Moto

Hi everyone...new here, this place is great! Happy, happy, happy!=)

Ok, so, here's my quandary.... I have a "room" that is basically the size of a pallet (on which I will set the pots--appx. 4'x 4') and 10+ feet high (though I had only planned on letting the plants grow to between 4' and 6' feet tall)...I have/ am using five 80 watt flo fixtures for light (10 bulbs x 40 watts or...5 x 80...= 400watts total). I got the fixtures for cheap and they have reflectors built-in. I have aquired a mixture of bulbs and have them equally spaced in the fixtures (gro tubes, soft white, and "sunlight" ones).The room is lined with foil, and the lights are attatched by chains so they can easily be raised as necessary.The fixtures are basically butted up against one another and form a practically solid "roof" of light.......

my QUESTION (s) is (are) this: Do I have enough light for this to be a "productive" room as it is now? Can flo's alone produce a healthy garden? Since I got the flos for cheap (cost of bulbs only) and do not have much of an investment in them, should I "loose" them and buy a 400 watt HIP fixture (or less?) and live happily ever after?

Thanks in advance for any and all comments and ideas.

Moto

"don't worry...that'll only hurt until it gets better"

lift

hey moto.

i have a 1.5' x 4.5' space... around 9' tall. (a bit less room than you, oh well). i'm just starting out too.

after reading up on everything i decided to turn that space into two seperate grow areas. the top room is 5 feet tall and used for flowering and the bottom room is 3 feet and used for the veg stage. you might want to try this setup as well if your situation will allow for it.

i also got free ballasts for my lights... so all i have to do is re-wire everything and i can buy bulbs for 50 cents a pop. i will be using aroung 16 lights in the flowering room and 12 in the veg room. my research shows that this should be fine, but i haven't tried it all out yet. cajunyank recommends HPS highly, but i think that with enough flos, you should be fine. (you might want to try mounting them on the walls vertically to get light under the canopy. also, make sure you are able to lower and raise your ceiling lights so they are around 2" from the tips of your plants).

i'll let you know how it works for me, we are just starting it all up in the next month. keep me posted about your project as well. we can probably give each other a hand.

good luck!

lift