I can't wait anymore!

[Kush Over]

..Which would be better to use, the fluorescent tubes, or the cfl's?..

Depends on your set-up. Tubes may be giving you better light coverage if you're using a grow room. CFLs would naturally be the better choice if you were growing in claustrophobic spaces such as a grow box. A 40 watt two foot tube will give you a little over 3,000 lumens, but a 65 watt CFL floodlight will give you closer to 6,500 with a hell of a lot more space to spare. Personally, I started my plant from seed under less than a hundred watts of CFLs [ balanced spectrum -- meaning near equal daylight spectrum with warm white ]. If you're willing to wait on the HID but not on the grow, that's all right. I started my present grow the same way -- began with CFLs, now flowering with an HPS that I waited to buy. Looks great, couldn't be happier.

..Also, I wonder if I can do the entire grow under the red spectrum flouros, or do I need the blue spectrum for veg?..

I suppose you could. Hell, I use an HPS so I really can't say, "Substitute that blue spectrum!" If the luminosity is strong enough, I suppose it'll grow under anything that produces viable ultraviolet radiation. I find the past and present plant(s) of mine reacted better under the higher kelvin [ blue spectrum ] light -- as in, there was less internodal stretch in the plants under higher kelvin light as opposed to those that were under lower kelvin light, which produced plants that stretched at a mean of .4 inches more than those under the blue spectrum.

..I know HID's would be better, but I can't afford them, and I can't wait until I can. What can I expect for weight using flouros. (3-4 plants "Sativa")..

It's 'common' knowledge that you can expect anywhere between .25 - .45 grams per watt under fluorescent light with good care and proper maintenance. While there may have been grows where this number was higher, it's usually the plant's genetics and the environment's it's grown in that's the true deciding factor. True, HID light does give you better chances of getting .5 - 1 grams a watt, but it doesn't always turn out that way. So, with all this in mind under the worst possible conditions I can think of you'd get about 15 grams -- or a half ounce per plant -- for a hundred watts of fluorescents at a rate of .15 grams per watt. Personally though, bro, I'd like to see you get a bigger yield -- at least try to get one of those HID for flowering later on. You'd be much more pleased with, say, up to three ounces off each under a single 150. I know I would.

..I wonder if it would work? $78.00 for a 150 watt HPS isn't that bad. How many of those would I need to grow 3 plants?

Would one work just as well as several flouros? If so, that may be what I choose?..

Caught this one late. To grow three plants comfortably you'd want about two of those 150 watt fixtures. I use one and it's fucking great -- space conservative, plants love the light.. One thing is the heat, but it's nothing a fan blowing directly on the ballast can't take care of. That'd probably be the better choice considering each 150 gives out over 12,000 lumens as a mean, 16,000 as an initial.