Will this setup work?

[Cafka]

Hey everyone,
This is my first grow. I just want to grow a handful of plants indoors and i'm not ready to spend alot on a HID or HPS setup. I have about 7 little sprouts. I bought a 2-40 watt, 1600 lumens, 2700K four foot flourescent bulbs. I have the bulbs a few inches from the sprouts. Will this setup work for my whole harvest? Could i do better with a compact flourescent setup?

Thanks.

Cafka Reviewed by Cafka on 04-13-2006. Will this setup work? Hey everyone, This is my first grow. I just want to grow a handful of plants indoors and i'm not ready to spend alot on a HID or HPS setup. I have about 7 little sprouts. I bought a 2-40 watt, 1600 lumens, 2700K four foot flourescent bulbs. I have the bulbs a few inches from the sprouts. Will this setup work for my whole harvest? Could i do better with a compact flourescent setup? Thanks. Rating: 5

[AmericanTerrorist]

Hey bud

You can grow with flourescents BUT what you really need to veg your babies is the cool white ones. Im not 100% positive but i think 2700K is in the wrong spectrum, I could be wrong though. If you got room for the 48 in flouros then use those, just make sure they dont get too hot and burn your babies. Save those 2700K bulbs for flowering. Id suggest you get another 2 40 watt ballasts for 7 plants and that is still cuttin it close. So heres what you should do:

1. Get 2 more 48 in flouro ballasts
2. Get cool white bulbs

feel free to ask questions!

[kingkewl]

If that winds up be enuff light... I'll be srprised..

[PlainOldMe]

Without alot of lumens your plants will grow slow and your buds will be very thin . The more bright light in the red and blue spectrum the better. If your using standard fluorescent lamps you will need 6 to 8 lamps of a variety of specrums and make sure you have a reflector behind the bulbs. I would suggest going to home depot and getting a 100w HPS they work excellent withot alot of heat or cost.

[alex32]

I grew three plants under two 15w cool whites, and two 25w CFLs, this was only for the vegetive stage though, during the vegging they grew really quickly too. But now i have them under a 250w HPS, and i took a cutting yesterday and put it in a 'gel2root' tray thing, so i am hoping that works. You could grow with CFLs all the way, but you would need an army of them. Would it be possible for you to veg your plants, then put them outside, i think that might be the best option for you.

[the image reaper]

you can grow good plants with those 40 watt tubes, just small yields ... Ive done it , I started with two bulbs, now am up to 16 40-watt lamps ...
as previously mentioned, your 2700K are red spectrum, perfect for flowering, but now, for growth, you need to get the plain old Cool White bulbs, usually anywhere from 4500K-5700K, your 'blues' for vegetative growth ... keep your lamps about an inch or two above the plant tops, the flourescents lose a lot of lumens as you increase distance ... good luck with your grow, be patient ... you will see obvious improvements as you add lights ... Im vegging with 8 now, and they are staying short, squat, and bushy, an obvious sign theyre getting enough light ... theyre growing more sideways, than vertically, sort of like me ... :smokin: