supplemental lighting...

[Guest]

Hi all, I was just wondering if any of you have added extra lighting ie. flouro's in addition to say, a hps or metal halide during a grow. I am asking this as I am interested in whether or not it would help me increase the yield of my grow to a noticeable degree as opposed to just using my HID's. Would really like to hear from anyone who has tried this or knows of the results of doing so... thanks.

 

[Guest]

I use supplemental compact flouros especially in the beginning of flowering. Using daylight spectrum fluoros helps reduce the amount of stretch.

Depending on the denseness of your canopy, it can be very beneficial to put supplemental light below the tops of the plants to get extra light on buds underneath.

 

[Guest]

thanks for the quick response dude, I've been contemplating whether to do it for a while now but wasnt too sure about how I would mount the light etc. Its one of those 130w(I think) built in ballast 6500k bright daylight flouros and I usually use it for the first week or so when their seedlings but now its just sitting in my cupboard lookin all lonely so I figured I could put it to use somewhere. just below the tops of the plants huh? sounds good as that would probably give the lower branches a little more light as well....

 

[Guest]

ambre
The Cat Lady

?

 

[Guest]

hideyoshi
hello

if it's a cabinet you are growing in, the best thing to do, is go to the hardware store or lighting store or electrical supply house, or big box store (anything ending in "mart")
and get yourself some 4 foot long flourescent shoplight FIXTURES and some cool white (standard, cheapest) bulbs to match, the fixtures, are available in 1 lightbulb units through 4 bulb units and you can use whatever fits, the more light the better. They don't get hot, and you can remote the ballasts if you are handy to reduce heat that much more if you so desire.


dont be fooled, sometimes the bulb's label can be misleading....
is your bulb 130w or 32 w EQUIVILANT to 130w incandescent (marketing technique)
if you own a 130watt flourescent it's a grow-specific compact and likely is HUGE and bulky on a mogul base, nevermind the heat they throw, i would leave it for the next round of seedlings, if you are in flower, you should start up some more seeds or take cuts right now so you have new plant(s) for the next run, your bulb wont be all lonely this way :smile:

if it's 1 32watt cfl it wont be much of a supplemental light. And will lend a hotspot to 1 section of the plant, unless it's a small, 1 plant scrog i don't advise using it.

cannabis prefers the mixed spectrums, in flowering, and in veg. nevermind the fact that ambre brought up about the stretching/node spacing but they overall are "happier" with mixed color bulbs, get those flouros, theyre very very cheap