newbie lighting help

[spiritwalker]

hi all as a virgin gardener ive bought a growers manual ive sealed off my shead and painted matt white. and taken care of ventilation and humidity for starters and ive chosen the seeds to be used super spud. now iam confused as to the lighting aspect i would like to plant 10 seeds but which lights do i use i thought maybe 600 watt flourescents as ive been told to be wary of hps lights because of security and economy. is this right i would be greatful of any tips also could anyone tell me of any shops or outlets in the manchester area of the uk where ill be able to buy the lights from as i dont have a credit card for ordering anything thanks. spiritwalker.

spiritwalker Reviewed by spiritwalker on 03-06-2005. newbie lighting help hi all as a virgin gardener ive bought a growers manual ive sealed off my shead and painted matt white. and taken care of ventilation and humidity for starters and ive chosen the seeds to be used super spud. now iam confused as to the lighting aspect i would like to plant 10 seeds but which lights do i use i thought maybe 600 watt flourescents as ive been told to be wary of hps lights because of security and economy. is this right i would be greatful of any tips also could anyone tell Rating: 5

[GTC21]

What's "super-spud" ?? WTF?

You won't need 600w for seedlings. I use a high output fluorescent unit for my seedlings/clones/vegetative growth which is 110w and it works great, it's called 'light-wing'
If you live in manchester then I'm surprised you've never heard of Holland Hydroponics-
http://www.hydroponics.co.uk it's in the city center, good shop.

Don't be worried about light leaks if you use a HPS, that's an easy problem to sort out, just block all the places where light can get out with duct tape or something.
They aren't that expensive to run either (if you only have one or two small-ish ones!) And they are by far the best lights for flowering, you can flower with fluorescents but the results will only be a fraction of what you'll get with a HPS.
Take a look at the fluorescents on the site above^ or if you're on a budjet you can use normal fluorescents like shop-lights or compact fluorescents but they're not as good.
How close are your neighbours houses to yours? Will they be able to hear your fans?
Will they be able to smell the plants when they're in bloom?

[spiritwalker]

hi gtc21 thanks for the reply i got the name wrong i know ive toked on a couple today lol. thanks for the info on lights and the site ill try it out later. like i said iam new to all of this as for neighbours i live in terraced housing so iam taking the correct measures as fans go and before i plant anything ill be giving my intended system a try out to check for noise and light leaks etc afterall people are nosy. cheers for now mate.

[MattakaSqueaks]

600 watts of floro. wont hurt the seedlings but thats just a lot of extra lighting. I would say about half that and make sure they are compact floros. or cool white. You can ask any growing shop to point you in the right direction and they will let you know what works. Just tell them you are looking for 300 watts of compact floros made for veg groth stage(dont tell them what there going to be used for) You will need an hps sooer or later (at least 400 watts) to flower that many plants. you can get hps in a low emishion ballest so it doesnt burn up the extra electricty. If you are really worried about the electricty then rig up a 240volt outlet and get a 240volt ballest to burn half the electricty. If you decide to use the compact floros, make sure you keep them at least 1 foot away from the plants so they dont burn. The compact floros tend to get hotter than the cool white. Hope this helps. If you wanna talk to me personally about any Q's you might have, e-mail me at [email protected] .Peace.

[newgroweroldsmoker]

for best results of all do the following.....get a lighting system that has a unit/starter that can support HID bulbs (HPS&MH) from 250-400-600 watts.....
for vegetation use a 250watt MH and for flowering a 600 watt one.....
Each bulb will consume 0.25&0.6kW per hour for every hour that operate....do not use the floros for more than 2-3 weeks from seed as the plants will grow (since you talk about 10) too much and the floros will not be enough to cover their needs for light.....i go for the MH....... the only good thing about the floros is that can be placed very close to the plants.....when the plants grow too much and the floros have to move up their light will not be that strong as it was in the beggining.....plus the MH are only blue spectrum that the plants really need in the first weeks of vegetation......

[braindead420]

HELLO I NEED HELP JW IF I PUT MY SEEDS IN A GLOW IN THE DARK CUP AND WATER THEM EVERYDAY AND HOLD IT TO A BRIGHT LIGHT EVERYDAY FOR A FEW MINUTES AND OPUT IT BACK IN THE DARK WERE THE CUP GLOWS DO U THINK IT WILL GROW????

[Zandor]

HELLO I NEED HELP JW IF I PUT MY SEEDS IN A GLOW IN THE DARK CUP AND WATER THEM EVERYDAY AND HOLD IT TO A BRIGHT LIGHT EVERYDAY FOR A FEW MINUTES AND OPUT IT BACK IN THE DARK WERE THE CUP GLOWS DO U THINK IT WILL GROW????

No; plain and simple NO. Those are Phosphorus cups there is no viable light or Lumens emitted from them to propagate growth

Peace

[greenstick]

HA!!!! thats really one of the funniest things i think i 've seen typed in a thead...
that an the guy who wanted to smoke male flowers....
HAHA.. peace.