Hi everyone! I've been doing a whooole lot of research, trying to prepare myself for my first grow and figure out what to get. I keep reading that CFL bulbs are the cheapest way to go for lighting, but after looking high & low for 40w CFLs, the rock-bottom price that I've found is $11/bulb (before shipping). This would get really expensive really quick just in bulbs alone, and then I would also need to get sockets for these bulbs, find plugs for all of the sockets, and figure out how to hang/position them. (I feel like I'm missing something major, I keep reading that CFLs are the cheapest and easiest lighting method, but the more I research it, the more it seems like it would end up being really expensive and a colossal pain in the butt. Am I missing something?) Anyway, in my search, I came across the Hydrofarm Jump Start T5 Grow Light System. Since this whole thing, with fixture and bulb included, costs $65 on Amazon, it seems like it would be the cheapest option by far and would also take care of the issues of having a bunch of plugs for a bunch of sockets and hanging the lights. One light, one plug, one stand.

Even though this seems like a great lighting option to me, I've never grown before and I don't know anything about anything. I definitely have some concerns about it. My main concern is that I haven't been able to find any information, here or elsewhere on the interwebs, about using this to grow marijuana. Since it seems like such a cost-effective and simple option, this makes me think that it must not be very good for this purpose, otherwise there would be more people using and recommending it. I'm also concerned about not being able to adjust the lighting for each individual plant, since it's just one big light for all of them. I was thinking about lining the plants up in a single row underneath this light. The bulb that comes with the system is 6500k, and there is a 2700k bulb that could be purchased and used for the flowering stage.

I'm not really looking for feedback from someone who has used this personally (though that would be great if anyone has), I'm just hoping that someone with more experience and knowledge than me can take a look at it and tell me whether or not it could work. Would I need any other lights in addition to this? Should I just forget about this thing altogether and work on figuring something else out? Thanks so much for any feedback, I've been obsessing over this forever and just don't know what to do!
AuroraHaze Reviewed by AuroraHaze on . First-timer Looking for Feedback on Hydrofarm Grow Light System Hi everyone! I've been doing a whooole lot of research, trying to prepare myself for my first grow and figure out what to get. I keep reading that CFL bulbs are the cheapest way to go for lighting, but after looking high & low for 40w CFLs, the rock-bottom price that I've found is $11/bulb (before shipping). This would get really expensive really quick just in bulbs alone, and then I would also need to get sockets for these bulbs, find plugs for all of the sockets, and figure out how to Rating: 5