CFL Grow Lights – Grow Weed Easy https://www.growweedeasy.com Learn How to Grow Cannabis with Simple Tutorials Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:08:49 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1 https://www.growweedeasy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/favicon-grow-weed-easy-1.png CFL Grow Lights – Grow Weed Easy https://www.growweedeasy.com 32 32 3-Step Guide: Choose Best Cannabis Grow Light https://www.growweedeasy.com/3-step-guide-choose-best-cannabis-grow-light Fri, 22 Apr 2022 22:02:21 +0000 https://www.growweedeasy.com/?page_id=51856 by Nebula Haze Maybe you’re still thinking about growing cannabis for the first time or perhaps you’re a marijuana growing veteran. Regardless of whether you’re a beginner grower or an expert, shopping for a new cannabis grow light is always a little overwhelming. You have hundreds if not thousands of options and variations, and each...

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Maybe you’re still thinking about growing cannabis for the first time or perhaps you’re a marijuana growing veteran. Regardless of whether you’re a beginner grower or an expert, shopping for a new cannabis grow light is always a little overwhelming. You have hundreds if not thousands of options and variations, and each cannabis grow light has pros and cons.

Choose marijuana grow lights that produce exceptional weed so you feel proud of your buds

But what’s the current best cannabis grow light? Which is most proven when it comes to growing weed? It depends a bit on your personal grow setup so today I’ll walk you through the main options, tell you what you need to know, and share recommendations based on my own experience growing weed with just about every grow light you can use in the home grow environment.

Grab a piece of paper, write down the answers to the questions in step 1, read step 2, then go to step 3 and find out which grow light is prescribed for you and your grow space.

Want to start growing cannabis? These starter shopping lists tell you everything you need to buy, and you can check off each one as you get it. Also download PDF versions of each growing cannabis shopping list!

Step 1: Evaluate your grow space

Need help deciding where to grow? Check out the “where to grow in the house” tutorial.

Determine how much space you have

Get a measurement like 2’x2′ (width x length) plus the height – This is important because most grow lights will have an optimal light footprint. If a light is made for a 4’x4′ in a 2’x2′ grow space, it will cook your plants.

This walk-in closet is about 4’x5′ in length x width and the height is about 7′, giving this grower a ton of space to grow whether he wants to stay small or go big.

Example of cannabis plants growing under a 600W HPS, but a few unruly colas are too close to the light

Get a grow tent if at all possible as that will make growing weed easier for you. If you can fit at least a 4-5′ tall grow tent in your grow space, I highly recommend getting one. It gives you a sturdy way to hang your grow light, has reflective grow walls to increase light to your plants and therefore yields, is waterproof with a waterproof tray at the bottom that can capture any water that spills (so it doesn’t get on your floor and ruin carpet or wood). Lastly, a grow tent keeps dust, pet hair, spiders, and various other pests off your plants/buds while containing smells to an extent. If you set a grow tent up with a carbon filter and fan there will be no smells whatsoever, which is necessary if you need to keep your plants totally secret.

Example of a cannabis tent with an HPS, and another with an LED grow light

Many growers have to make due in smaller spaces. I was able to fit this 2’x2’x3′ grow tent in the corner of my bedroom when I didn’t have a spare room to grow in, and something this small would also easily fit inside most closets.

Example of Nebula's Microgrow - this mini grow tent was 2'x2'x3' with 4 autoflowering plants and used a HLG 100 LED grow light

Many growers have a smaller space, but whatever size space you can fill it up with weed if you get the right grow light and grow plants properly.

Determine: What’s your heat and venting situation?

How hot or cold is this grow space typically? Are there people who use it (for example your bedroom) where extra heat might cause a problem? Don’t worry, there are suitable cannabis grow lights for just about any situation (some LEDs won’t raise the temperature of the room much if at all) but it’s good to know what you’re dealing with. If the grow space is often cold or drafty, grow lights that use big bulbs and produce heat may perform better. If the room temperature changes a lot throughout the year, dimmable grow lights can be a good investment because they let turn down the power in hot weather to help control heat.

In addition to natural temperature, does this space have access to fresh air like a window or open door? Or is this a closed closet with very little air? A small tight space without any air exchange will get hot from even a small grow light, but a big space or room with lots of fresh air can support a much bigger and hotter grow light.

If you have the ability to vent heat out a window (for example through a secret window exhaust port) or can afford to run an expensive AC, you gain the ability to use really big grow lights that put off a ton of heat but can grow pounds of weed.

 

Write it down:

Available height of grow space:

Area footprint (length x width of space):

Typical temperature during day:

  • Cool – 70°F and under
  • Normal – 70-75°F
  • Hot – 75-80°F (might not seem hot but grow lights raise the temperature) 

Closed space (like a closet with door shut): Yes/No

Window: Yes/No

AC (air conditioner): Yes/No

 

Step 2: Discover your grow light options

First I’ll give a quick overview of the 3 main grow light types: fluorescent bulbs, HID bulbs, and LEDs.

Fluorescent grow lights 

  • CFLs (twisty bulbs) – CFLs are a decent option for short or odd-shaped spaces especially if it gets cold. These twisty bulbs were popular as home cannabis grow light in the 2010s because you could buy the bulbs from the store and they grow excellent weed. However, you don’t see them much anymore because CFLs are harder to find than they used to be and LEDs produce bigger yields for less electricity and heat.
  • T5 grow light – same technology as CFLs, but laid out flat with a reflector to point the light down to plants. These also get decent results growing weed but they’re underpowered for the budding stage and typically get small yields. You can produce a good amount of weed with oversized T5s but they get very hot at that size and produce poor yields per watt compared to your other options. In general, a T5 is best for seedlings and young plants only.

CFLs used to be popular stealth grow lights but when it comes to growing cannabis, modern LEDs outperform CFLs in every way (less heat/electricity, bigger yields, and better bud density/quality).

CFLs (compact fluorescent bulbs) can be successfully used to grow cannabis

T5 grow lights are excellent for cannabis seedlings but are underpowered for older cannabis plants. Flowering cannabis under T5s results in poor yields per watt.

A common T5 grow light.

I grew a decent amount of weed with this T5 grow light, but the tent got really hot and buds were fluffy. A small LED panel in the same tent produces more and denser bud with significantly less heat and electricity. In general, if you’re considering fluorescent grow lights for growing cannabis, you’ll almost always get better results with LEDs.

HID bulbs (High intensity discharge lights i.e. The BIG bulbs)

  • MH/HPS Combo – MH/HPS grow lights can take two different types of bulbs that are used at different stages of life. MH stands for metal halide and this bulb is used in the vegetative stage to keep plants short. HPS stands for high pressure sodium and you replace the MH bulb with the HPS bulb when pla ts start flowering and making buds. HPS produces significantly higher yields but typically isn’t used in the vegetative stage because it makes plants grow tall and stringy. (check out my grow journal where I used HPS from seed to harvest so you can see what I mean). Oldest cannabis grow light. HPS lights are used as street lights and back in the day some growers actually stole streetlights to grow weed with. These are super cheap to buy and produce a ton of dense weed with high bud quality. The main downside is they produce significantly more heat per watt than LEDs. A bunch of these gets hot. But they’re excellent in a cool grow room. Plants thrive in these even if it gets cold at night. I still use my 250W HPS in the winter when it gets cold and in the chill it outperforms the 300w LEDs (LEDs kick its butt in the summer though)
  • LEC (also called CMH) – Just in case you’re wondering, LEC and CMH are the same type of grow light. LEC is a brand name of a CMH by the company Sun System, and the name stuck. CMH stands for Ceramic metal halide and CMH grow lights have actually been around since at least 2008 when I started growing (they used to be offered in the same wattage sizes and used a mogul socket just like MH/HPS lights back then). They’re essentially halfway between metal halide and HPS (it’s a metal halide bulb that uses ceramic like an HPS bulb). However, around 2017 CMH grow lights were rebranded and re-popularized as LECs (light emitting ceramics). They started being offered with alternative sockets and only come in proprietary 315W and 630W sizes. These are a little hotter than HPS and emit more heat per watt. They produce somewhat different results with cannabis plants compared to the MH/HPS combo. Specifically, they tend to produce a greater amount of cannabis trichomes and smells than other grow lights, especially when you use the 4k color blue bulbs, which makes them an ideal choice for growers who want weed to make extracts (especially for dabs or fresh rosin, bubble hash, or dry ice hash). Like HPS bulbs, plants grown under CMH tend to grow fast, tall, and stretchy in the vegetative stage, which can be a good or bad thing depending on what you’re looking for.

MH/HPS combo lights typically come as a kit in one of 5 sizes: 150W, 250W, 400W, 600W, 1000W. Each one is designed for a different size grow space. The most efficient size (best yields per watt) is 600W, which can yield 1-2 lb per harvest but puts off a ton of heat. When you buy MH/HPS lights they typically have a big brick-sized ballast, a reflector or hood of some sort, and the bulbs themselves. The MH bulb (fatter bulb that gives off a bluish white light) is used when plants are young to keep them short and bushy. The HPS bulb (thinner bulb that produces a garish yellow light) is switched in when plants start making buds. HPS produces some of the biggest and densest buds of any grow light, but only if you can keep it cool in the grow space.

A 600W HPS (like the one pictured here) produces a ton of weed in a small space but also makes a ton of heat.

LEC (aka CMH) lights typically come in one of two sizes: 315W, and 630W. They use the same HID technology as MH/HPS and produce just as much heat. Their ballast is usually attached directly to the reflector instead of separate. These produce incredible yields and bud quality, but they are best known for above-average terpene (smell) and trichome (sparkle) production, making them a great choice for growers looking to make extracts.

Keep LEC grow lights at least 18" (45 cm) away from the tops of your cannabis plants

LED Grow Lights

  • “Spread” style LEDs – Quantum board, scorpion style, spider style, etc. These typically have smaller diodes apread over a wide area, sometimes even with big spaces between diodes where typically plants receive too much light like the middle. These get the best yields per watt and are less likely to cook your buds than LEDs with more intense diodes.
  • “Pinpoint” style LEDs – Puck LEDs, COBs, etc. with big bright diodes typically close together to almost shine a spotlight on plants. Good choice for a big room since you can easily adjust brightness in a big space. Also gets the deepest penetration so a good choice for taller plants.
  • Hybrid LEDs – medium-sized panels that often use a mix of big and little LEDs. Basically somewhere in between have LEDs either very spread out or just a few big intense LEDs close together. A lot of hobby level LEDs are in this style. They give better results for short spaces than pinpoint style, but are smaller and are often less heavy per watt. Hybrids can get good results with weed, but I recommend getting a spread style LED if possible for the best cannabis yields and bud quality.

If you’re not sure which cannabis grow light to get, I recommend getting LEDs. They allow a home grower to produce a ton of high-quality weed with significantly less electricity and heat. Older LEDs produced blurple (bluish-purple) light but modern flowering LEDs typically appear pink. Vegetative LEDs typically appear white. You can use any type LED from seed to harvest though flowering LEDs result in higher yields.

Most home cannabis growers will be happiest with LED grow lights

Six flowering plants in a 4'x4'x6.5' grow tent under 2 x Electric Sky 300 LED grow lights - 34 days of flowering

 

Step 3: Choose your grow light

Finally, it all comes together! Remember the answers you wrote down earlier and I’ll show you how to pick the best marijuana grow light for your space and then I’ll help you pick the best version for each one.

Available height of grow space:

  • Short spaces (under 4′ height) – Fluorescent or smaller LEDs under 200W
  • Medium to tall spaces (5-6’+ height) – LEDs or HIDs (like MH/HPS or LEC or CMH)

Area footprint (length x width of space):

Choose a grow light that’s listed with your footprint or smaller. When in doubt, it’s always better to get a too-small grow light over a too-big grow light because it will cook your plants. But if the grow light is dimmable like most LEDs and some HIDs, you can often get away with a somewhat bigger light.

Just remember that grow lights are most electrically efficient at full power. So when possible, you want to have your light be full power most of the time, especially in the crucial budding /flowering stage.

Natural temperature of grow space (and is it more open or closed up)

Cold (or very open /drafty) space: Pick a bulb light. Fluorescent like CFLs or T5, or HIDs like MH/HPS or LECs/CMH. Small LEDs perform poorly in cold spaces. In a cold space, you want a bulb that gives off heat and raises the internal temperature of your plants. Especially HIDs produce huge yields and excellent bud quality in cooler spaces. If you’re determined to use LEDs you can make it work, but you’ll want to get bigger LEDs (over 300W if possible since they start putting off a decent amount of heat at that size). You should also take steps to prevent your plants from getting cold or they will produce slow growth and very small yields with LEDs. 

