Cheap Grow Lights

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Originally Posted by orangeman

What if I get these?

65 Watt Compact Fluorescents

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Orangeman, my two previous grows before this one have been done with CFL's...I've had a few other problems but I would say that if there's any way that you could get around $100 or so...(what I paid for my 250HPS) it would make you much more happy in the end. CFL's I think are wonderful for veg, but once it comes to flowering they do okay, but it takes tons of them and a lot of know-how to get nice bud production with them. I've just powered on my HPS yesterday, and from what I can tell my plants are digging the light and I think it's going to do wonders when I start to flower them.

eBay: 250 HPS Econo Grow Light w/ Remote Ballast (item 170086835950 end time Mar-11-07 15:39:59 PDT)

This is the light that I bought. I got one for myself and it works just fine. For a budget light, this is great. I didn't have great amounts of cash, but I did know that if I wanted to get some nice buds I was going to have to fork over a bit more. No chance in hell I was going to pay more than $200 for a grow light...so a friend of mine recommended these lights...$105.:thumbsup:

Those 65Watt CFLs would do great! At 3400Lumens EACH you would be looking at 20400Lumens total. That's more than enough for a small cabinet grow. 3 of each kelvin would create a well balanced light diet for your plant/s.

You're on the right track.

The only thing I would be concerned about would be wattage. You'd be working with about 390Watts. Your electric bill will be a little bit more expensive. But I'm assuming you're not concerned.

Also remember, with CFLs you need to keep the light as confined as possible. So if your grow enclosure is bigger than 4FT Tall x 4FT Wide x 3FT Deep, make it smaller to get it to around those dimensions or even smaller if possible. The mylar will be an absolute MUST if you cannot make the enclosure equal or smaller than that.

How do you plan on mounting your lights?

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Originally Posted by Markass

Orangeman, my two previous grows before this one have been done with CFL's...I've had a few other problems but I would say that if there's any way that you could get around $100 or so...(what I paid for my 250HPS) it would make you much more happy in the end. CFL's I think are wonderful for veg, but once it comes to flowering they do okay, but it takes tons of them and a lot of know-how to get nice bud production with them. I've just powered on my HPS yesterday, and from what I can tell my plants are digging the light and I think it's going to do wonders when I start to flower them.

eBay: 250 HPS Econo Grow Light w/ Remote Ballast (item 170086835950 end time Mar-11-07 15:39:59 PDT)

This is the light that I bought. I got one for myself and it works just fine. For a budget light, this is great. I didn't have great amounts of cash, but I did know that if I wanted to get some nice buds I was going to have to fork over a bit more. No chance in hell I was going to pay more than $200 for a grow light...so a friend of mine recommended these lights...$105.:thumbsup:

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Wow. Not bad. Very good deal there!

The only thing bad about HPS is that you really can't use them throughout the whole cycle of the plants life. Meaning they're only benefitial to flowering.

So you end up having to add the HPS in when you switch to 12/12.

Personally I prefer not doing this.

On the other hand, if you can afford the electric bill, you can simply just run the CFLs with the HPS! But to avoid unneeded costs simply buy 6 of the cool CFLs (6500K) and forget about the warm CFLs. Which would be just flat out phenominal in regaurds to best bang for your buck!

You could run that setup through the whole plants life without having to switch out any lights or anything. Only issue there is you're looking at 390watts + the 250watts = 640watts and a whole lot of heat.

Decisions decisions..lol

I plan on getting one of those clamp light things and screw the bulbs into them and just get something that will make it easy for me to hang the lights over the plants. So are those the only lights I should get or should I try and get more?

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Originally Posted by orangeman

I plan on getting one of those clamp light things and screw the bulbs into them and just get something that will make it easy for me to hang the lights over the plants. So are those the only lights I should get or should I try and get more?

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It depends on what you can afford.

If you can afford it grab a cheap 250watt HPS and go about what was mentioned above.

Or if you want to keep the heat and costs down grab some more CFLs.

Really it depends on your budget at this point.

Ok I might just get some more CFL's. The way I see it now the plants are gonna be like closed in by 4 walls. All covered with mylar. I'm gonna try and keep everything as close as possible so I can get the most out of the mylar and lights..

Orange I picked these up at walmart for 1.00. You will have to mount them to a board or something but that shouldnt be too hard. I am setting up a board that is 5 inches wide about 36 inch long and am using 4 of these to hold 16 lights. For a dollar you cant beat it, they are in the bulb/ceiling fan section. All they are is the light sockets for a ceiling fan but you can mount them using the holes on the back. I will probably put mine together tonight so ill post some pics of it.

I don't think I would know how to get that to work. If it isn't something you just plug in and turn on I'm lost lol. I'm no electrician.

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Originally Posted by orangeman

Ok I might just get some more CFL's. The way I see it now the plants are gonna be like closed in by 4 walls. All covered with mylar. I'm gonna try and keep everything as close as possible so I can get the most out of the mylar and lights..

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You're going to spend just as much money on CFL's and other stuff when you could've bought the HPS that I'm using right now. I was stubborn and wanted to go the cheapest way when I first started. If I would've listened to everyone, I could've had nice buds on the first try. Instead, I spent a hundred dollars or so on CFL's that I ended up using around the house rather than in my closet. Trust me, just get a couple CFL's for veg and buy a HPS man.

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Originally Posted by orangeman

One more question. Do you guys think it's pretty safe to have this light mailed directly to my house or what? How heavy should the light be? And if it's sorta heavy does the people that deal with my package open it up to see what it is?

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The package is 25 pounds, and is delivered by DHL. And it's perfectly safe to have it delivered to your house...so long as your parents aren't nosey...