Lighting Is it worth to combine a HPS with a CFL bulb ?

[HappyToker13]

Cheers everyone, people on this forum rock !

sry for the lame thread name, I made a growbox recently that fits in my closet for a stealth grow,
dimensions are 170 cm tall , 80 cm long and 50 cm wide,with good ventilation, and I'm planning to grow there some autoflowers for my needs, the light I'll be using is 250w HPS , and I was planning to supplement my grow with a 200w CFL dual spectrum, 'cause I have some extra money left and I can't have a 400w HPS because of the growbox dimensions ,do you think the 200w CFL would make any difference to my grow and is it worth ?

 

[BigSm0]

I believe it will help but it will also put off some heat too. That decision you have to weigh yourself based on cooling and your climate. Any light besides a candle should increase plant production. But A watt of light for the most part puts off between 3&4 btu's so if the cfl is actually pulling say 75 watts it's also a little 225-300 btu heater.

 

[HappyToker13]

Thanks for the info mate,
I will try to improve the ventilation with some more 120mm vents, I want to try a perpetual grow with 2x 11 liter pots and 3x 6,5 liter pots, in the 11 liter pots would be some super autos, and in the 6,5 liter pots some low ryders/dwarfs and this is where the CFL comes in, the CFL would be close to fresh seedlings so they can have as much light as possible in their beginning, and the HPS would be positioned much higher so it could give light to the flowering plants and to the fresh babies as well, and the CFL would supplement the lower branches too,so this was planned to be a HPS-CFL symbiosis..
I did some math and I figured out that if I would plant new autos after every harvest ( the 3 x fast autos + 2 x super autos method ) I could maintain a harvest every 35-40 days.
Would all this be a good operation or am I just daydreaming ?
Peace

 

[BigSm0]

Hell yeah sounds good to me. Once you start producing I would look into some cob setups. The par watts and efficiency are amazing. Prices are a bit steep but like anything with time it's possible for any budget. Go green LEDs, tasty LEDs and my favorite Amare technologies all use very good cobs. I purchased 3 of the Amare se-450's yesterday for my new room. The heat is very low on efficient lights too.

I plant a new batch of 12 every 35 days. They produce, get chopped then I clean the air pots and drop new seeds the same day. It's a little hecric but the buds repay in amazing ways

 

[HappyToker13]

That's some good motivation bro,
Yeah I've read some good things about LEDs, and a friend suggested to me that I should buy atleast 5w LED bulbs on the internet and make my own custom LED panel ,what do you think about this idea ?

 

[HashMaster]

To your original question : I have done this for decades and it works well, but since compacts weren't around when I started, I used the old tubes.

HID overhead, tubes on sides and underneath.

Never did it in any kind of enclosure though so just watch your temps and flow....

But it does bump up your final yield.

 

[HappyToker13]

Nice to hear that HashMaster,
I can go only as far, as my closet allows me , but somehow I wanna get out the maximum out of the opportunity i got ,this week I ordered 2x 125w CFL dual spec and as the HPS is in the middle, those 2 babies will be one on each side, wanna come as closer to the 100w/a plant as possible ...

 

[HashMaster]

I have used 1000W HID over my grows for years, and I still tuck the same old aquarium tube under and around.

As long as you watch heat and distance I don't think it's possible to have too much light.

Back before we knew about proper spectrum grow lights we used to stick red light bulbs and black lights in with our grows as well as we found by trial and error that it helped.

That was way back in the horse and buggy days....

 

[HappyToker13]

Cool story HashMaster,
thanks for giving me something to think of, I had just two 120 mm PC vents for blowing on the plants and intake/outtake 80mm but since I got paranoid with the light heat so I will toss those 80mm PC vents and buy 120mm for intake/outtake as well + 2 more for blowing on the babies....
from the beginning of my operation ( planning, buying the equipment and diy growbox etc... ) to this point today ( I germinated my first autoflower babies ever) my level of creativity is just rising...everyday a new plan for upgrading the box , everyday a new thought how to give those sacred plants better conditions and love they need, growing is something magical ...
Peace for all, all for peacE

 

[HashMaster]

Welcome to your new addiction !