Lowryder seeds planted, now the lights

Hi. I planted 10 recently purchased lowryder seeds today in peat pots. Also planted the 11 freebies I got from a Dutch supplier. The freebie seeds looked lame, all pale and small, but who cares.

Anyway I got house plant compost and put the seeds 1cm into the peat pots. Keeping the heating on tonight to make room 25c. Everything by the book so far apart from the lack of lights and funguside. Searched everywhere for copper or cheshunt compound, but could not find any locally. Anyway, the important bit the lights.

I know I need some light now. As the seeds have not yet sprouted I figure I have a couple of days to sort this out. I don't mind spending money on lighting if it does the job, but have read conflicting guides. Some say that supermarket lights are as effective as commercial flourescent lights and are a lot cheaper.

I don't know anything about lighting so, is 600W GROW LIGHT BALLAST and bulb worth £80? Also is it any good for a beginner growing lowryders. Thanks

 

if you planted 21 seed, my guess is you will end up with 6 healthy females. so you need to cover about 15 square feet, but not for a few months. 15 feet X 30 wattperfoot is 450 watts you will need at least. between 400-800 watts is my guess. make sure it is HPS or MH lights. i prefer combining the two. some "grow" lights are either crap or going to get you in trouble. i always went for outdoor security lights. until you can get those together, you should be able to survive on a couple of 40 wat flourescent tubes for a week or two, while they are sprouting.

 

80 pounds is about 150 or 160 bucks ($'s) right now, I think. That's not a bad price for a 600 watter! Especially if it has all the "Whistles and bells". If it's HPS (High Pressure Sodium) only, you want the "Extended Spectrum" type bulb (30% extra blue spectrum). If the ballast will run HPS or MH (Metal Halide) bulbs that's even better IMHO. If it only runs MH bulbs, you will need a HPS ballast and bulb for flowering - although some people do flower with MH bulbs. If it is an electronic (or digital) ballast it is the newest generation in technology.


Lowryders have different light requirements because they are autoflowering, I don't really know how fussy they are about the spectrum. I would guess that they would do fine with only one bulb all the way through the whole grow. I hope that helps. Cheers and good luck!

p.s. As for being a beginner, you have to start somewhere - go for it!!!

 

Hi. Took the advice and bought the 600W grow light. It is a digital extended spectrum lamp and arrived today. Problem was the ballast was smashed in the post, so awaiting a replacement now. I hope this lack of uv light does not effect the growth of the ryders.

 

600 w cost more cause you can grow the same yield as a 1000 andhave the lights closer to tops with out burrning eye hortilux are the best hps pluse they sell conversions that let you run a mh in a hps ballast better for vegging