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I was using a sodium light for a while but to no avail. My plant seemed to just not make it. I am positive it was because of the light.

I don't want to have to spend a lot of money, so what would anyone here reccommend?

Were you using low pressure sodium or high pressure??

Lighting is a key. Not THE key, thats something else... But you need (imho) either as much DIRECT sunlight (assuming plants in ground by May 1 at latest, I prefer mid-april if seedlings are used, sprouted in a wet paper towel or whatever.

Budget lighting is tough if you can not do free Sunlight... I would put this down as a requirement, it worked for me / works for me, but Im going up to 1000watt bulbs in a few weeks.

Assuming indoor growing, hence your need for light of artificial type. You need TWO kinds of lights, metal hallide and high pressure sodium. You can get a ballast which will let you use both (a ballast is a big, heavy thing which takes your household current and transforms it to a form usable by the high pressure lights. You can get a SunAgro 430watt HPS which kicks off more red light for when you are in the budding stage, and it is swappable with the same ballast and hood as the Metal Hallide as long as you make sure FIRST. 400 watt MH for growth, 430w SonAgro HPS for flowering.

You seem to indicate you had a problem. If you want to lay out what you used, the space, type of lighting, etc. As well as what you can spend, "not a lot" doesnt help much, not a lot for endless free pot on a first time investment in decent lighting and so on, maybe 600$ total, for a decent Ebb and Flow from Hydrofarm, with the 430/400 HPS/MH light bulbs with ballast and hood, and about 50$ in chemical fertilizer and ph balance, etc. You get a closet, and you got 6-8 DECENT sized plants budding 3x a year even if you cant remember your own name. Once you dial in a hydroponic system its easy as adding water with a teaspoon of this, half teaspoon of that, and occasionally draining your reservior so you dont get salt buildups.

Hope it helps - if you give more info in the question stage, its easier to answer with greater accuracy and also to help more effectively.

Id buy from a reputable INDOOR GROW STORE not from OSH or Home Depot or something. You CAN get a "sodium light" at Depot - prolly a 175 watt POS thinking you are saving money and just screwing yourself in the long run. Buy quality from the start - and enjoy it forever.
Gooster

i don't know why everyone is complaining about light prices? is this realy so expensive where you live? I payed like 20-25$ for 2 x 500W hallogen reflectors and plants grow like crazy.

You grow with a...Hallogen..bulb....? Wrong spectrum man...

Do you just mean reflectors? Cause that seems like a more realistic price, but if you're looking for a light, bulb, and ballast system you're gonna be spending at least $100.

I use GroLux and Ceramalux bulbs, both HPS, and as goo was saying getting a blue spectrum light is a good idea but not a necessity, especially if you have a low budget. You can go to the HPS as soon as you pop your seeds, infact I prefer it, i tried fleuro's when my Bogglegum were seedlings and it was much, much slower than the HPS ive always used in the past, those 6 plants are under a 400w HPS right now and as soon as i sex them will be moved to another room where they'll get 800w of the same spectrum. But enough rambling, CCR, i would recommend a 400w HPS, you could pick up a complete kit to get you started for probably $80-$100 US, my very first grow was with a 400 and im still using them now.

yes they are hallogen, and we grew 3 generations of plants on these and they were really good. The light bulb (not realy a bulb...looks like a stick) that is in the reflectors is intended for plant growing. When we bought these, there were "bulbs"(sticks...sorry don't know the english term for it) to buy separately and on the cover says its for plant growing and there's a plant graphic on it. I'll take a pic of the lightning today and post up so you can see what I'm talking about...don't know maybe this is wrong light but as I said 3 generations of very good buds were grown under these...

Halogen??!!

If ya got good yield from that, then you have no idea what good yield is!!

here is one of them...

yeah id get a real light ASAP

and how much for $ for a HPS bulb around 400W? I suppose it would be good combined with hallogen lights right?

just for the bulb? like $30 but the whole kit, bulb, ballast would be $100 minimum

I was at my local grow shpo just today and he sells 250 watt hps complete kit for $211.00 canadian, 400watt for $250 and 1000 watt for $275 Canadian funds.

It's a new shop that I had never been too before. All his lights were $90 bucks cheaper than from where I was going. Not the same brands, but hell who cares, it's fricking way cheaper! The bulbs are the same quality so thats whats most important.

wow that seems pretty steep still, but not too bad, the shops in Nelson are $140/400w kit, $180 for 1000w

*packs up and moves to BC

and how does the different spctrum affects the plant growth? Will it only grow faster with HPS lamp or does it affect it's quality/potency (too)?