Regular room temperature space: You’re not limited by the temperature of your grow environment. Plants like temperatures about the same as people or a little warmer. But whenever you have options I recommend LEDs for growing cannabis as they tend to be the most flexible for home growers.

Hot (or closed) space: LEDs. If you’re not dealing with cold, LEDs are almost always the best grow light choice. LEDs have more options than HID lights and get better bud quality and yields per watt in the heat.

If you’re not dealing with cold, LEDs are almost always the best grow light choice for marijuana plants.

Window or AC

If you’ve got the ability to either remove heat by venting out a window, or cooling a room with an AC, you have a setup that could support a big HPS (600W HPS or even multiple 600W) or multiple 300W-600W LEDs. If you’re going to grow a whole lot of weed, you’ll often get the best results with multiple grow lights over just one big one. Kind of like “spread style” for the whole grow room. You can even mix and match. I’ve seen some of the best cannabis yields and impressive results come out of growers that use a mix of big HPS and LEDs in the flowering stage.

 

Recommended Grow Light Models

At this point, you should have a pretty good idea of which type of grow light you’re most interested in: fluorescent, HIDs, or LEDs. If for some reason you’ve decided to go with fluorescent grow lights, read the CFL tutorial on how to pick the best number and wattage CFLs for your space, or check out the basic T5 grow light tutorial, but I recommend choosing one of the other grow light options for the best results with growing weed.

Now let’s go to some suggested models.

HIDs (“Big bulb” grow lights)

Best for cool spaces, otherwise you’re probably going to be happier with LEDs.

Note: 250W size is harder to find these days, so it’s not listed here. 1000W is an overpowered size for most growers, and not very electrically efficient. You’ll often double the weed with 2 x 600W vs a 1000W.

MH/HPS Combo

150W MH/HPS all-in-one

  • Perfect for 2’x2’x4′ or bigger
  • Good for cool space but doesn’t produce a ton of heat
  • Keep 11-12″ away.
  • Yield: 4-6 oz

400W MH/HPS

  • Grow space should be 2’x4′ or 3’x3′ and 5′ or taller (6′ is best so you’re not worried about height)
  • Puts off significant heat, will raise the temperature of a room by several degrees if the heat isn’t vented out a window.
  • Keep 12-14″ away.
  • Yield: 12 oz to almost 1 lb

This 400W MH/HP model is only $120 and I was able to produce almost a pound when I used it in a 2’x4’x6′ grow tent with a 6″ Cloudline Infinity exhaust fan to vent the heat. Dimmable but gets very hot and I would only recommend it in a cool grow space unless you plan to cool the room.

600W MH/HPS

  • Grow space should be 4’x4’x6′ or bigger.
  • Puts off a ton of heat.
  • Must be vented out a window or use an AC in just about every circumstance.
  • Yield: 1-2 lbs

A 600W HPS typically does best when the bulb is contained in a “cool tube” or hood like the one shown here, so hot air can be vented out a window with ducting. But for those who are willing to deal with the setup, a 600W produces some of the biggest yields of any grow light.

LEC or CMH

315W LEC grow light by Sun System

315W is the best size LEC in my opinion (there are only two, this and 630W). If you need more light get multiple of the 315s instead of a bigger one. The big ones seem to often cook buds while the 315 gives that perfect balance of huge yields, tons of trichomes, and intense terpene production. Read my tutorial on how to produce up to a pound with a 315 LEC grow light.

 

LED Grow Lights

Each manufacturer has different models that will fit just about any grow space. So for this list, I will list my 5 favorite manufacturers of LEDs (based on my grow tests so far) with some of their best models plus a breakdown of optimal grow space and what to expect for yields from each one.

Spider Farmer (Best Budget LED Grow Light)

Spider Farmer is a sleeper. If you’re not sure which grow light to get and cost is an issue, get one of these lights. They’re not perfect but are well constructed, don’t need any setup, are easy to use, fast plant growth, and get surprisingly great yields for a small amount of electricity. I was impressed with these lights even after using more expensive LED models.

A grow featuring the Spider Farmer SF-2000 (buds are amazingly fat at just day 28 of flowering)

Spider Farmer SF-1000

  • Price: $160
  • Grow Space: Perfect for a 2’x2′ grow tent or closet
  • Actual Power Consumption: 100W at full power, and can be dimmed. This light uses the least electricity on this list but still produces hefty buds.
  • How Far to Keep from Plants: 18″ for the vegetative stage. 12-18″ away in the flowering stage (keep as close as 12″ away but if top leaves appear pale from light stress, move to 18″ away)
  • Average Yields: 2-5 oz+ – keep in mind that the strain (genetics) and any plant training you do will make a huge difference in your final yields.

Chasb40 had this to say about the SF-1000: “Loving the light, plants are as well. Solid build and I don’t have to worry about hot temps in my tent, much cooler than the older blurple LEDs…and quieter.”

Spider Farmer SF-2000

  • Price: $260
  • Grow Space: Perfect for a 2’x4′ grow tent or closet
  • Actual Power Consumption: 200W at full power, and can be dimmed for younger plants. This light uses less electricity than any other LED on this list besides the SF-1000, but you wouldn’t be able to tell with the results you get. Its low power consumption is another reason this is a great budget grow light.
  • How Far to Keep from Plants: 20-24″ for the vegetative stage. 18-24″ away in the flowering stage (keep as close as 18″ away but if top leaves appear pale from light stress, move to 24″ away)
  • Average Yields: 4-10 oz+ – keep in mind that the strain (genetics) and any plant training you do will make a huge difference in your final yields.

David grew this plant with a SF-2000 and reported back, “Great lights. They don’t get very hot. Super light weight. Produce great buds. 100% recommend!”

This was just my first grow with a SF-20000. Amazing yields for just 200W! (check out the grow journal)

Janelle’s results on her first cannabis grow (three SF-2000s in a 5’x5′ grow tent)

Spider Farmer SF-4000

  • Price: $560
  • Grow Space: Perfect for a 5’x5′ grow tent or space
  • Actual Power Consumption: 450W at full power, and can be dimmed.
    • Note: No front-facing dimmer. You have to unscrew the driver from the board and then you’ll see the dimmer.
  • How Far to Keep from Plants: 24″ for the vegetative stage. 18-24″ away in the flowering stage (keep as close as 18″ away but if top leaves appear pale from light stress, move to 24″ away)
  • Average Yields: 9-20 oz+ – keep in mind that the strain (genetics) and any plant training you do will make a huge difference in your final yields.
    • Note: the SF-4000 light can get quite hot compared to the other Spider Farmer LEDs. Unless growing in a particularly cold grow space, you will probably need an exhaust fan or AC to control the heat from this light. Keep the temperature between 75-85°F (24-30°C) to get the best yields.

“Very nice little 450w lights indeed! My buddy’s little medical garden did very well and produced very high quality medicine. 1.91grams per watt, organic notill beds. Strains were, blackberry Kush, GG4, 501st OG, and a special cultivar called Pineapple Dreamwreck.” ~Robert

 

HLG Quantum Board (Great All-Around)

Horticulture Lighting Company (HLG) took the world by storm with its line of “quantum boards”. This style LED grow light was developed by hobbyist LED growers and HLG made it available commercially and turned it into a phenomenon. Now many grow lights have very similar form factors, but HLG models are still some of the best-performing. These lights are tested on real cannabis plants, and HLG releases an updated version on a regular basis as new technology is discovered and developed. However, companies like Spider Farmer are starting to offer “copycat” versions of HLG lights that seem to be performing just as well for less money. I’m not sure HLG will be able to hold this spot next year.

Why was HLG the Best All-Around LED grow light company on this list?

  • Great yields
  • Excellent bud quality/appearance
  • High bud potency (in some tests, the buds grown under HLG lights produced significantly higher levels of THC than HID grow lights like LECs)
  • Lightweight and easy to set up

These Mandarin Cookies buds grown under the HLG 300 measured 28.3% THC at the lab. Buds from a clone of the same plant grown under a LEC only measured 26.94% THC at the lab. We found increased potency across the board when we lab tested clones grown under HLG vs LEC grow lights. HLG LEDs seem to help maximize the potency of buds.

 

 

HLG 100 R-Spec Quantum Board

  • Price: $155
  • Grow Space: The small square shape and low heat output makes this model perfect for a 2’x2′ grow tent or in a closet.
  • Actual Power Consumption: 95W (cannot be dimmed)
  • How Far to Keep from Plants: 15-20″ for the vegetative stage. 12-15″ away in the flowering stage.
  • Average Yields: 2-4+ ounces – keep in mind that the strain (genetics) and any plant training you do will make a huge difference in your final yields.

HLG 100 R-Spec Quantum Board – up to 4+ oz yield

Here are some plants I grew under this HLG 100 R-spec light in a mini 2’x2’x4′ grow tent.

The inside of Nebula's microgrowery - look at all those colas growing under the 100W HLG Quantum Board LED grow light

 

HLG 300L R-Spec Quantum Board

  • Price: $380
  • Grow Space: The rectangular shape makes this model great for a 2’x4′ grow tent or closet.
  • Actual Power Consumption: 270W at full power, and can be dimmed down to 90W for younger plants
  • How Far to Keep from Plants: 20-24″ for the vegetative stage. 18-24″ away in the flowering stage.
  • Average Yields: 7-11+ ounces – keep in mind that the strain (genetics) and any plant training you do will make a huge difference in your final yields. This LED model has performed better than most others I’ve tried so far.

HLG 300L R-Spec Quantum Board – produces high THC levels and up to 11+ oz yield

A recent grow under the HLG 300L R-Spec using defoliation in the flowering stage produced almost 11 oz (check out the full grow journal)

The HLG 300 R-Spec really brings out the purple for many strains!

The one downside I’ve noticed with the R-Spec HLG LEDs is plants tend to grow tall and stretchy in the vegetative stage due to the high amounts of red in the spectrum. However, that can be controlled with plant training like bending the stems over and tying them down. If you’re looking to produce the highest THC in your buds as possible, it’s worth the extra care.

HLG 600 Quantum Board R-spec

  • Price: $580
  • Grow Space: Ideal for a 5’x5′ grow tent
  • Actual Power Consumption: 600W at full power, and can be dimmed down to 60W
  • How Far to Keep from Plants: 30-36″ for the vegetative stage. 24″ away in the flowering stage (may need more distance for light-sensitive plants, or in a hot grow space).
  • Average Yields: 12-21+ oz – keep in mind that the strain (genetics) and any plant training you do makes a huge difference in your final yields. Keep the temperature between 75-85°F (24-30°C) during the flowering stage to get the best yields and bud quality.

HLG 600 Quantum Board R-spec – produces high THC levels and up to 21+ oz yield

Electric Sky 300 LED grow light (ES300)

Cannabis plants grown by cannabichiro (check out their Instagram profile for more!)

Quantum Board LED grow light (HLG550) by cannabichiro

Cannabis plant in DWC grown by rumplenuggrower (check out their Instagram profile for more!)

DWC-grown cannabis under an HLG500, grown by rumplenuggrower

 

Mars Hydro (Best Coverage)

The Mars Hydro grow lights produce excellent PAR levels that are spread out evenly through the grow space. Although my plants grew slightly slower during the vegetative stage than some other LEDs, this light makes up for it in the flowering stage with massive buds. It seems engineered to excel in flowering.

Mars Hydro does pretty good in the vegetative stage but really shines in the flowering stage. These plants are only 28 days after 12/12!

Mars Hydro TSL 2000W

  • Price: $270
  • Grow Space: Designed for a 2’x4′ grow tent or space
  • Actual Power Consumption: 300W at full power, and can be dimmed
  • How Far to Keep from Plants: 24″ for the vegetative stage. 18-24″ away in the flowering stage
  • Average Yields: 7-14+ oz – keep in mind that the strain (genetics) and any plant training you do make a huge difference in your final yields.

The Mars Hydro TSL 2000W produces excellent PAR levels that are spread out evenly through the grow space.

My last Mars Hydro TSL 2000 harvest with the light kept about 24″ away (here’s the grow journal)

Here are those buds drying. I was impressed to get these results with such a low-wattage LED

Now about those PAR levels. Let me show you how well this light covers a 2’x4′ grow tent by measuring the light levels 24″ away at 100% power

Here are the results with an Apogee MQ 500 PAR meter (measured in µmol m-2 s) when measuring light levels 24″ away at each plant. The light levels stay between 564-594 µmol m-2 s at the top of every plant. That means there is barely any variation of light levels throughout the tent. This is a huge advantage over other LED models where the plants on the sides are often underdeveloped.

