Tiny 50w mother/clone box questions

[Dr.Bud]

I want to build a 50w Metal halide grow box to keep one small mother that will yeild clones every 8 weeks or so. I want to start a 150w HPS DWC mini grow for some personal smoke an I would like to use a Veg room with these specs to supply clones as well as veg them for a week and a half so they can go into my 150w hps chamber ready to flower. Is this possible. I know about the 50w or so per square foot but these are the specs I have to work with and I would just like to grow some of my own buds. Is 50w of MH light enough to do this to a satisfatory degree? I wont just have a 1 foot square area, it will be a bit bigger. I will keep the mother right under the MH light and the clones a little to the side. When the clones have rooted in my bubbler I will put them under the MH light and move the mother aside and away from the middle so the clones can grow strong. I woul dliek the clones to grow about 6-8 inches of veg growth. Does this sound like a good idea? should I use Flouros instead? will I get the same kind of growth with either the MH or fouros? I would like the communities opinion and advice. Thanks

Dr.Bud Reviewed by Dr.Bud on 12-16-2006. Tiny 50w mother/clone box questions I want to build a 50w Metal halide grow box to keep one small mother that will yeild clones every 8 weeks or so. I want to start a 150w HPS DWC mini grow for some personal smoke an I would like to use a Veg room with these specs to supply clones as well as veg them for a week and a half so they can go into my 150w hps chamber ready to flower. Is this possible. I know about the 50w or so per square foot but these are the specs I have to work with and I would just like to grow some of my own Rating: 5

[bejay]

not sure what your room dimensions are but you do not necessarly need 50 watts per sq ft for veging a mother or clones, but your flowering area should be at atleast 50 watts per sq ft for good results.
the 50 watt mh does not produce that many lumens so you probably could use several cfls instead and still have good results and maybe less heat issues.

[justaseed]

i personally like agrosun full spectrum flouros rather than cfls, less heat in a small space. if your space is 2ft long you could get 4-8 flouros(80-160watts total) in there and have much better results and more even canopy coverage than a 50mh or even the cfls. my veg/cone/mother chamber was 2ft wide by 4ft long and used 8 4ft agrosuns for a total of 320watts. with that i could have 4 bonzia mothers and root about 18clones and veg them for 2-3 weeks until they were ready for the flower room! so if you had a space that was 2ft x 2ft you could have up to 8 2ft agros and that would be more than enough for your needs. with the flouros you would only need a $20 bath exhaust fan from home depot and a few intake vents and mabye a small fan for circulation and to keep the stems strong.. i would guess with the cfls or the mh you would need a bit more powerful exhaust fan.

these are the agros i use:
https://ssl.cgicafe.com/clients/hmoo...g_agrosun.html
but i think i am going to try these to see how they work because they are alot cheaper and run on the same ballast:
http://www.plantlightinghydroponics....mp-p-1004.html

[justaseed]

i forgot to mention that the t10's, that cost over 10 bucks less per bulb than the agros, put out 1050 more lumens per bulb than the agros at the same wattage!!!!!

[Cyclonite]

I like the GE daylight bulbs for veg...good results. I wouldn't use HID unless your doing 250W or above.

[Dr.Bud]

Thanks for your responses, unfortunatly I would like to limit myself to about 50watts for just growing my mother and max of 100watts when vegging my clones and no more these are my limits. I have decided against the MH and im gonna get a T5 High Output lighting fixture. Probably a 2 foot either 2(48w) or 4(96w) tube fixture. I want to get the 4 tube fixture and I was wondering if I remove one of the tubes will all the lights turn off? Does it have to have all 4 tubes in order for the light to function? I want to do this so when I'm not vegging my clones I can just turn off 2 of the bulbs and just use 2 of them to veg my mother and keep power down. anyone know? The 2 bulb one produces 4000 lumens and the 4 tube one produces 8000 lumens. How tall can I veg my clones with these lights before they start to strech significantly? I will be using reflective material to surround my grow chamber, space is not a limitation for me only power.

[bejay]

most of your 4 lamp fixtures are dual ballast and removing one bulb will cause you to have 2 working lamps you could also remote the ballast and pretty much do away with any heat they may produce.

[justaseed]

space is not a limitation for me only power.

are you using a generator? over here where i live i can run a 1kw bulb 12/12 and it costs less than $50 a month. i doubt you would even notice a difference in the electric bill running only 150watts. why such a low limit? you will not have great yeilds. my 350watt cfl scrog only yeilded a qp but my 150hps scrog yeilded 5oz. when i say my yeilds i mean that i got that continuously not just 1 grow. it took practice to get those yeilds in 2ftx2ftx2.5ft cabinets so you might get even less untill you get a few grows under your belt with your current set-up. my first harvest in the 350cfl scrog was only 2oz and the first harvest with the 150hps scrog was about 3.5oz. good luck!

[hydroponicphx]

justaseed,
how many plants were you growing in that small space and getting that yield? that sounds like a very good amt of weed and makes me happy to hear lol.

[justaseed]

2 plants