cfl closet lighting help me please!

[gman420]

ok, so i have 3 150 cfl's that i bought from home depot in a 4 foot tall, 3 foot long, 2 feet wide closet space. i have 2 fans running on it every day and the lights are on 18 hrs a day... is this sufficient for four pots growing 2 plants each... i figure at least one plant per pot will die. i am looking for suggestions as to if this will work, so far so good, but who knows! any suggestions to a (fairly) cheap ass who doesnt want to alarm any authorities by using to much electricy/spend too much on electricity?

gman420 Reviewed by gman420 on 03-13-2006. cfl closet lighting help me please! ok, so i have 3 150 cfl's that i bought from home depot in a 4 foot tall, 3 foot long, 2 feet wide closet space. i have 2 fans running on it every day and the lights are on 18 hrs a day... is this sufficient for four pots growing 2 plants each... i figure at least one plant per pot will die. i am looking for suggestions as to if this will work, so far so good, but who knows! any suggestions to a (fairly) cheap ass who doesnt want to alarm any authorities by using to much electricy/spend too Rating: 5

[gman420]

sorry, i meant 3* pots growing 2 plants each

[Sinsemilla Jones]

...pots growing 2 plants each... i figure at least one plant per pot will die.

Besides, whatever you might do to kill one will kill the other.

If you're planning to do things that might kill 'em, that's even more reason to use seperate pots.

[betterhomesandgarden]

Dump the buddy system you are using. If the CFL are a true 150 watts, then see no problem with it. I would get three twister CFL (30W) and hang them directly over the plant with the cheap incadascent shop reflecter for a couple of weeks. Then give them the 150's from the point forawrd.

BHG

[jamstigator]

I doubt they're really 150 watt CFLs, not from Home Depot. They're most likely 42 watt CFLs or something, that are '150 equivalent watts' - e.g., intended to replace a 150 watt incandescent bulb for household lighting. I don't know anyone who'd buy three 150 watt real CFLs, because they could get a 600 watt HPS with a digital ballast for about the same money.

My 125-watt CFLs (one for each of two veg cabinets) were about $100 each (including reflector), and the 150s were significantly more expensive than that.

The recommended wattage per square foot is 50ish. You have 6 square feet so you should aim for 300 watts. Assuming you have 3 42-watt bulbs, you have about half the lighting you need for that area. Add a few more bulbs, and keep them as close to the plants as you can without burning them, and you should be fine. You could probably grow them all the way through with just the three bulbs, but if you add more lighting you will be richly rewarded by your green ladies later.

[gman420]

thank you for all your guys help. i added a 2 ft cool white fluoro last night to the setup. true wattage is only 140 total... my main concern is using up too much electricity, so if anyone has suggestions for what to add/ any ideas how to keep electric outta ridiculousness. energy is 12 cents kwh here