Here’s what grower Andres had to say about the Mars TSL 2000, “my plants came out absolutely beautiful at harvest time and I could not have been happier”

Amanda used her Mars Hydro TSL 2000 in a 2’x4′ grow tent: “The plants absolutely love it & so do I. Very bright. I like having the dimmer on it as well. Well worth the money.”

 

 

Custom LED Mix (Most Modular)

If you’ve got an unusually shaped grow space, or just want a lot of flexibility with your LED placement, sometimes the best option is to choose multiple LEDs. This is also a good way to start really small and scale up as needed.

It’s common for beginner growers to start with one small LED for their young plants, then add more lights as plants grow. For example, the grower below needed to increase his wattage overall so he added additional LEDs of a different size so he could focus a lot of light directly onto his plants.

Many growers mix and match LEDs, like Mental24 who used two Mars Hydro 1000s and one Spider Farmer SF-2000 to grow this beautiful harvest for less power and heat than a 600W HPS

Another popular option is to mix LEDs with other types of grow lights like HPS or LEC.

When you're using high-powered grow lights like HPS and LED, it's important to protect your eyes if you're spending a lot of time in the grow room!

But if you’re a beginner and afraid to completely take the plunge into growing, start small. Get a small cheap LED like the Spider Farmer SF1000D for $90 which only uses 87 watts. It is plenty for a small plant and you could even get a plant to grow buds and produce a few ounces. If you catch the growing bug then you could start adding more expensive lights to the mix.

 

 

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Who Made GrowWeedEasy.com?

Grow Weed Easy.com was started in 2010 by home growers Nebula Haze and Sirius Fourside. Together, we built a free online “encyclopedia of cannabis home grow” with 650+ expert home cannabis cultivation tutorials about every aspect of growing weed.

New to growing cannabis? Beginner growers start here to learn how to grow a few marijuana plants indoors!Pot plant problems? This page will help you diagnose your sick cannabis plants and get the fix!Learn how to train your marijuana plants for better yields - this cannabis plant training tutorial is a free way to get bigger buds!

GrowWeedEasy.com is now the biggest and most comprehensive source of free home grow information in the world.  We show you how easy it is to grow your own marijuana at home.

The GrowWeedEasy.com Ethos

Our Goal: You grow as much top-shelf weed as possible, with as little time and effort needed to grow your desired yields and cannabis bud quality.

Whether you’re a total beginner who wants to start growing cannabis indoors for the first time, or an experienced grower who wants to upgrade your skills to Pro level, this website was built for you.

 

 

Looking for a complete harvest system?

If you want dense, beautiful, great-smelling weed, our new digital book gives you our complete harvest system. Follow the straightforward instructions and massively upgrade your next harvest. A few small changes can make a huge difference to your results.

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HARVEST book by GrowWeedEasy.com. In this one-of-a-kind digital book, learn the best methods to harvest cannabis. Written by expert home growers, learn the insider tips and tricks to a perfect harvest, dry, and cure!

 

 

FOR SERIOUS GROWERS ONLY

🌟 $200 Off Special Offer: Enroll today in Home Grow Masterclass!

If you’re reading this right now, you want to grow great cannabis at home.

Cannabis plants isn’t a regular house plant, but learning how to grow isn’t as complicated growers make it seem. We’ve spent the last 16 years breaking down the home grow process so anyone can learn it.

The key to consistent harvest results is simple: follow a proven system developed for home growers.

You could waste an entire grow learning through trial and error…

Or take the shortcut and harvest a sea of fat, dense, beautiful buds that smell great. At home!

Follow our 5-week course and get walked through each part step-by-step. Build by experienced home growers and honed with hundreds of students since 2019, we ensure you achieve great results on your very next harvest.

Learn How To Grow Top-Shelf Weed at Home!

Home grown buds from this "how to grow weed" tutorial

Start Your First Class TODAY!

 

An indoor cannabis harvest - growing a pile of weed is incredibly rewarding at harvest time!

You may be asking yourself these common growing questions:

“How do I grow marijuana indoors?”

Read this guide on how to grow marijuana indoors. Or check out this article to learn what materials you need to get started growing your own marijuana!

Luckily, it’s really easy to get a cannabis seed to sprout!

A cute young seedling - it's ready to start growing!

“How much money will it cost to get started?”

If you’re considering growing weed, it costs as little as $300 to get started growing or a bit more for a semi-automatic, high-yielding bubbleponics grow system. See examples of yields to expect, electricity use & startup costs for different setups. Read this article to see even more growing styles with different price ranges.

“Where can I get marijuana seeds?”

Check out our How to Buy Marijuana Seeds Online Guide (with delivery to every state of the USA) to safely get your hands on good genetics. Starting with good seeds lets you choose the looks, smell, and effects of your buds!

Learn where it’s safe to buy cannabis seeds online (2026 update).

Where’s is the best place to get cannabis seeds? Click here to get our current marijuana seed bank recommendations in 2026!

What do good cannabis seeds look like?

Cannabis seeds - tan and dark brown tiger strips seeds separated

Learn about the best marijuana beginner strains and how to research and find the right strain.

Cannabis buds are generally green, but can also be pink or purple with certain strains.

Example of purple and green buds that have been grown at home

“How much will electricity cost each month?”

If you’re just growing a few marijuana plants for personal use, it will cost you $20-$100+/month for electricity, depending on what grow lights (electricity) and nutrients you use. On average, I’d say a hobby-size grower might pay about $50/month to grow, but it depends greatly on your setup and local electricity costs! How much will electricity cost each month?

“How can I increase my marijuana yields?”

We have quite a few techniques to choose from or combine! See some of our most popular pages:

Even More Ways to Increase Cannabis Yields

  1. Increase Light Intensity (plus choose right light for desired yields & possibly add CO2)
  2. Manipulate How Plants Grow (a free way to yield more bud indoors)
  3. Provide Right Nutrients (low Nitrogen in the flowering stage, and remember sometimes less is more!)
  4. Control Growing Environment (let the growing environment work for you)
  5. Harvest Plants Properly (most importantly, don’t harvest early!)
  6. Lastly, it’s important to remember that the strain has a major effect on yields!

Two small cannabis plants can yield several ounces of premium weed!

Growing cannabis buds on a small plant like this can give impressive yields without taking that much room or needing much time - get tutorials to grow your own weed like this!

“How can I grow weed privately?”

Read guide on growing weed indoors without anyone knowing. But remember the most important factors to stealth growing: “No tell, no smell, no sell.” Never tell anyone, not even your best friend, that you’re growing. Be on top of preventing smells, and never ever sell cannabis. Breaking one of those 3 principles is how 99% of growers get found out!

“What if my plants get sick?”

If you run into problems, our "diagnose your plant" tool with pictures will help you figure out what's wrong!The most common issue a grower runs into is a pH imbalance. Barring that, your marijuana plants likely either have a nutrient deficiency, heat or light stress, or are being attacked by some sort of marijuana mold, pest or bug. Whether you call it weed, cannabis, sinsemilla, skunk, pot, marijuana, or something else, the plant known as Cannabis Sativa is a hardy weed in the wild and can actually be easy to grow indoors at home when you know what to do.

Growing Medical Marijuana

“Medical marijuana” has become a household name. The body of evidence for medical marijuana in the treatment of cancer and other illnesses is growing every day. And for those who need medical marijuana, growing weed indoors is the perfect way to ensure a safe, regular supply of buds, for cheap.

In fact, when you grow weed indoors for personal use, you often end up with way too much. The Grow Weed Easy website will teach you how to grow your own beautiful huge cannabis colas like this one! If you catch the growing bug like I did, and if you start enjoying the process of tending your cannabis garden just for the sake of gardening, you’re going to have to find a way to press, cook, freeze, and concentrate all your extra buds. 🙂

As you probably know, both medical marijuana and recreational cannabis have been decriminalized or legalized in many places around the world and weed is becoming legal in more places every day! Yet there still aren’t many simple indoor “how to grow weed” guides for beginners (even for those who legally grow, such as medical marijuana users and those who live in places where marijuana is legalized for personal use).

If so, I know how you feel. It can be hard to weed out all the bad information on the internet and find well-researched, free tips or instructions on how to grow your own cannabis. That’s why Grow Weed Easy.com aims to be a simple online resource that explains from start to finish what you need to do when growing cannabis so you can learn how to grow cannabis with great yields and potent buds, even if you only have a small grow space like a closet or even a computer case.

We’ve grown cannabis out of closets and have gotten ounces of buds and you can too. Grow Weed Easy.com covers many popular cannabis cultivation topics, including:

Start Growing Weed Today!

Grow Weed Easy is run by a panel of experienced cannabis growers, including the founders Nebula Haze and Sirius Fourside, who originally teamed together to bring you GrowWeedEasy.com. Due to the demand for more marijuana growing information, we’ve also started an inbox magazine all about how to grow weed, with additional tutorials, tips, and tactics sent to you each week. Simply sign up to start getting free expert growing articles delivered to you! All the information available at GrowWeedEasy.com is completely free and we regularly update the site and make new additions.

Looking for a growing book?

If you are interested in doing a bit of reading or would like to know more about the science behind marijuana hydroponics or horticulture, I strongly recommend viewing our page of Marijuana Grow Book Reviews. Read reviews of marijuana grow books. We would love to hear about your experiences with growing cannabis. Whether you are a pro grower already or are just starting your first plant, we have learned so much from our readers both beginners and masters! If you have any suggestions, comments, concerns, or just want to ask some questions about your marijuana grow, please contact us!

Happy Growing!
Nebula Haze & Sirius Fourside

 

Get our fool-proof harvest system.

HARVEST book by GrowWeedEasy.com. In this one-of-a-kind digital book, learn the best methods to harvest cannabis. Written by expert home growers, learn the insider tips and tricks to a perfect harvest, dry, and cure!

 

 

Home Grow Masterclass – FOR SERIOUS GROWERS ONLY

Online class to learn how to grow weed (for home growers)

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]]> LEC vs Induction vs Plasma Grow Lights: What’s the Difference? https://www.growweedeasy.com/lec-vs-induction-vs-plasma-grow-lights-whats-the-difference Sat, 03 Dec 2016 18:02:17 +0000 https://www.growweedeasy.com/newsletter_issue/lec-vs-induction-vs-plasma-grow-lights-whats-the-difference/ by Nebula Haze

In our GWE growing community, a grower recently asked...

"I'm confused about all the different types of grow lights. What's the difference between an LEC grow light and an Induction grow light? What about Plasma or CMH grow lights? They all look sort of similar to each other... and how are they different from LEDs?"

The post LEC vs Induction vs Plasma Grow Lights: What’s the Difference? appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

]]> by Nebula Haze

In our GWE growing community, a grower recently asked…

“I’m confused about all the different types of grow lights. What’s the difference between an LEC grow light and an Induction grow light? What about Plasma or CMH grow lights? They all look sort of similar to each other… and how are they different from LEDs?”

It’s crazy how fast things change! Back in the early 2000s, there were basically three types of grow lights available that worked for growing cannabis indoors. There were Fluorescent lights, Metal Halide lights and High Pressure Sodium (HPS) lights.

Then a few years later LED grow lights started gaining a lot of traction in the cannabis grow light market.

And now it seems like new types of grow lights are popping up on the market every day! You may have come across names like CMH, LEC, Induction and Plasma grow lights, and possibly more. It can get confusing with all the new terms being thrown around! So today I will explain exactly what each term means, and to expect from each type of grow light when it comes to growing marijuana.

Cannabis needs lots of light to produce good yields, but which type of grow light works best?

Green lush cannabis leaves. For your plants, looking up at the grow light is like looking up at the sun!

Today we’ll cover them all! Let’s start with the newer types of grow lights, and then I’ll compare and contrast with some of the more traditional grow light types!
New(er) Types of Cannabis Grow Lights

Ceramic Metal Halide (CMH)

LEC / CMH grow light bulb - these are actually pretty good for growing cannabis!This is an improved version of a Metal Halide grow light. The main difference is it uses a ceramic arc tube like an HPS grow light, which makes it more electrically efficient. This is why some CMH bulbs look like HPS bulbs until you get close!

Ceramic Metal Halide lights get good results in the cannabis flowering stage, much better than a standard Metal Halide does.

Cannabis bud grown under a CMH / LEC grow lightAnd unlike HPS lights (which look very yellow), CMH lights produce a natural-looking spectrum of light that resembles light from the sun on a clear day!

This makes it easier to spot problems on your plants, and it’s also just nice to be able to see and take pictures of your plants in full color!

