Mini grow cupboard with CFLs

[Pakman]

Some of you may have seen my previous post where I planned to build a wardrobe, well I planned a lot but had nothing.

I've decided to get off my ass and do something.

Firstly, I am not building a wardobe anymore. I've decided to use a drawer set I already have, that everyone has already seen (family, friends, REAL ESTATE etc.) for my grow box.

I've planted some seeds in peat pellets today to get the process started. These are only bag seeds, but if I have no luck I can get clones.

I went out and bought some cfls, light fittings, pots/saucers, digital timer and some eyelets and twine for the scrog screen(s).

The external dimensions of the cupboard are:
H: 850mm
W: 490mm
D: 420mm

This gives me roughly 2 square feet of floorspace, and is 15cm shy of a meter high.

I have 10 light fittings and 10 24w cool daylight 1450 lumen globes. At 240w, can I succesfully veg then flower (switch to 2700k globes...) 4 plants under a screen?

Recommendations and suggestions are more than welcome.

Oh yeah, in my previous plans I was going to have a twin tube 2' light above a clone box. This cupboard isn't wide or deep enough for it to fit. Would I be better off trying to set that up elsewhere, or build a partition and use cfls?

 

[Pakman]

I forgot to mention, the pots are 125mm high and 120mm across.

Also, the inside of the cupboard will be lined with that white plastic.

 

[Tbonegrower]

Your yield won't be as high as it "could" be using the CFLs, but I did the same thing you did... I ran 9 in a box a little smaller than you, running 12/12 from seed and got about 25g a plant. It was my first setup, and I have since changed from CFLs for flowering to lower wattage HID, but I still use the exact same setup for my veg box.

 

[Tbonegrower]

9 CFLs ^^^^ not plants. It was 4 plants...

 

[Pakman]

Yeah I understand the yield loss from cfls, i just dont wanna spend 200 for the 4 or 600w hps kit, another couple hundred on a hood, venting, better fans etc for my first grow or three.

But like you said, when I do go to hps, i still have a veg chamber.

 

[Arf]

24W for 1450lm is not very good. The Philips 18W Cool daylight LED bulbs do 2,000 lumens so to get the same 14,500lm you would only need to buy 7or8 of them, realistically probably only 6 because they are way more directional than CFL, and you can pull the diffusers off them and get even more light on the canopy.

 

[Tbonegrower]

Yeah I understand the yield loss from cfls, i just dont wanna spend 200 for the 4 or 600w hps kit, another couple hundred on a hood, venting, better fans etc for my first grow or three.

But like you said, when I do go to hps, i still have a veg chamber.

I was the same way!! The funny thing is, I managed to get my hands on a 150W HPS barn light, and a couple 75W MH Parking lot lights (both from a local junk/repo auction. I remote ballasted them for like $10 each and now I run the 150W, a 75W, and a few mixed CFLs in my flower box (which is only 3Wx3Lx4H). Bangin out some decent little monsters.

 

[Pakman]

The LEDs in this type of globe that are available here do not go that high in wattage, and they are far more expensive than cfls per watt.

They are definitely something to consider, but for my first attempt I'm happy to stick with the cfls I have.

Sadly, apart from actual cfl grow lights, 24w is the highest actual watt cfl globe available here.

 

[Arf]

The LEDs in this type of globe that are available here do not go that high in wattage, and they are far more expensive than cfls per watt.

They are definitely something to consider, but for my first attempt I'm happy to stick with the cfls I have.

Sadly, apart from actual cfl grow lights, 24w is the highest actual watt cfl globe available here.

It's not about $/Watt it's about $/lumen when you are growing with white lights. (technically $/uMol) and CFL are unidirectional so most of you light doesn't hit the plants when you mount them above the canopy. LEDs wipe the floor with CFL.

 

[Pakman]

Yeah I understand lumens are more important than watts, all im saying is i dont want to spend 200 dollars on leds when i can spend 50 on cfls for a decent first grow.

Leds will definitely be considered in future grows for the superiority over cfls though.

 

[Arf]

Yeah, but you will be spending hundreds more on electricity with CFLs, you only need 150W worth of LEDs to get the same lumens as 240W of CFL, I don't know how much your electricity costs, but paying 60% more per hour for the same lumens adds up fast, and the LEDs wont be wasting half the light by shining it on the ceiling of your cabinet.

 

[Pakman]

Fair point, but I've already got the cfls so I'm sticking with them for now.