Indoor Need some advice on picking light for closet grow

[Joe Dirt]

After all, we're not commercial growers, just med or hobby growers.

This is not the case on many grow forums and sometimes it takes spending a little time getting familiar with the surroundings to realize what AFN is about... especially for those who have spent time on the argumentative forums.

 

[olddude]

As a consultant, I visit almost a hundred Cannabis growing environments per year, plus another hundred sites growing produce and fruits. For the same amount of wattage per square feet and much less cost, I have yet to see any LED system come close to T5 HO 6500K lamps. Further, I always have doubts when someone says "mine are doing great" -- because the unanswered question is: compared to what? In commercial agriculture where quality and costs are of high importance (a) sodium and mercury lamps are only used as supplements to sunlight coming through the glass or plastic roof, (b) T5 HO "full-spectrum" 6500K lights are the mainstay, and (c) nobody is using LED in production. Further, they buy their lamps from a lamp dealer: not a general-purpose wholesaler or retailer.

I agree 100%

 

[IZNICE]

Here is some pics of my closet

As you can see i dont have a lot of room to work with as i was saying i plan on moving that shelf to the middle and running two plants in each half. with two pc fans at the bottom for fresh air intake and another 5 in the cab circulating air up to the very top where i will have a carbon filter on a 4" inline fan vented thru the ceiling into the attic. I am know thinking about 2 2foot 4 bulb t5s one in the top half and one in the bottom. my question know is i see they have diffrent bulbs for veg and bloom which ones should i get for my autos or should a mix and match the bulbs?

 

[Joe Dirt]

Here is some pics of my closet

mental pics, right? j/k

Ripster does very well and I believe he stays with veg spectrum (6500K) throughout the grow. If you want to change bulbs for blooming, the bloom spectrum is around 3000K.

 

[Muddy]

That's about the same size as my grow area, only difference is my access is from the side instead of the front. You should have enough room to comfortably grow 3 or 4 plants on each shelf. I do have a suggestion for you. If you can, consider venting back into the room instead of into the attic. Otherwise you're pulling a/c in the summer and heat in the winter out of your house. No need to waste money sending it into the attic. As long as it's filtered it's fine. That's how I have mine setup and there is no smell in the house.

 

[IZNICE]

That's about the same size as my grow area, only difference is my access is from the side instead of the front. You should have enough room to comfortably grow 3 or 4 plants on each shelf

4 real? I originally thought the same thing but alot of the autos i see on here look bushy to me so i thought i wouldn't have enough space width wise for 3 or 4. and about filtering into the attic i was only doing that for heat reasons not so much smell. Im not to concernd cause i dont really run heat or ac in that room actually i live in a old 4 bedroom house and all of the closets are that small so i converted one of the bedrooms into a walkin closet for me and the miss. and this is the closet in that room. i am looking at theses 2 t5s on HTG #1 http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-HTG-Supply-2-Foot-4-Lamp-High-Output-T5.asp AND #2 http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-GrowBright-2-Foot-4-Lamp-High-Output-T5-With-Choice-of-Bulbs.asp. Does anyone know what the difference between theses 2 are? cause i dont see a difference besides the 2nd one being almost $50more

 

[Hermitian]

... If you want to change bulbs for blooming, the bloom spectrum is around 3000K.

If your total wattage is too low in the first place, then changing of spectrum effectively increases the wattage in the bands important for budding. However, you do this at the expense of overall vigor of the plant. Your best approach for Cannabis is to be in the upper end of the 50 W/s.f. to 75 W/s.f. energy flux range at a 1 meter projection distance, using a full spectrum 6500 Kelvin source -- and using appropriate nutrients.

 

[TshirtNinja]

4 real? I originally thought the same thing but alot of the autos i see on here look bushy to me so i thought i wouldn't have enough space width wise for 3 or 4. and about filtering into the attic i was only doing that for heat reasons not so much smell. Im not to concernd cause i dont really run heat or ac in that room actually i live in a old 4 bedroom house and all of the closets are that small so i converted one of the bedrooms into a walkin closet for me and the miss. and this is the closet in that room. i am looking at theses 2 t5s on HTG #1 http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-HTG-Supply-2-Foot-4-Lamp-High-Output-T5.asp AND #2 http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-GrowBright-2-Foot-4-Lamp-High-Output-T5-With-Choice-of-Bulbs.asp. Does anyone know what the difference between theses 2 are? cause i dont see a difference besides the 2nd one being almost $50more

bro you can easily grow at least 4 in that closet if not more with the proper light footprint.... i like dwarf autos myself so i would build shelves and go for like 12 in 2 gallon smart pots with a 4" windtunnel fan on max bro. you could fill that baby with a shower of led and pull like 8 zips every 6 weeks no lie.

 

[IZNICE]

Yeah but then i would have to buy a 240w led for each shelf then, right?

 

[Muddy]

Of course it will depend on the strain you grow, the size pots you use and the phenos you get. My area is 2' x 2.5' and I can fit four 3 gallon pots in there. I prefer plants with a single cola and less side branching as they take up less space. Bush phenos tend to get too wide. Right now I've got 4 plants in there but one is going to be moved to my other area today. These all have a lot of side branching so 3 will fit better.

If you're not concerned about pulling heat and a/c out of the house, then venting to the attic won't be an issue.

4 real? I originally thought the same thing but alot of the autos i see on here look bushy to me so i thought i wouldn't have enough space width wise for 3 or 4. and about filtering into the attic i was only doing that for heat reasons not so much smell. Im not to concernd cause i dont really run heat or ac in that room actually i live in a old 4 bedroom house and all of the closets are that small so i converted one of the bedrooms into a walkin closet for me and the miss. and this is the closet in that room. i am looking at theses 2 t5s on HTG #1 http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-HTG-Supply-2-Foot-4-Lamp-High-Output-T5.asp AND #2 http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-GrowBright-2-Foot-4-Lamp-High-Output-T5-With-Choice-of-Bulbs.asp. Does anyone know what the difference between theses 2 are? cause i dont see a difference besides the 2nd one being almost $50more

---------- Post added 10-08-2011 at 07:52 AM ----------

Yes, but you might not have enough vertical room for two shelves with LEDs. LEDs have to be farther from the canopy top to be effective. If you were only going to have one shelf I'd recommend an LED but with two shelves, fluoros are probably the better fit.

Yeah but then i would have to buy a 240w led for each shelf then, right?