In addition, Ceramic Metal Halides produce UV-B light like the sun, which may possibly increase THC and trichome production! However, Ceramic Metal Halide bulbs need a direct path to the plants for the best results. Reflectors and hoods without glass are preferred (more on that in a second) because glass blocks UV-B light from getting to your plants.

Learn more about Ceramic Metal Halide (aka LEC) grow lights

Ceramic Metal Halide (CMH) grow lights are actually pretty great for growing marijuana!

Light Emitting Ceramic (LEC)

Get an LEC grow light for growing cannabis on Amazon.com Despite the somewhat confusing name, this type of grow light has nothing to do with LEDs!

“LEC” is a brand name (trademark) for a specific model of Ceramic Metal Halide grow light by the company Sun System. LEC stands for “Light Emitting Ceramic” and is a marketing term, not a new type of technology.

That’s why the term “LEC” is often used interchangeably with “CMH” in online grow light listings.

However, the form factor of the 315 LEC model by Sun System (which uses 315W) seems to be particularly effective at growing cannabis. Part of this may be because it was designed to stay cool even without glass, so plants are able to get full access to all the UV-B rays!

In initial testing, the 315 LEC grow light yields about 4-9 ounces per harvest on average, but some growers have written in and reportedly yielded much more! Please contact us if you want to share your results with LEC grow lights and possibly get featured on the website!

Learn More About LEC Grow Lights!

Get an LEC grow light for growing cannabis on Amazon.com

Increased trichome production under LEC Grow Lights

Example of a marijuana bud grown under an LEC grow light (Light Emitting Ceramic)

Magnetic Induction Grow Light

Look at a Magnetic Induction Grow light on Amazon.com!A Magnetic Induction grow light is basically an improved fluorescent grow light. Instead of using a filament, it uses induction to power the light. This causes the bulbs to last significantly longer than a regular fluorescent light because the filament doesn’t burn out over time.

They come in bigger sizes than regular fluorescents, but otherwise get similar yields considering the amount of electricity used. They definitely can’t compete with the more powerful lights!

Although Magnetic Induction grow lights actually work pretty well for growing cannabis, I don’t really recommend them because I believe they cost too much (and use too much electricity) for the yields you get. You will get better bang for your buck with many of the other types of grow lights!

Learn more about Magnetic Induction grow lights

These magnetic induction grow lights are the only source of light for these happy marijuana plants

Plasma Induction Grow Light

Look at a plasma induction lights on Amazon.com!Plasma grow lights also use induction technology, so you know the bulbs will last a long time. However, most Plasma lights on the market today are are obscenely expensive!

Instead of mimicking fluorescents, this type of induction light uses microwave radiation and excited sulfur plasma to generate light. This produces a greenish white light that looks beautiful to people, but unfortunately doesn’t work that great for growing cannabis.

Even worse, Plasma grow lights cause RFI interference which can alert someone to your grow! For security reasons alone, I highly recommend avoiding Plasma Induction grow lights Basically any other type of grow light is better!

Learn more about Plasma Induction grow lights

Cannabis plants growing under a Chameleon Plasma Grow Light

So how do these compare to more “traditional” grow lights? Let’s do a quick breakdown…

 

More “Traditional” Grow Lights

Fluorescent Grow Lights (CFLs & T5s)

This group includes CFLs and T5s and is one of the most common types of grow light for hobbyist growers of all types of plants. CFLs can be found anywhere, including gas stations, and T5s can be found at most stores with a garden section (like Home Depot or Walmart).

Outside the cannabis world, fluorescents are often used for starting seedlings, as well as for growing various flowers, herbs and vegetables. They are a little underpowered for growing marijuana, but offer a great spectrum and can actually get some pretty decent results when combined with diligent plant training.

Learn more about growing cannabis with CFLs

CFL grow lights are actually pretty effective at growing cannabis if you diligently train your plants!

Learn more about T5 grow lights

T5 grow lights should be kept very close to your marijuana plants

Metal Halide

A metal halide (MH) grow light is great for the cannabis vegetative stageA Metal Halide (MH) is a very powerful grow light that gives off a bluish white light. It is often used for the cannabis vegetative stage and produces fast, healthy green vegetative growth.

The Metal Halide is Part 1 of the “golden standard” of grow lights, and is the most common grow light used by commercial growers in the vegetative stage.

Learn more about Metal Halide grow lights

Example of vegetative cannabis plants growing under a Metal Halide (MH) grow light

High Pressure Sodium (HPS)

An HPS bulb - this type of grow light is probably the best grow light to use in the cannabis flowering stage!A High Pressure Sodium (HPS) lamp is a very powerful grow light that gives off a harsh yellow light. It is often used during the cannabis flowering stage because its particular light spectrum stimulates bud production. HPS is also one of the most efficient types of grow lights available on the market, and produces amazing bud growth!

Because of these factors, HPS lights get some of the best cannabis yields of any grow light. That’s why HPS is Part 2 of the “golden standard” of grow lights!

Learn more about High Pressure Sodium grow lights

HPS grow lights are the most common type of grow light for commercial marijuana growers

Example of a room full of cannabis colas growing under an HPS grow light

A combination of Metal Halide and HPS grow lights has been used by commercial growers for decades, and even though new types of light are on the market, MH/HPS are still by far the most common type of grow light for those looking to yield large amounts of bud. But that may change over the next few years as grow light technology improves!
​

LED Grow Light

You’ve probably seen these before! An LED lamp is basically a panel containing a bunch of tiny LED diodes. Although there are some full spectrum LED grow lights these days, the light from most LED models usually looks purple.

Although the LEDs from 10 years ago weren’t that great for growing marijuana, modern LED grow lights generally get yields almost as good as HPS grow lights!

Learn more about using LED grow lights for growing cannabis

Fat cannabis buds under BlackStar LED grow panels

Quick Summary of Today’s Article

  • Ceramic Metal Halide (CMH) – Improved version of a Metal Halide grow light that uses a ceramic arc tube, which makes it more efficient. CMH grow lights can be used in both the vegetative and flowering stage.
  • LEC Grow Light – LEC stands for “Light Emitting Ceramic” and refers to a Ceramic Metal Halide grow light produced by the company Sun System. In other words, “LEC” is a marketing name for a CMH light in a specific fixture, not a new type of grow light technology.
  • Magnetic Induction – Basically a big, glorified fluorescent light. Although they last a long time and work well for growing cannabis, they aren’t much more efficient than regular fluorescent grow lights.
  • Plasma Induction – An induction light that produces a greenish light that looks nice but doesn’t get great results with growing cannabis. Even worse, they create RFI interference which is not good for security! Avoid Plasma Induction lights! Basically any other type of grow light is better for growing cannabis indoors.

Compare to More Traditional Grow Lights

  • Fluorescents (CFls & T5s) – Cheap to get started, very effective growing spectrum, but a little underpowered
  • Metal Halide (MH) – Powerful light most commonly used for the vegetative stage
  • High Pressure Sodium (HPS) – Powerful light most commonly used for the flowering stage. HPS lights are considered to have some of the best yields of any grow light. Together, MH and HPS are currently the most popular grow lights used by commercial growers.
  • LED Grow Light – These light panels house several small LED diodes and usually produce purple light (though some newer LEDs produce white light). The technology for LEDs has been improving quite a bit over the last decade, and they now get yields that are nearly as high as HPS grow lights.

I hope that helps clear up some of the confusion about all the different types of cannabis grow lights! But if you’re interested in learning more, read an even more detailed breakdown of cannabis grow lights!

 

 

Jump to…

More About Cannabis Grow Lights!

How Long Does it Take to Grow Cannabis?

10-Step Guide to Getting Started Growing Cannabis

How to fix 99% of cannabis plant problems

 

 

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]]> Do My Cannabis Plants Need Side Lighting? https://www.growweedeasy.com/do-i-need-side-lighting Fri, 12 Aug 2016 19:39:15 +0000 https://www.growweedeasy.com/newsletter_issue/do-my-cannabis-plants-need-side-lighting/ by Nebula Haze

Table of Contents

Is Side Lighting Worth It?

Side Lighting vs Supplemental Lighting

When Is Side Lighting a Good Idea?

 

The post Do My Cannabis Plants Need Side Lighting? appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

]]> by Nebula Haze

Table of Contents

Is Side Lighting Worth It?

Side Lighting vs Supplemental Lighting

When Is Side Lighting a Good Idea?

 

Is Side or Supplemental Lighting Worth It For Cannabis Growers?

When growing a cannabis plant indoors, light usually comes from a grow light located at the top of the grow space. This means all the light is beaming down on the plant from above.

Most grow lights point light straight down at the plants

Most grow lights point light straight down at your cannabis plants

You may have noticed that by harvest time, buds close to the grow light are often the biggest. Should you give more light from the sides to increase the size of lower buds?

Example of cannabis plants that have not been trained. Notice how each one only has one main cola, while all the other buds further from the light are much smaller

Does it make sense to add side lighting indoors? Can you copy the sun and give light from the sides to increase yields?

 

Is Side Lighting Worth It for Cannabis Plants?

So is side lighting worth it for indoor cannabis growers? The answer is unsatisfactory…

Maybe…

Side lighting can be helpful in certain situations, but it’s often unnecessary and may reduce yields/watt compared to adding light from above. Why is that?

It has to do with how cannabis plants respond to their environment. Although buds tend to grow bigger with more light, cannabis plants still favor the upper buds. A cannabis plant can “tell” which buds are at the top of the plant and puts more energy into these “high value” buds even when everything else is equal.

Even when cannabis gets the same amount of light from top to bottom, like with these old-fashioned Phototrons, the top buds are still bigger. That’s just how cannabis plants roll 🙂

Example of a flowering cannabis plant in a Phototron (grow light with T5 lights along the sides) - Notice how the top buds get the biggest even though the plant is getting the same amount of light from top to bottom Pic by magiccannabus

Cannabis plants naturally put the most energy into upper buds even when the plant is getting tons of light from the sides. Growers have competing theories about exactly why. Perhaps the top buds are most likely to get pollinated by the wind in nature.

This bushy outdoor cannabis plant has tons of huge colas located at the top of the plant. Generally with marijuana plants the biggest buds are located at the top.

To take advantage of this natural tendency, indoor growers often train plants to produce many top buds near the light (as opposed to adding side lighting). This ends up getting you more “bang for your buck” because you’ll get better yields/watt with free plant training than you would with side lighting.

Because upper buds grow the biggest, growers often train their plants to grow bud sites on a flat, table-top shaped canopy. This puts more bud sites at the top of the plant close to the grow light.

Example of a "sea" of cannabis colas which have all been trained to grow the same height so all the buds are "top buds" and close to the grow light

Growing “wide” cannabis plants with light on top results in better yields/watt than growing “tall” plants with the same amount of light on the sides

Example of cannabis buds in a "Scrog" (Screen of Green) setup. By having many colas about the same height and distance from the light, you can increase your yields because all buds will fatten up more than if they were lower down on the plant.

Side Lighting vs Supplemental Lighting

  • Side Lighting means specifically targeting the sides of the plant with light to try to increase bud size on the sides.
  • Supplemental Lighting means you’re trying to increase overall light levels or change the light spectrum. Supplemental lighting isn’t about giving light from the sides; in fact, generally supplemental lighting is given from above the plant because that gives you more bang for your buck.

Supplemental lighting is common in greenhouses. If you have a spot in your yard that only gets good direct light for a few hours a day, or if you have a lot of cloudy weather at your location, you could supplement with extra light from a grow light while still taking advantage of the free light you’re getting from the sun.

Example of a Greenhouse Supplemented by LED Grow Lights to Increase Yields (A Light Mover Moves Grow Lights Back and Forth)

Example of growing cannabis plants in a greenhouse. The light from the sun has been supplemented by the light from LEDs (which are on light movers) pic by Heliospectra AB

Another common reason growers use supplemental lighting is to alter the light spectrum, or “color” of the light. Each light spectrum affects how your plant grows and some growers are using the power of LED grow lights (which allow you to choose the exact spectrum) to supplement either outdoor light or the light of other grow lights like HPS. These days it’s pretty common to see growers use LED grow lights to achieve a specific spectrum; it’s also common to see growers combine their LED panel with an HPS grow light to help get better yields and increased flower production.

This grower added red-heavy LED grow lights to help encourage flowering

Example of a marijuana plant grower who is using both LED and HPS grow lights

Supplemental lighting can be a great choice in a lot of situations, but it’s not exactly the same as side lighting, which tends to be less useful most of the time.

 

When Is Side Lighting a Good idea?

