Compact Grow Setup Advice Needed

Eephus Man

Eephus Man

It looks like I'm off the wagon again when it comes to growing. I took a year off two years ago and my cat ate all my starts (and then threw them up in front of me) this year.
 
But for 2015, I'm getting my rig ready. I'm planning on trying out CFLs and/or LEDs in standard fixtures.
 
I think Stickman had a setup with a standard power strip and double-headed bulb fixtures that is what I'm going for.
 
My question in here is regarding suggestions for the most cost-effective standard (don't know the technical designation - H60 maybe?) bulb fixtures I can find in either LED or CFL that will keep my plants happy and big, but don't produce too much heat. My old T8 setup is unwieldy and a little dangerous for my kids to be around.
 
Anyway...
 
I'm all ears for any suggestions you guys have in regard to bulbs. I've got $40 in Amazon credit I'm apparently dying to burn through. I'm cool with a few good grow bulbs supplemented with some Home Depot sale stuff, as well.
 
TIY and good to be back for another run next year!
 
are you lighting for babies or for mature plants? How many?
 
 
leds don't get too hot to handle and only point down so don't waste light as much as CFL, also they last 50,000 hours, and are more energy efficient. problem is they cost more upfront (actually cheaper in long term)
9w are 6.3$ a bulb with 600 lumen
 
Cfls are good because they are available everywhere and cheaper upfront.
13w are 3.3$ a bulb with 600 lumen
27w are 6.25$ a bulb with 1300 lumen
 
compare:
t8 setup 4ft 2bulb fixture is 19.99 + bulbs 6 = 26$ 5600 lumens
need 9 led bulbs to compare 56$ for bulbs 10$ for sockets = 66$ 5400 lumens
need 4 27w cfls 25$ + sockets 5$ = 30$ 5200 lumen
 
 
 
 
now if you want to start comparing with red blue LEDS then it screws everything up as they are more efficient by providing more PAR light, as well as being more efficient in terms of radiation per watt. so yeah
u can get 15w redxblue for 7.75 on ebay.
 
thank you very much Juanitos. Sorry. I forgot to say that these are going to be starts. Well transplant out sometime around March or April.

I don't need them to flower or fruit indoors, I just need them to get as big as possible. :-)

forgive my ignorance, but what is PAR?
Good Lord. Mobile and voice to text combined make me sound like a drunk chimp when I respond here. My apologies.
 
Good to hear from you Eric!  Hope your 2015 goes well  for you.  I think mine will be minimal for sure.  I've been very busy lately and my camera died so not much contribution from me here. 
 
If I remember correctly the LED's are only decent for starts and not as well for large growth.  Good luck with your construct!
 
Later Mike
 
I forgot about newer LED bulbs versus the red and blue quantity bulb fixtures I was thinking of.
 
juanitos said:
Photosynthetically active radiation
 
so yeah my suggestion if you are just starting out and want something quick and easy, CFLs on a power strip or just the t8 shoplights from lowes/hd are good.
 
If you want to do lots of research or want to be as efficient as possible or have longterm goals like using them every year for 10 years then go for led.
Click to expand...
 
I've used T8s for years. Trying to get away from them.
 
PAR sounds like an unwanted thing next to my head in the bedroom (probably better than a damn mobile phone), but interesting. Would it be beneficial to use primarily CFLs, but purchase a couple of the PAR-efficient LEDs to go along with them? Again, forgive my complete ignorance in lighting (among many other things).
 
Basically, I'm moving from classic 72-cell trays of years past to horticubes this year (and then xplant up). But I'm trying to do it all in the space of about an average folding table. As easy as T8s can be, they're also awkward, tippy, and have a lot of precarious surface area to be broken by kids, pets, bouncing balls, clumsy adults, or whatever other insanity might transpire inside my home. :)
 
Thanks again. Next question...
 
Is there a particular brand/type of CFL bulb I should be looking for? Certain spectrum just to get green growth for eventual xplants?
 
I'll keep searching for some of that as well...

capsidadburn said:
Good to hear from you Eric!  Hope your 2015 goes well  for you.  I think mine will be minimal for sure.  I've been very busy lately and my camera died so not much contribution from me here. 
 
If I remember correctly the LED's are only decent for starts and not as well for large growth.  Good luck with your construct!
 
Later Mike
Click to expand...
 
Haha! Hey Mike! Long time! Glad to see you're still active here.
 
Hopefully I'll have the time to really do a proper glog this year. My kids are getting older and interested in this kind of thing, so I might be able to spend more time with both, if I'm lucky. :)
 
well leds will be the most durable, you could throw them around and not break them, cfls are just wrapped up fluorescent so still pretty fragile although less surface area like you said.
 
Doesn't really matter too much on brand, just get cool white or daylight/sunlight color, not warm or soft.
 
supplementing with led's isn't something i've done before but i imagine you wouldn't see huge difference. don't worry too much about par unless you are going full led and controlling the wavelengths.
 
juanitos said:
well leds will be the most durable, you could throw them around and not break them, cfls are just wrapped up fluorescent so still pretty fragile although less surface area like you said.
 
Doesn't really matter too much on brand, just get cool white or daylight/sunlight color, not warm or soft.
 
supplementing with led's isn't something i've done before but i imagine you wouldn't see huge difference. don't worry too much about par unless you are going full led and controlling the wavelengths.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks, again, juanitos.
 
So basically, I just need to spam the things with a boatload of light from 5-6.5K CFLs as close as I can get them till they go outside?
 
Is there a point of diminishing returns on lumens? Meaning, I had 2X the T8 example you gave above last year. Seems like I need about 10 of the CFLs to do the same job + a little extra.
 
common 8sqft with 5600 lumen
last year i did 15sqft with 27000 lumen and did great.
 
check 1000bulbs.com
u can get some 23w for like 2$ each at 1600 lumen so get 4+ and you'll do great.
(shipping on there is killer but it has great info)
 
or lowes has 3$ each 23w or 2.5$ with free ship to store if you got one near u
 
juanitos said:
common 8sqft with 5600 lumen
last year i did 15sqft with 27000 lumen and did great.
 
check 1000bulbs.com
u can get some 23w for like 2$ each at 1600 lumen so get 4+ and you'll do great.
(shipping on there is killer but it has great info)
 
or lowes has 3$ each 23w or 2.5$
Click to expand...
You rock. Thank you.
 
Hehe. It's unbelievable that so little (seemingly) light is producing those results.
 
These are the kinds of things I subtly share with my wife so she knows that *I'm* not crazy...mostly.
 
juanitos said:
the ys
 
the plug adapters for power strip
 
cheap power strip
 
plus lights
 
lets use 6 bulbs, and space them out on the power strip enough
3 ys 6$
3 plug adapter 6$
power strip 4$
lights 20$ (with 2 extra)
36$ plus taxes.. 10k lumens not bahd
Click to expand...
Juanitos, thnks for the amazing information. Would this set up work for flowering and podding of the plants as well? Say, with 20k lumens worth of the above set up, could I grow plants from seedling to pod-bearing, completely indoors? Thanks in advance, and sry for the change of subject of the original thread...this could be the solution to my problems hehe You guys are great!!!!

HB
 
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