Quote Originally Posted by atari
Ski.. did you do your entire hardonna etc. grow with just CFLs? I don't want to be spending $600 (£300).. but I don't want to skimp out too much either..
Are you saying that a good way of varying the distance of your lights from your plants is to raise or lower the plant with books rather than raise or lower the light?
The shower curtain idea sounds good.. I need to some how make some kind of ceiling as well.. maybe with some kind of plastic sheet material too..
What do you think are the most important elements to spend enough money on?
I vegged that grow for 49 days, all under CFL's. I think I did 18/6 (18 hrs. light and 6 hrs. dark).

Then I switched to 12/12 and turned on a 400w HPS (even just a 250w HPS will cover just a few plants). Then I also bought a 250w MH light. I flowered for 77 days under those two lights. Both were relatively cheap...$125 or so for each.

It makes no difference whether you raise the lights, or lower the plants. It just works better in my setup to lower a few inches at a time. Shop light style clamp ballasts have a hinge that allows you to adjust them up or down a little, also.

The most important thing you should spend money on his light...it's also the most expensive. CFL's are cheap and last a long time. But if you want to take your grow to the next level and make the biggest jump in final quality, then you need a good flowering light; my recommendation is a HPS.