Side lighting can be a good idea with fluorescent grow lights like CFLs and possibly T5 grow lights with untrained plants. This is because these types of light don’t reach far down into the plant. In fact, the light from fluorescents is so weak that it’s only good for a few inches. By the time a plant is more than a foot away the light is pretty much useless as far as bud fattening is concerned. Because of these constraints, side lighting can help make sure all buds are within a few inches of a light bulb.

Sometimes side lighting can help with fluorescent lights like CFLs, especially on an untrained plant where most of the buds are far from the top of the plant

Example of a cannabis plant that has lots of side lighting from CFLs

However, if you train your cannabis plant to grow short and flat you can increase your yields with the same amount of light because you’ll be able to make sure every main bud is located towards the top of the plant while also getting full light levels.

In other words, even with weak grow lights, you’ll get far better yields by growing plants that are wide and flat as opposed to utilizing side lighting.

These buds got really fat even though they were grown under a small T5 grow light because every bud was near the top and close to the light, due to being trained to grow flat along a screen.

Example of cannabis plants grown in a Scrog setup under a T5 grow light. By getting plants to grow short and flat the grower was able to increase the yields and grow bigger buds.

When you get to really strong types of grow lights like HPS and LEDs, their light reaches deep down into the plant. This gives you long, thick buds and without any type of side lighting.

Long thick colas from plants that have been trained to grow long and flat. Growing under powerful lights like HPS can give you long and thick colas.

To sum it up, it’s good to get plenty of light to your buds near no matter where they’re located on the plant, as buds that are exposed to light and air tend to grow the biggest. But ultimately you’ll get better yields/watt simply by making sure all main buds are located near the top of the plant and shining light directly down on them from above.

Learn how to train plants to grow flat and wide
(and get the best yields possible with your grow lights!)

 

 

Example of happy cannabis plants growing under the sun - grow lights are needed to replace the sun when growing marijuana indoors!

Ready to learn more? Learn how to increase….

 

 

 

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]]> 400W MH/HPS Cannabis Grow Setup & Shopping List https://www.growweedeasy.com/400w-hps-cannabis-grow-setup-tutorial Fri, 20 May 2016 05:45:39 +0000 https://www.growweedeasy.com/faq/growing-cannabis-400w-shopping-list/ by Nebula Haze

400W HPS grow lights

The post 400W MH/HPS Cannabis Grow Setup & Shopping List appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

]]> by Nebula Haze

See Other Examples of Cannabis Growing Setups

400W HPS Grow Setup (For Hobbyist Growers)

  • Average Yields: 7-14 ounces
  • Recommended 2-6 plants
  • Grow space is 3’x3’x6′ or 4’x4’x6′ (bare minimum is 2’x4’x6′)
  • $495 to get the simplest version of this setup

 

About This Setup

When you’re just starting to foray into the world of larger grow lights, a 400W HPS is an appropriate first light to try. It’s energy efficient, relatively cheap, and makes for large colas than stretch far down the plant. These light are more popular than the 250W HPS, but less than the 600W HPS, and far less popular than the current line of LEDs or LECs. Still, these lights are a workhorse and will pay for themselves quickly in any medium-sized indoor cannabis grow.

Pros: Cheap, effective, high yields and potency

Cons: Not popular, yellow spectrum is easy to spot by nosy people, some models emit RFI which can alert HAM radio users to your grow

Cost Estimate: $495 to get the cheapest version of this setup (no premium equipment)

Check Out More Examples of Grow Setups

 

Complete Grow Supply List

This cannabis grow room setup list includes all the supplies you need to get to harvest.

Grow Light

400W MH/HPS Grow Light

The iPower 400W MH/HPS All-in-One kit can produce some intense yields for just $120. Much cheaper than LEDs for the amount of yield but gets much hotter!

iPower 400W MH/HPS All-in-One kit - $120 - great choice for growing cannabis indoors

Grow Space

Connect the carbon filter to the fan inside the tent like this and smells get filtered before air exits the tent. Totally smell-free cannabis growing! (Click for closeup)

 

Plant Pots

I prefer fabric pots or air pots because cannabis plants grow faster. However, standard hard-sided plant pots also work well and can be watered less often.

Cost: $20

Plants grow faster in fabric pots compared to hard-sided pots, but need to be watered more often

Grow Medium (Soil, Coco, Hydro)

Grow mediums can include coco coir or soil (hydroponics for more advanced growers) but if you’re not sure, a coco-based soil like Coco Loco is perfect for beginnners.

Cost: ~$40

Coco Loco is a coco-based soil that makes thriving cannabis plants

Nutrients

  • You need a “vegetative” or all-purpose plant nutrient for the first part of your plant’s life
  • You need a “bloom” or low-nitrogen nutrient for the budding phase
  • Many nutrient systems have a nutrient schedule so you give your plants the right ratios for each stage of life
  • Always start at half strength with a new base nutrient system because the recommended strength is typically too high for cannabis

Get examples of great cannabis nutrients

Recommended Nutrients: Dyna-Gro Grow + Bloom nutrient combo is excellent, cheap, and easy to use for growing cannabis.

  • “Grow” bottle: Give 1 tsp per gallon of water during the vegetative stage
  • “Bloom” bottle: Give 1 tsp/gallon of water during the flowering stage

Learn about other cannabis nutrients we recommend

Cost: $25

Dyna-Gro Grow + Bloom is my recommended nutrient system for newbies. One bottle for veg, one for bloom. 1 tsp/gallon. Super simple!

Other Supplementary Items

Estimated Cost: $495+ plus the cost of seeds

See Additional Grow Setups

The post 400W MH/HPS Cannabis Grow Setup & Shopping List appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

]]> CFL Grow Light Cannabis Grow Setup & Tutorial https://www.growweedeasy.com/cfl-grow-light-cannabis-grow-setup-tutorial Fri, 20 May 2016 02:27:15 +0000 https://www.growweedeasy.com/faq/growing-cannabis-with-cfls-starter-shopping-list/ by Nebula Haze

CFL grow lights

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]]> by Nebula Haze

Important: CFLs are old-school grow lights for growing cannabis. Unless you have a specific reason to use CLF grow lights for growing weed, it’s recommended you use LEDs. They’re cheaper, cooler, and get better cannabis yields/bud quality. Check out a comparable LED grow light setup to this CFL grow light setup: How to Grow 3 oz of Cannabis in a $300 Mini LED Grow Kit – Shopping List & Grow Tutorial

CFL lights being used to grow cannabis

See More Growing Setups

CFL Grow Setup (For Short Spaces)

 

About This Setup

CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Lamps) are what most people used for standard household lighting up until a few years ago. Although they’ve mostly been replaced by the household LED (which can be adapted for the same purpose), they can still be used as a starting grow light for growers who are hesitant to buy a dedicated grow light. You can get these bulbs almost anywhere, and pretty much any of them will work or an entire grow in a pinch. Their wide availability is a huge part of their (former) popularity in the indoor growing world.

You probably won’t need an exhaust fan for cooling in this setup, but if you don’t have an exhaust fan you can’t use a carbon filter, which means you won’t have a great way to prevent smells from leaking outside your grow space.

 

Cost Estimates

  • Total Setup Cost: $471.00
  • Estimated Monthly Electricity Cost: $27-59/month (based on $0.12/kWH to $0.25/kWh – see breakdown)
  • Total Cost for Entire First 4-Month Grow (Setup + Electricity): $707 ($353-707/ounce)
  • Total Cost for Second Grow (Nutrients + Electricity): $266 ($133-266/ounce)

Summary of what you need for this CFL grow setup

Example of everything on the shopping list for the CFL cannabis setup

CFL Grow Journal Examples

The following grow journals feature setups that are similar to this one (though some growers may use more or fewer CFLs) – see what to expect when growing cannabis with CFLs!

 

Complete Grow Supply List

This cannabis grow room setup list includes all the supplies you need to get to harvest.

Grow Light

  • CFL Grow Lights (at least 200W)
    • Start out in the vegetative stage with at least 160 actual (not equivalent) watts of daylight CFL bulbs.
    • In the flowering stage, you’ll want to add a minimum of 80 watts of soft white CFL bulbs. If you want to add more bulbs, add them during flowering for the most value.
    • The light emitted by CFLs won’t go far, so it’s usually a good idea to have more of them and keep them all within 4-6 inches from your plants.
    • Cost: ~$77

  An example of a 40-watt daylight cfl bulb A 40W soft white cfl bulb
40 watt CFLs in daylight spectrum (left) for the vegetative stage and soft white spectrum (right) for flowering

Grow Space

Plant Pots

Nutrients

General Hydroponics Flora trio - includes all your base nutrients! General Hydroponics CaliMagic Cal-Mag supplement
General Hydroponics Flora Trio and CaliMagic

Other Supplementary Items

Estimated Cost: $471 plus the cost of seeds

Check Out Different Grow Setups!

Examples of Similar Setups

CFL grow lights being used with improvised reflectors

Some growers use a reflector that’s been made for CFLs

Example of cannabis plants growing under CFL grow lights with a dedicated reflector

There are lots of ways to configure CFLs depending on the size and shape of your plants

CFL bulbs without reflectors in a haphazard arrangement

Example of a grow tent with CFL grow lights being used with splitters

A great example of someone keeping CFL lights close, but not close enough to burn them!

Example of CFL-grown cannabis buds near harvest

Example of big cannabis buds grown under CFLs

The post CFL Grow Light Cannabis Grow Setup & Tutorial appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

]]> Complete Cannabis Grower’s Shopping List Examples https://www.growweedeasy.com/growing-cannabis-setup-examples Thu, 12 May 2016 00:05:02 +0000 https://www.growweedeasy.com/faq/growing-cannabis-shopping-list/ by Nebula Haze

 

Quick Examples of Common Cannabis Growing Setups

These electricity prices are calculated for the US average electricity cost of $0.12/kWh. Depending on where you live, it can be higher or lower. I've heard from marijuana growers who's electricity costs half as much, but also some who's electricity costs twice that or more. 

The post Complete Cannabis Grower’s Shopping List Examples appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

]]> by Nebula Haze

Choose your grow type…

This cannabis grow setup tutorial teaches you exactly what you need to start growing great weed indoors. Get 10 proven cannabis grow setups with shopping lists below.

10 Proven Indoor Setups to Grow Great Weed

I created 10 shopping lists for the 10 most popular styles of growing cannabis. Use the information below to find a proven grow setup that can produce the yields you want, including what cannabis grow light to get. Click each setup and get a guide on how to use that setup to grow potent homegrown cannabis. See the initial setup cost, cost-to-harvest, and the cost of subsequent harvests (much cheaper after the first).

2’x2′ Grow Tent – Small

Example of a 2’x2′ grow tent with 100W LED Grow Light (up to 4 oz)

Example of Nebula's Microgrow - this mini grow tent was 2'x2'x3' with 4 autoflowering plants and used a HLG 100 LED grow light

2’x4′ Grow Tent – Medium

Here’s my current grow inside one of these right now. I think this is the perfect size for most home growers because it can yield many ounces up to a pound per harvest depending on the grow light you use.

200W LED grow light by Spider Farmer (up to 11 oz – see the grow journal)

Spider Farmer LED grow tent cannabis harvest - by GrowWeedEasy.com

3’x3′ Grow Tent (Square shape is better in some spaces) – Medium

Example of a single hydro plant growing in a 3’x3′ grow tent with a 400W HPS. You could fit more plants if you use pots instead of hydro

Mars Hydro has a remarkably cheap yet effective new 300W LED (harvest up to 13 oz) for a 3’x3′ released in 2025

Cannabis grown by 300W quantum board LEDs by @depthchargeseeds

4’x4′ Grow Tent – Large

Example of a 4’x4′ grow tent (easily yield a pound – see the grow journal)

Example of a cannabis harvest in a 4x4 LED grow tent - by GrowWeedEasy.com

Now that you’ve got an overview, let’s look at each of the cannabis grow kits a little closer.

