are that tall.

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The current 250W 2700k CFL is hanging horizontally above with a reflector hood.
I can the 125W (6000lumens) on the sides/middle vertically to help the colas?

The Khronic and Roughrider stickies and other bits I have seen on the forums say 4-5000 lumens per square foot.
My grow area is maybe 4sqft and with 250W CFL and 2x125W CFLs, I will have 6000lumens per square foot.
That sounds more than sufficient?

Should I be concerned about penetration and the CFLs not getting through and only touching the sides and top of the plant? (hence the interest in HPS). I would really love to enjoy a beautiful smoke after all the time I have spent on my 3 babies. I will light one up as a thank you to the forum for the advice :) I spend more time here than I do on facebook

Not a big indoor guy but do know that if you maximize your reflectivity visa vie (Mylar etc) it will help you exponentially. Stick with the basics (Grow room set up, proper soil/soil less/hydro etc.) & go from there. Peace


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