lighting question?

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

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

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

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

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

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:

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.

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

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~

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?