 

 

Example Setups for Different Lighting Types

65W LED Mini Tent

Average Yield: 1-3 oz Per Harvest

Initial Setup Cost: $300

 

100W LED Grow Light in Mini Tent

Average Yield: 2-4 oz per Harvest

Initial Setup Cost: $430 to get started

 

200W LED (Only need 5 feet of height)

Can fit in some closets

Average Yield: 5-11 oz Per Harvest

Initial Setup Cost: $555 to start

 

 

Mars Hydro TSL2000 LED grow light example of a cannabis grow setup with pictures of plants grown under the LED

300W LED Setup

Average Yield: 7-13 oz Per Harvest

Cost: $575 to Start

 

315W LEC Grow Light

Average Yield: 7-13 oz per Harvest

Cost: $745 to Start

 

350W LED Setup

Average Yield: 8-14 oz Per Harvest

Cost: $700 to Start

 

400W MH/HPS

Average Yield: 7-14 oz Per Harvest

Cost: $495 to start

 

600W MH/HPS Grow Setup

Average Yield: 10-21 oz Per Harvest

Cost: $495 to start

 

600W Premium LED Grow Light Setup

Average Yield: 10-22 oz per Harvest

Cost: $995 to start

 

Although there are larger size grow lights available (1000W and beyond), at that size it starts going outside the scope of a “hobbyist” grower as far as ease and yields. Also, I’ve found it’s typically better to have multiple 300W or 600W lights than one enormous grow light

Learn the basics of growing weed: Beginner’s Guide

These Cannabis Growing Setup Examples Assume You’re Starting From Scratch and Don’t Plan to DIY Anything

I tried to include everything in these lists, as if someone were growing marijuana completely from scratch. For each example I calculated the cost as if you were buying everything online off of Amazon.com from the included links. A lot of these items cost less money if you shop around online or buy them in person, and you may already have some stuff lying around the house already.

For each example I also included a matching grow tent, because I believe grow tents are the best way to create a perfect environment for your plant at a really low cost. But if you want to skip the tent and make your own grow space in a grow box or closet, learn how to create the perfect growing environment for your plants!

These marijuana plants are living in the "600W" setup

2 healthy, manifolded plants under a 600W MH (Metal Halide)

Want to start growing cannabis? These starter shopping lists tell you everything you need to buy, and you can check off each one as you get it. Also download PDF versions of each growing cannabis shopping list!

Over the years we’ve had lots of people request “starter” shopping lists for new growers – it can be frustrating trying to figure out exactly what supplies you need to start growing cannabis indoors! So today I decided to make a few comprehensive shopping lists for common setups that include everything from nutrients to grow lights to rope ratchets. I’ll even tell you what yields, electricity cost and cost/ounce to expect with each setup.

If you don’t want to have to figure out exactly what to buy to start growing, this article is for you! I will break down what to expect based on your space limits and desired yields, so you can get the exact perfect setup for your situation.

I need more/different help! Take me to the 10-Step Quick Start Grow Guide

A nugget of potent marijuana bud resting on a table.

 

 

Don’t Forget to Budget Money for Growing Medium and Plant Containers!

Remember to consider the growing medium (not included in totals). Here’s my very general estimate for 1-2 plants (you will need more to grow more plants). So consider you will need to spend an extra $30-125 for your growing medium + the cost of your container.

Choose One:

Compare different growing mediums for growing cannabis

 

 

Learn the basics of growing cannabis!

An assortment of cannabis buds in hand - you can use these growing marijuana shopping lists to grow your own handful of buds!

 

Jump to…

10-Step Quick Start Guide to Growing

How Long Does it Take to Grow Cannabis?

Where do I get seeds?

Check These 7 Things & Cure 99% of Marijuana Growing Problems

 

 

The post Complete Cannabis Grower’s Shopping List Examples appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

]]> 5 Secrets to Controlling Heat Indoors https://www.growweedeasy.com/5-secrets-cannabis-heat-control Sat, 09 Apr 2016 03:58:38 +0000 https://www.growweedeasy.com/newsletter_issue/5-secrets-to-controlling-heat-indoors/ by Nebula Haze

Table of Contents

  1. Supplements That Protect Against Heat Damage
  2. Environment Hacks
  3. Optimize Your Grow Lights
  4. Change Your Light Schedule
  5. Heat Resistant Strains

 

The post 5 Secrets to Controlling Heat Indoors appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

]]> by Nebula Haze

Table of Contents

  1. Supplements That Protect Against Heat Damage
  2. Environment Hacks
  3. Optimize Your Grow Light
  4. Change Your Light Schedule
  5. Heat Resistant Strains

 

Are your indoor cannabis plants stressed out by the heat? Controlling heat in the grow room is one aspect of growing marijuana indoors that can be difficult for many of us growers. Grow lights provide our plants with lots of life-giving light, but they also get hot, and big grow lights (even some LEDs) can raise the temperature of a room by several degrees.

Quick Heat Stress Tip: Of course, the best thing you can do is control the heat. But if that’s not possible, sea kelp extract can help cannabis plants deal with heat and quickly recover from heat stress (use at 1 tsp/gallon).

Effective cannabis heat stress supplement - Bloom City sea kelp liquid extract

Each cannabis strain is a little different and some plants can handle hotter temperatures than others, but most plants start suffering from heat stress when their temperature gets over 85°F / 30°C.

Temperatures above 85°F / 30°C often causes problems, but if it’s not too severe plants may still grow slowly.

A little heat will cause some problems like leaf tacoing and discoloration, like you can see with this heat-stressed marijuana seedling

Some sensitive cannabis strains from cold climates (most often the short, squat, Indica strains with huge leaves) may start showing heat stress if the temperature rises above 80°F / 27°C. To avoid heat stress, you must keep your grow space below a particular plant’s comfort threshold.

Too much heat, especially over time, can greatly harm or even kill your cannabis plants.

The heat burn on this plant appeared overnight after a really hot day

But it’s not just plant growth that benefits from ideal temperatures. Controlling the temperature in the flowering stage has immense benefits to bud quality.

Buds that develop in a good environment reward you with increased density, terpene levels, and overall THC levels/potency.

Mint Jelly Auto buds with excellent bud quality from proper temperatures

On the flip side, too much heat harms bud development in the flowering stage by burning off smell/potency, discoloring buds, and causing buds to grow loose or airy.

Developing in heat can make buds look “ugly”.

Heat or light stress can cause a plant to keep making new growth on the parts of the buds that are closest to the light. When you see these top-heavy oddly-shaped “fist” buds, it’s usually the result of heat and/or light stress.

Example of heat and light stress - the extensive new growth at the top of the bud is caused by the grow light being too close!

What can you do to protect your cannabis plants from heat damage?

This tutorial will teach you tactics that you can use to control temperature and fix heat problems to produce a plant paradise. You also get tips to help your cannabis plants thrive even if the grow space is getting too hot.

This tutorial shows you how to deal with heat so you grow healthy plants with beautiful potent top-shelf buds.

 

1.) Supplements That Protect Against Heat Damage

Some supplements can help protect your cannabis plants so they are more resistant and/or recover more quickly from heat stress.

Certain plant supplements can help cannabis survive the heat.

This "Blue Velvet" strain marijuana plant was grown in an air pot - check out those big cannabis yields!

However, many different companies offer supplements and it can be confusing to decide which one, if any, is best for your cannabis garden.

Use supplements to help protect cannabis plants from heat damage.

This plant is getting spots and other discoloration of the leaves because it's in too-hot conditions.

Seaweed Kelp Extract

One of the best inoculants against heat stress is a surprising gift from the ocean; seaweed! As a bonus it contains small amounts of trace nutrients and minerals. Many different nutrient companies use seaweed kelp extract as part of their supplement lineup, which means you have a lot of choices to choose from if you want to incorporate seaweed into your grow.

A few companies offer seaweed extract by itself, like organic Bloom City Liquid Seaweed. Liquid Kelp is a lovely choice for those growing outdoors or in super soil as they contribute to a healthy soil web matrix. Suitable for soil growers who want to avoid using mineral-based nutrients, but can also be used in coco or hydro (just make sure it doesn’t clog any nozzles).

Pure sea kelp extract is a great organic heat stress supplement. Use at 1 tsp/gallon.

Effective cannabis heat stress supplement - Bloom City sea kelp liquid extract

If your nutrient company doesn’t offer a specific Sea Kelp product, you can almost always find sea kelp extract as an ingredient in one or many of their supplements. For example, General Hydroponics has a great all-in-one supplement called Floralicious Plus that contains several ingredients that work together to not only protect your plant against heat with seaweed extract, but can help it to produce better in other situations, too.

Or if you’re growing with Fox Farms nutrients, their Kelp Me Kelp You supplement not only has seaweed but also other ingredients that can make cannabis plants more hardy. So a great marijuana supplement for heat stress.

When starting out with supplements, it’s often best to start with something that matches your base nutrients and has sea kelp extract as an ingredient, like Floralicious Plus by General Hydroponics.

Floralicous Plus by General Hydroponics

Silica Supplement

Supplementing your plants with extra silica (listed on the label of supplements as Potassium silicate) is not usually needed for healthy plant growth. There is almost always some amount of silica available, and plants don’t need a whole lot of silica to survive.

That means if your plants aren’t stricken with a (super rare) silica deficiency and are living in a great environment, adding extra silica might not give you tangible benefits. However, if your cannabis plants are under specific types of stress or are generally living in adverse conditions, extra silica can make life easier for your plant.

Silica (listed as Potassium silicate ) helps make plants more resistant to heat. Examples: General Hydroponics Armor Si and Dyna-Gro Pro-Tekt. It’s especially helpful to give extra Silica while your plants are still growing stems and leaves, as the silica gets incorporated into the cell walls.

The most popular silica supplement for marijuana plants may be Bloom City Silica Boost. (Use at 1 tsp/gallon, stop several weeks before harvest)

Most popular heat stress silica supplement for marijuana plants may be Bloom City Silica Blast

Plant roots with access to silica (Si) happily drink it up and the silica gets incorporated into plant cells, increasing the strength of individual cell walls. These “armored” cells help improve the hardiness, vigor, and structure of the plant. Kind of like sending your plants to the gym.

Benefits of Silica Supplements

  • Plants supplemented with silica are generally more resistant to heat or cold stress as well as some types of disease.
  • Silica increases the microscopic “abrasiveness” of leaves, which can act as a deterrent to pests and herbivores (like deer). In fact, if you’ve ever been given a paper cut by a piece of grass, you can thank silica for making those “sharp” edges.
  • Silica helps plants get the nutrients they need. Silica is effective at making phosphorus more available to the plant, which can be helpful in the flowering stage when the plant is going through phosphorus at a much higher rate due to the process of making buds.
  • Silica can also help the plant roots better absorb micronutrients (including boron, copper, iron, manganese and zinc) while making it harder for the plant to absorb certain toxic substances like aluminum and salt/sodium.

So again, silica won’t magically increase your plant growth, but it can help make up for some problems with the environment. Because of this, nearly all professional nutrient companies carry a quality silica supplement as part of their lineup.

I like Armor Si by General Hydroponics, but again that’s because they make my base nutrients. There is a silica supplement available from almost every major nutrient company out there and you’re least likely to run into problems if you go with the company that matches your nutrients.

Armor Si by General Hydroponics is an excellent silica supplement, especially if the rest of your nutrients are from General Hydroponics.

Armor Si is one of the best silica supplements to help protect cannabis against heat stress

Note: Silica supplements (or more specifically, their main ingredient Potassium silicate) will raise the pH of your water, so you may need to use a little bit extra PH Down. Learn more about pH.

Try to get supplements and nutrients from the same company

For the most part, there is no best supplement for heat (or anything really). A lot of different supplements will get you to the same place in the end. Because of that, when possible it’s a good idea to choose supplements made by the same company as your nutrients instead of trying to find the “best” supplement.

This is because during the process of creating a complete nutrient lineup, nutrient companies specifically test their supplements to make sure they work together with the nutrients in their lineup nutrients without causing lockout or other unexpected problems.

So if you’re using the General Hydroponics Flora Trio nutrients, for example, it’s much safer for your plants to add supplements by General Hydroponics if possible. If you were using Botanicare nutrients you’d look at the supplements that Botanicare carries, etc. Learn about different types of nutrients for growing cannabis.

 

2.) Environment Hacks

Use Fan Placement to Reduce Electricity & Bring Down Temps

Air conditioners can easily control the heat in any room but they use a lot of electricity, which can get expensive really fast.

An AC gets expensive fast! Strategic use of fans can help.

Air circulation makes for happy cannabis plants.

Unfortunately, a lot of growers are using an AC (or just dealing with too much heat) when they could actually reconfigure their fans to be able to maintain the right temps without needing an AC at all.

Proper fan placement can also help save costs because if you use fans more effectively you can use less of them. A lot of fans can use a surprising amount of energy that can really add up over time. That means you don’t want to fill your grow space with tons of fans if you don’t need to.

Being smart about fan placement and investing in electrically efficient fans can save you a lot of money. 

Exhaust Fans

The most effective way to control heat is to use an exhaust fan to vent hot air out of the grow space. Make sure your exhaust fan is set up to make sure you have the most cooling power.

An exhaust fan vents heat out the grow space and away from plants.

