Hi,

Im really confused about the correct spectrum of light during flowering, hopefully someone can help!

I just started flowering in my small grow tent (60x60x140) and I wanted to make sure Im making the best of the bulbs I have.

I have three Envirolites but only space and equiptment to use two of the bulbs, the three bulbs are 1x250W Red, 1x125Red and 1x250W Blue.
In addition to the envirolites I have 2 lamp holders and four CFL bulbs (2x20W Blue, 2x30W Red).

So, which of the following would be better for my eight weeks of flowering -

Option A
1x250W Red, 1x250 Blue, 2x30W Red CFL
Total Watts 560W (310 Red, 250 Blue)

Option B
1x250W Red, 1x125 Red, 2x30W Red CFL
Total Watts 435W (375 Red, 60 Blue)

Many Thanks.

Out of those - A - the more Watts of light, the better - however, if you're already OK with burning that much electricity on your grow, you'd be much better off with a 400W or a 600W HID lamp/ballast.

A friend gave me lighting equipment he didn’t want so I decided to tweak my setup even more and go for a new option.

I’m now running with 1x250W Blue, 2x250W Red and 1x125W Red and 2x30W CFL for a total of 935W! Quite a lot for a 2x2x4 grow space I guess!

The three 250's are fitted to a single reflector that I modified to use all three 250's. The 125W Red is hung horizontally at one side of the grow room to give the plant sides additional light.
Lights are approx 3inch from the canopy.

I thought temps would be an issue but they arnt at all, they are ranging from 72-81 Lights On(Nighttime) and 60-73 Lights Out(Daytime).


As envirolites dont have the penetration of HPS Im guessing 935W isnt too much light?

I got a 250watter and was surprised how much heat it gave out. Your intake must come from somewhere very cold? How were the temps during that hot spell we had last weekish?

What sort of yield are you looking to get from that??

My 250W adds 3 degrees to my drobe, that's it.
It's awesome.

Their light penetration is awful though, you'd be better off with a 150w or 250w HPS.

The intake is from the same room, as is the outtake (its a big open plan room tho). Temps during the hot spell last week peaked at around 83 as far as I can remember, BUT I only had 2x250 and a single 1x125 last week during the hot spell, Im confident the extra 250W will be fine.
Your getting me worried now, maybe I should check my therms working ok!

No idea on yield, Im trying to maximise yield for my grow space (2ftx2ft tent) using Enviros and as penetration is so poor I was hoping the more light the better?

Would a 150w or even a 250w really be better than 875W of Envirolites in terms of maximum yield?

I'd go for a however i'd seriously consider stoping and going to HPS bulbs cause i've just changed from 200w envrolite to 250W HPS!!!! much better and only a fraction more expensice on the electricity!!

Yes - certainly the 250W HID would be - HIDs seem to out-perform flouros of the same wattage by about 4x, and also can be used to cover much greater areas as they have a lot more 'punch' - flouros have to be kept practically touching the plants.

I agree with you're point, however when it comes to better spectrum, HID are no match for the correct t5 bulbs.