can you guys help me out

[skateiv]

Hello, I am new to growing and I just have a few questiongs. I just bought a 150w mini fluorescent and I was just wondering if it will work for growing or if I just wasted my money. If it does work how many plants do you think I could put under the lamp? How long should I leave the light on? Im really confused about cycles. How far should the light be from the top of the plants? If anyone could help me out it would really be appreciated. Thanks,

-bender

skateiv Reviewed by skateiv on 10-21-2004. can you guys help me out Hello, I am new to growing and I just have a few questiongs. I just bought a 150w mini fluorescent and I was just wondering if it will work for growing or if I just wasted my money. If it does work how many plants do you think I could put under the lamp? How long should I leave the light on? Im really confused about cycles. How far should the light be from the top of the plants? If anyone could help me out it would really be appreciated. Thanks, -bender Rating: 5

[The Student]

Hello,

Your 150 watt fluoro will do fine for seedlings, early stages of vegetive growth, and for clones. You will want to get more light (perhaps a Metal Halide; gives off blue spectrum good for vegetive growth) in the future to help ensure that your plants grow nice and tight. If you do not provide enough light your plants will stretch out and this will greatly reduce your harvest weight.

What color of light does the 150 put out? It should either be a blue or red spectrum.

Blue = Vegetive cycle - light is left on for either 24 hours a day or 18 hours on and 6 hours off. With the light that you have now (because of wattage) will not draw to much electricity so I would say leave it on all the time.

Red = Flowering cycle - light is switched to a on for 12 hours off for 12 hours schedule. This tells the plant that it is time to start producing buds. You will want to use a light that has a red spectrum for this cycle. A blue spectrum light will work, but will be inferior in comparison.

Can you post a picture of the light? Is it a light system (with a reflector) or is it just a light bulb?

You will not be able to fit many plants under a 150 watt fluoro once they start to grow. I would say 2.

Do you know about the strain "Lowryder"? It is an auto-flowering strain that requires less light then most other strains. You do not need to worry about light cycles with this strain. It grows its whole life under 24/0 or 18/6 light cycles. The plants are very small. They do not get over 18" tall, so you will be able to fit more of them under your light. This may be a more efficeint way for you to go.

Fluoros are well known for staying quite cool. This is how I check how close I can put my lights to my plants.

I take my hand and stick it under the light at the level that represents the top of my plants. If I can hold my hand under the light for about 30 seconds without any significant notice of heat buildup then I leave my light at that height.

I know that this post jumps around abit, so if you need me to clear anything up or just need more help, then let me know.

Take care

Peace

[skateiv]

Well thanks for all that info, it really helped me out but I have a problem. Just to test out the light I stuck one of my babies under the lamp after about 2 weeks from being out in the sun. I put the light about 3 inches away from the top of the plant and I even set up a fan to keep the air moving. A few hours later I called my roomate to check up and water the little guy and he was dead, lying on the soil! Eeek, how did this happen? My roomate thinks the lamp was too close, but I think it has more to do with me moving it strait from the sun to the lamp after 2 weeks. Did I shock the plant to death? Thanks again,

-bender

ps - I checked all over the packaging and nowhere does it say anything about blue or red light so I have no idea what kind of light it puts out. The company is DuraBright. Its one of those energy saving, curled up fluorescents. My lamp is pretty basic with like a 1 and a half foot in diameter relector.

[The Student]

Hello,

The plant probably collapsed due to a total environment change. There is no way that the light can compare to the sun. It is strange how fast the little thing died though. I am not sure. Perhaps notanovice could shed a little light on the subject.

Before I go further though I want to say this. Nothing personal, but it is NEVER a good idea to let anyone (in real life) know that you grow. I am sure that all will be well, but it is bad business to let others know. Friends or not. That is the beauty of the internet, you can tell and still no one knows. LOL.

You will be able to tell the light spectrum by looking at the light itself. The light will be whitish/blueish or a more of a redish color. I am guessing that it is probably blue spectrum.

Did you try the hand check method that I mentioned? If you can feel a good amount of heat on your hand when its under the light then the light is too close. I would try to give you a distance, but its really hard to say.

Let me know if I can help out anymore.

Peace

[notanovice]

was the fan blowing directly on the plant?
the floro light itself shouldnt of killed the baby from heat.
floros dont really get that hot, at least hot enough to kill it.
this is just a theory, not set in stone
but, maybe the fan was blowing too hard on it and it folded under pressure.
their little stems are very weak, and the slightest pressure in the wrong spot
will fold them over.
there is a bright side, at least it was just a seedling.
i would advise you to only let the fan just slighty move the plants until they are larger and have the stem strenght to with hold more air pressure.
most floros put out a more blue spectrum of light

[skateiv]

ok thanks alot