HLG 350 LED grow light with carbon filter and exhaust fan - GrowWeedEasy.com cannabis grow journal

Here are some tips:

  • Grow space is mostly sealed – Your grow space should be mostly sealed for an effective exhaust system, with just ports for air to come in near the bottom of the grow space, and a port for your exhaust fan to blow air out from near the top of the grow space. I highly recommend getting a grow tent for smaller grows to make this super cheap and easy. A grow tent with a strong exhaust fan creates a breezy plant environment that may not even need many other fans. As an added bonus, a grow tent makes it easy to control smells with a carbon filter so no one can smell your plants even in the same room.
  • Strong exhaust fan – Your exhaust fan should be strong enough for the size of your space or tent. Avoid cheap ducting fans as they don’t move enough air to cool your grow light. Learn more about choosing the right exhaust fan.
  • Vent air from top of grow space – Heat rises to the top of your grow tent/area, so make sure your exhaust fan is located at the top of the tent pointing out.
  • Intake holes – You want holes to intake air, about 4x the size of your exhaust hole if possible. When the intake hole is too small it’s hard on your fan, the exhaust won’t be able to vent as much hot air. With grow tents, the intake ports are already built-in so you just leave them open so air can get through.
  • Input fresh, cool air – The intake hole should have direct access to cool, fresh air. The inside of the grow space is always going to be at least a few degrees above the temperature of the intake air, so if the intake air isn’t cool the grow space will be even hotter. Cool air stays lower to the ground, so make sure your intake ports are as close to the floor as possible.

Learn more about setting up exhaust system.

Exhaust fan – Just hang an exhaust fan (pointed out) from inside the grow tent. Dong this one thing is surprisingly effective at venting hot, humid air out of the grow space. This also brings in fresh air from the room.

Hang an exhaust fan from the inside of the cannabis tent to reduce noise and vent heat.

Connect your exhaust fan to a carbon filter to also filter smells.

The most effective way to control heat is to use an exhaust fan to vent hot air out of the grow space. Make sure your exhaust fan is set up to make sure you have the most cooling power.

Ducting

Keep all ducting as straight and short as possible. You want a short direct line to the window so that hot air is immediately vented outside. Try to avoid using anything in the window that restricts airflow. Though it’s often necessary to use some type of screen to make sure no one can see in, try to do the best you can to obstruct airflow as little as possible. How can I set up an exhaust that looks normal from outside?

Try to keep any ducting as short and straight as possible.

Example of a cannabis exhaust system with an exhaust fan and ducting to vent heat out a window

Window Fan

It may seem simple, but a window fan can be surprisingly effective at venting some of the heat if the grow light is raising the overall temperature of your room. In some cases, a window fan can cool your room by several degrees, which can help keep your plants cool. I sometimes call this a “No-Ducting Exhaust” but honestly it’s more like a ‘poor man’s exhaust’ if this is the only thing you’re doing to vent out heat. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t help,

If grow lights are raising the temperature of your room, a window fan may help vent heat and cool the room down by a few degrees.

Get a window fan on Amazon.com to help control the heat in your room!

In order for a window fan to cool a room most effectively, there needs to be some sort of “intake” for cool air to get in. It’s like a bigger version of an exhaust system. A separate open window in the same room is perfect if it’s cooler outdoors. An open door in the room can also help the window fan blow out more air.

Although blowing air out is often the most effective, if the outside air is really cool sometimes it helps to blow air in. Experimentation is good.

Blowing air out is usually most effective (though not always).

A classy window fan exhausting heat doesn't look too suspicious and can help with temperatures in a cannabis grow room

Clip-On Fans

Small fans help ensure there is a gentle breeze around your plants and buds. This helps plants grow faster, helps buds develop more dense/tight, and reduces the chance of issues like white powdery mildew or bud rot.

Some specialty clip-on-fans are designed specifically to attach to the poles of a grow tent.

Cannabis airflow can be improved by a clip-on fan. This one comes with a way to attach directly to the poles of a grow tent.

These small oscillating fans clip to the bars of your grow tent.

Added a small oscillating small fan in the grow space for better air flow and air circulation

Oscillating Fans

Oscillating fans are perfect for reducing “hot spots” that form in the grow space. Certain grow lights can cause major hot spots. If it’s most hot directly under the light, using fans to blow that heat away from your plants can make a huge difference in how much heat they experience.

In addition to oscillating fans, using a strong-enough exhaust fan with a big intake hole helps keep everything moving so hot spots don’t form. In fact, a smallish grow tent with a good exhaust fan may not even need extra fans because the exhaust fan itself will make the entire tent breezy.

Just be aware that adding oscillating fans doesn’t bring down the overall temperature in the tent. Fans only move air around. So if the entire grow space is already hot, adding more fans isn’t going to help.

Learn more about how to effectively set up oscillating fans in the grow room.

You can use small fans in the grow space to help break up any "hot spots" under the light

 

Choose Soil or Coco (Hand-Watered Grow) Over DWC/Hydro

Growing cannabis hydroponically can give you some of the fastest growth rates of any style of growing, but as mentioned earlier, hydro does not really play well with hot temperatures because too much heat tends to trigger root problems and slower growth.

We talked about supplements that help prevent root rot for hydroponic plants, but the next step is to cut out the water reservoir altogether and go for a hand-watered grow. That’s because hand-watered plants are inherently much more resistant to high temperatures. Not only are the roots relatively safe from the heat (unlike in hydro) but the growing medium can hold a lot of oxygen no matter what the temperature (a lack of oxygen at the roots causes major problems in hydro).

Plants grown in containers or in the ground tend to be more resistant to heat compared to hydro.

These plants are grown in soil, which is more resistant to heat in general than when growing cannabis in hydro

Soil in regular containers is probably the most common way to grow cannabis indoors, and that combo works great.

But when it comes to growing in hot temps, coco coir may be a better choice than soil. In particular, coco coir inherently has properties and hormones that encourage healthy root growth and promote hardiness against heat.

Soil is a good choice, but coco coir is even better when it comes to heat.

Use Bigger Pots

Cool roots makes plants more resistant to the heat, and having plants in a relatively bigger pot (at least 5-gallons) with lots of soil helps protect roots from heat vs growing plants in small 1 or 2-gallon pots.

5+ gallon pots may make more heat-resistant plants than smaller pots.

These vegetative cannabis plants are in 5-gallon pots.

Growing cannabis with coco coir in fabric pots is one of the best ways to grow if you want your plants to be able to resist the heat.

Keep Roots Cool

Your plant is much more resistant to heat if the roots don’t cook too, whether you’re growing in a pot or in a hydroponic reservoir. If you can find a way to help keep the roots around 70°F (21°C), your plant will suffer less and recover more quickly from a hot spell.

Watering your plant regularly when it’s hot will keep roots from drying out and help them stay cool. If the sides of the pots are getting hot from the grow light, put your potted plant inside a bigger pot (or find some other way to block the pot from direct light. This can help keep roots significantly cooler.

If the sides of pots are getting hot from the light, put the whole plant in a bigger pot to create an air gap and keep the roots out of direct light

Example of a cannabis plant in a pot, inside an even bigger container - to help keep marijuana roots cool!

 

Root Health Supplement (Essential for Hydroponic Growing in Heat)

Not only does heat bother your plants above ground, but the roots may also become diseased. When growing cannabis hydroponically (and to a lesser extent when growing in soil or coco) it’s very easy for your roots to start running into problems like root rot when the temperature starts getting too high.

Cannabis plants in hydroponic systems are prone to root rot if you don’t give them a root supplement. Especially if it’s hot!

Example of cannabis root rot - a common problem in hydro / DWC, but actually pretty straightforward to fix!Full Tutorial – How to Get Rid of Root Rot

The types of microorganisms that attack roots thrive in hot, wet conditions without much oxygen. Unfortunately, in hydroponics your water can’t hold as much dissolved oxygen when it’s hot, and dissolved oxygen is one of the best ways to fight off root disease.

So it’s sort of a double-whammy for plants grown hydroponically when it gets too hot in the grow room: they’re getting less oxygen AND becoming more vulnerable to root rot.

Besides using an air pump with large air stones to create lots of bubbles in your reservoir (learn more about growing cannabis hydroponically), the best thing you can do to keep roots healthy is control the heat.

Unfortunately, as you know, controlling the heat is often easier said than done.

There are some products that are made up of beneficial bacteria and other microorganisms that specifically fight root rot. These work by out-competing the bad microorganisms in your water reservoir and populating your reservoir with friendly ones that actually help your roots.

Drooping is often the first sign your plants are suffering from root rot

These two cannabis plants are wilty / drooping because they have root rot. Root rot can cause all sorts or problems and most commonly attacks your plants when it's too hot in the grow room.

Plants with root rot may also start getting what looks like various nutrient deficiencies, but the true cause is actually the unhealthy roots

A cannabis plant affected by root rot - leaves are turning brown, discolored, burnt white tips and edges, curlingA cannabis plant affected by root rot - leaves have spots, burnt yellow tips and edges, curling

 

My product of choice for fighting root rot is Hydroguard by Botanicare. Normally I only use nutrients and supplements by General Hydroponics but in my experience, this product has been the best for fighting root rot in DWC / hydro, so I use it specifically. I’m definitely not saying it’s the best root supplement out there, but it’s the best one I’ve ever used and I want to recommend something I know for sure will work. It doesn’t change the pH of the water, and it doesn’t interact with other supplements. I’ve seen it actually fight root rot directly, even when it’s hot, and I never go a grow without it.

I highly recommend Hydroguard as a root supplement for any hydroponic grower struggling with heat or root rot

Hydroguard by Botanicare is a Bacillus based root rot prevention supplement that works well to prevent root rot in a hydroponic cannabis reservoirs

I’ll be honest, I grow hydroponically in San Diego, and my grow room is too hot during the summer. I used to suffer from root rot but as long as I use 1 teaspoon per gallon of this supplement in my reservoir, I see white, healthy roots even in the heat.

I realize this isn’t a direct method to combat heat; rather, it’s a way to help deal with the consequences of too-high heat when it can’t be controlled. It’s best to control the heat in your grow area, but if that’s impossible Hydroguard will help keep your roots healthy in DWC / Hydro! It’s cheap and a little bit goes a long way. A 1-quart bottle will last you more than one grow!

 

 

3.) Optimize Your Grow Light 

There are several ways you can optimize your grow lights, up to and including upgrading to better ones.

Get the Right Size Grow Light (a smaller grow light doesn’t necessarily mean lower yields!)

Grow lights that are optimized for your size grow space tend to reduce problems with heat. Too much heat hurts yields by making plants grow poorly. On top of that, too much light (light stress) can prevent buds from fattening and make plants more sensitive to heat.  That means having the right size light for your space will help prevent the space from overheating. When buying a grow light, many manufacturers list which size space the particular grow light is optimized for (aka 2’x4′ or 4’x4′). Try to match the right size grow light to your space.

In some cases, getting a smaller light can actually increase yields, especially if the heat is out of control with your current light.

If you’re struggling with heat and plants are constantly heat stressed, consider stepping down the light. These plants grew better after the grower turned down the power.

A cannabis flowering room - multiple LED grow lights making too much heat

These plants were also getting way too hot. The grower started getting better yields when they took one of the LED panels out of the space.

Two Mars Hydro and one Spider Farmer LED grow light in one cannabis grow space, by Mental24

Side note: I’ve found that older and “blurple” colored LED lights tend to put out far more heat than modern LED panels. Buds also don’t fatten as well under them.

Avoid blurple LEDs for growing weed!

Two Kind LED grow lights in the tent with the plants

Use an LED Grow Light

When it comes to heat control, LEDs are hands-down the best cannabis grow light. As of 2026, multiple newer LED grow lights have proven to be incredible at growing cannabis. These modern LEDs have been developed using real cannabis plants and live up to the LED hype, producing amazing yields and beautiful bud quality.

In my experience, nearly all newer LEDs run cooler per watt than other grow lights like HPS, or CMH/LEC.

On top of the fact that LEDs produce less heat compared to other lights, cannabis plants under LEDs typically can stand higher temperatures. So LEDs give you a light that puts off less heat and plants that can stand more heat. If heat is a concern, you want to go with LEDs.

Note: LEDs perform poorly in the cold. If you deal with cold in the grow space, HPS or CMH/LEC may be a better choice since they produce more heat and plants can stand cooler temperatures under them.

There are a lot of LEDs to choose from and the sheer number of options can be overwhelming. If you’re interested in getting your first LED and aren’t sure which one to get, Spider Farmer brand LEDs are a good mix of quality and price. They get a good rate of growth in the vegetative stage and better yields/bud quality than many LEDs in the same price range. I recommend avoiding generic LEDs (like you would buy from Alibaba) because they usually get hotter than expected for the wattage and often produce poor yields or bud quality.

