LIGHTING YOUR CANNABIS CROP
IF YOU’VE EVER spoken to anyone about growing their own cannabis, the subject of lighting has come up. Chances are they said that they couldn’t get enough of it! It’s true, the more light you have per square foot, the more plant you will get—within reason.
The first order of business is to delve into lighting options. There are basically three common lighting options—fluorescent lighting, metal-halide lighting and high-pressure sodium lighting (the last two of which are commonly abbreviated as MH and HPS lighting). There are also two lighting options that are just starting to be used for hydroponics—the sulfur lamp and the magnetic-induction lamp. Each has its pros and cons, and you should be familiar with them.
The intensity of light is measured in lumens. Each type of lighting has different light-intensity values per watt of power, and in different spectrums (the color of the light that is produced). Here’s a brief breakdown of what each lighting option offers:
A fluorescent bulb at 40 watts will put out 3,000 lumens. Its light is pure white, with very little heat generated.
A metal-halide bulb at 400 watts will put out 36,000 lumens. Its light has a lot of blue to