The Spider Farmer SF-2000 LED grow light uses 200W of electricity and produces relatively little heat.

In my most recent grow, the Spider Farmer SF-2000 produced over 10 oz in a 2’x4′ grow tent, or over 1.5 grams/watt. The plants grew quickly and well. I got the buds lab tested and it produced more terpenes and THC than the other LEDs I tested at the same time. A great choice for under $200.

My friend used the Spider Farmer SF-1000 (100W and costs under $100) in a 2’x2′ grow tent and produced several ounces. This light can be kept 8″ (20 cm) away or even closer for some plants, which makes it effective for small spaces.

Learn about other popular LED companies for growing cannabis.

Reduce Power

Many LEDs and other types of grow lights are “dimmable” which means they have different power settings that allow you to reduce the power of your light. For example, you might be able to set your grow light to 75% or 50% power. In these modes, your grow light will use less power and give off less light/heat. If there’s a heat wave coming up, it might be helpful to turn down the power until things cool down.

A dimmable ballast allows you to turn down the power on your grow lights

Raise Grow Lights

Raising your lights tends to help bring down the temperature experienced by the plants, especially with big fluorescent lights, CMH/LEC, and MH/HPS grow lights. Getting a lot of light can make plants more likely to suffer from heat, so another bonus of moving your lights further away can help them be more heat-resistant.

Note: If I need to raise my grow light higher than the normal hanger allows, I use zip ties to attach the grow light to the top of the tent. However, make sure to leave at least a little air gap so you don’t have a hot lamp touching the top surface of the tent directly (this can be a fire hazard).

Raise grow lights (if possible) when the plants are getting too hot to help reduce the heat they experience and especially reduce heat on developing buds. Sometimes a few inches can make a difference.

Learn more about how far away to keep grow lights from your plants.

 

4.) Change Your Light Schedule

Opt for 18/6 Light Schedule in the Vegetative Stage

Many growers give their plants 24 hours of light a day in the vegetative stage to produce the fastest growth. Yet turning the grow light off for several hours each day helps keep the temperature down, especially if lights go off during the hottest part of the day. The 18/6 light schedule is suitable for all plants in the vegetative stage, and for auto-flowering strains from seed to harvest.

Plug your grow light in an electrical timer to control the light schedule

Get an electrical timer to set your grow lights on a schedule

Side Note: Although plants do grow faster if they’re getting 24 hours of light a day, you get diminishing returns after 18 hours of light a day. Cannabis plants benefit from having a night stage, and that helps make up for the lack of extra light. The difference in growth between 18/6 and 24/0 isn’t very noticeable (the increase in growth may not justify the extra electricity and heat).

Learn more about cannabis light schedules here.

Set Your Dark Period for the Hottest Part of the Day

This is a super simple solution to help control the heat for growers who get high temperatures in the middle of the day. User your timer to set your “Off” time to happen during the hottest hours of the day and you’re done. As long as you make sure plants don’t get light during their dark period, they won’t realize their “day” is during your night.

 

5.) Start with a Heat-Resistant Strain

Some strains are inherently more resistant to heat than others. For example, strains that originated from the equatorial region, including many Sativa and Haze strains, can resist much higher temperatures than strains that originated in colder regions, such as many Indica strains.

  • Tall strains with thin leaves tend to be relatively heat-resistant
  • Short, bushy strains with fat leaves tend to be more sensitive to heat
  • Check the strain description to see if it mentions anything about temperature

Here are some strains that are heat resistant, easy to grow, and produce great effects.

Photoperiod (Traditional) Strains

Acapulco Gold

  • Legendary strain
  • Buds produce smooth relaxing effects that are great for enjoying with friends
  • Overall easy-to-grow and resistant to heat and mold
  • Has a surprisingly short flowering stage (under 10 weeks) for a Sativa-dominant strain, and doesn’t get too tall
  • Can survive even if you mess up a little
  • Get Acapulco Gold from Seed Supreme (ships from USA)

Acapulco Gold is a legend in the heat! (grown by Vic)

This acapulco-gold cannabis plant can survive the heat.

Purple Thai

  • Thrives in higher heat and humidity than most strains
  • Grows tall and stretchy so you need to train the plant to reduce the height (or it may grow into your light)
  • Pretty potent at 22% THC but still more of a “head high” (it may even be suitable for day use for high-tolerance people)
  • Get Purple Thai from Seed Supreme

Purple Thai laughs in the face of heat!

Purple Thai feminized cannabis plants

Cake Bomb

  • Anecdotally, this strain can survive the heat and still produce outstanding bud quality.
  • Potent buds produce strong effects (a “brain melter”)
  • I think “cake” is a stretch, but buds have a lovely sweet smell
  • Get these Cake Bomb genetics.

Cake Bomb seeds can produce good bud quality even after experiencing burning hot temperatures during a heat wave.

Cake bomb buds come from heat-resistant cannabis seeds.

Sour Diesel

  • Withstands heat and light better than most strains I’ve grown
  • Strong fast plants that tend to be stretchy/tall (not the best choice for small spaces)
  • Buds are consistently potent and high quality
  • Takes 12 weeks in the flowering stage but rewards with huge yields
  • Get these Sour Diesel genetics.

Sour Diesel is the plant on the left. It produced over 9 ounces on one plant.

Example of two manifolded cannabis plants with many colas - training makes a huge difference to yields!

This bud from that Sour Diesel plant grew within 8″ (20cm) of a 600W grow light in the middle of a heatwave. The plant on the right suffered tons of damage despite being further away. On the other hand, the Sour Diesel buds came out huge and potent with a little heat foxtailing on top buds that were closest to the grow light.

Sour Diesel: speaks for itself!

 

Autoflower Strains

The Ruderalis hemp ancestor of all autoflower strains originated in the frigid cold climate of northern Siberia. These plant’s developed the auto-flowering trait so they could complete their whole life cycle during 2-month Arctic summer. Unlike photoperiod plants, these plants didn’t have the luxury to wait until the sun told them winter was coming. They had to complete their whole life as fast as possible. As a result of the cold climate of their ancestors, autoflower strains tend to be sensitive to heat. However, some breeders have bred out the trait by crossing with heat-tolerant strains. The following is an example of a heat-resistant autoflower strain that also produces great buds.

Sour Diesel Auto

  • Plants can get a bit tall, but usually not too bad since it’s an autoflower strain
  • Excellent “day” buds with a pleasant mental buzz
  • Get Sour Diesel Auto from Seed Supreme (ships from USA)

Get Sour Diesel Auto for your garden!

Amnesia Kush auto bud closeup cannabis grown under LEDs

Auto Blackberry Kush

  • Beginner-friendly
  • Resistant to heat as well as plant stress in general
  • Delicious fruity smell
  • “Body stone” that keeps you glued to the couch
  • Get these Auto Blackberry Kush genetics.

An Auto Blackberry Kush plant in a DIY setup

Blackberry Kush marijuana plant in the flowering stage

Dos Si Dos Auto

  • Easy to grow (can handle some mistakes)
  • Smooth, relaxing effects
  • Above-average yields
  • Buds smell of citrus with hints of cake or cookies
  • Get these Dos Si Dos Auto genetics

Dos Si Dos auto by Barney’s Farm is known for its yields, bud quality, and fast growth.

Example of "Planet of the Grapes Auto" by Ethos Genetics. This strain produce excellent growth, buds appearance, and potency. Highly recommended!

 

If you have experience with a great heat-resistant cannabis strain, please contact us!

 

 

Most importantly, take extra good care of heat-stressed plants. Try to baby them as best you can!

 

 

Jump to…

Growing Cannabis with Super Soil

How to Use Coco Coir as a Growing Medium

Top-Fed DWC (Bubbleponics) Tutorial

How do I produce top-shelf buds every time?

Where can I get seeds?

 

 

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]]> Link Guide to Growing Cannabis Tutorials https://www.growweedeasy.com/link-guide-growing-cannabis Mon, 01 Feb 2016 03:08:57 +0000 https://www.growweedeasy.com/faq/link-guide-to-growing-cannabis-tutorials/ ...lights Environment Create the Perfect Growing Environment Temperature Tutorial 5 Secrets to Heat Control Control Humidity for Better Buds How to Use Reflective Walls to Increase Yields Indoors How to...

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]]> by Nebula Haze

In addition to the search bar, this link guide helps you navigate through the Grow Weed Easy website. Learn about growing topics you won’t find anywhere else! This is a shortened list of all our cannabis growing tutorials, as the website has over 500 articles and tutorials!

Full List of EVERYTHING on GWE  ← Over 500 Articles & Growing Tutorials!

Start Here – Beginner Grow Guides

Cannabis Life Stages

Choosing…

Common New Grower Topics

Problems & Symptoms

Plant Training (Indoor Tricks for Bigger Yields)

Grow Mediums

Nutrients

Grow Lights

Best LED Grow Light Articles

Environment

Plant Care Tutorials

How to Improve…

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Recommended Strains

Auto-Flowering Strains

Edibles

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And Lots More!

Safety & Preparation

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Submit Pics

Want More?

 

 

Thanks for visiting! We hope our website helps you find the growing tutorials you were looking for. We’ve written hundreds of growing marijuana articles and unfortunately we can’t fit them all on this page, so we encourage you to use the search bar on the right side (or top of the page for mobile users) to search for articles you don’t see here.

Happy growing!
Nebula & Sirius

 

 

Use this "Navigation" page to find the pot growing topic you're interested in!

Use this “Navigation” page to find the pot growing topic you’re interested in, or click here to see every single page on the website!

A young, cute cannabis seedling that has just germinated. It has its whole life ahead of it!

 

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]]> CFL Grow Light Upgrade Guide https://www.growweedeasy.com/cfl-upgrade-guide Sat, 26 Apr 2014 23:14:42 +0000 https://www.growweedeasy.com/faq/cfl-grow-light-upgrade-guide/ by Nebula Haze

Growing cannabis with CFL grow lights? Got a very short grow space?

CFLs are one of the only choices for growers with a very short, tiny grow space. If you have at least 2 feet of length and width, CFLs might not not be the best choice for you. Learn more about the strengths and weaknesses for different types of grow lights.

The post CFL Grow Light Upgrade Guide appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

]]> by Nebula Haze

Growing cannabis with CFL grow lights? Got a very short grow space?

CFLs are one of the only choices for growers with a very short, tiny grow space. If you have at least 2 feet of length and width, CFLs might not not be the best choice for you. Learn more about the strengths and weaknesses for different types of grow lights.

If you’ve got less than 250W of CFLs (CFLs are perfect if you’re growing in a very short space) you can upgrade your CFL grow (without changing the electricity bill) by getting more bulbs. Let me explain…

Watt for Watt…
Small CFL Bulbs > Big CFL Bulbs

Growing Cannabis with CFLs – What Growers Need to Know

With CFLs, more small bulbs will work better than fewer big bulbs. So if you have some big CFL bulbs, a great way to upgrade is to get the same total wattage with smaller bulbs.

The light from CFLs is only “good” for the plant at short distances (under 10 inches), so to maximize your CFL grow, you want to get even light coverage over the entire surface of your plant. Basically you want the entire plant bathed in light with no dark or shadowy spots. This can only happen with many CFL bulbs, since each individual bulb has a limited range.

Picture of my first grow with CFLs

Example: Let’s say you already have 2 x 100W CFLs (a total of 200W). In this case, you can upgrade by switching to 9 x 23W CFLs (a total of 207W). You can improve your yields this way significantly, and it won’t make a noticeable difference on your electric bill.

Remember that you need to get a light socket to plug in each bulb! In the above example, you would need to get seven extra light sockets (since you already have two for the first two bulbs). With nine points of light instead of just two, you will be able to more evenly cover all the parts of your plant with light.

Once you’ve got 250W (or more) of CFLs, most growers will want to upgrade to a more efficient type of light as opposed to adding more CFLs. The only reason you should stick with CFLs at this point is if you have a very short grow space, and can’t accommodate the bigger height required by more powerful grow lights.

Example of a great CFL setup for growing cannabis plants by grower iskraiskra

For example, if you have 250W worth of CFLs, you will dramatically increase your yields by switching to a 250W (or bigger) HPS. If you keep the same total number of watts, an HID will not give off any more heat than the setup you have now, but will come with additional cooling options. Learn more about CFLs vs MH/HPS grow lights.

 

 

Jump to…

$300 CFL Grow Light Tutorial

 

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