Hi, I am new to the whole grow scene so I have no idea of what I am doing.
Would a 2' 8 tube t5 unit be big enough for 4 small plants? I would flower them at about 10" so they stay small.
If I flower at 10" how tall would the plants get when ready to harvest? Maybe 24"?

the only way i would flower with that is if i flowered clones right after they rooted. its a good light but the penetration is less than an HID would be.

the reason i wouldnt flower at 10 inches is because there is a great chance the plant is not fully mature to throw into flower...resulting in a longer flowering time and a taller plant.
but thats my opinion, i have been interested in a t5 for a long time now, whatever you plan on doing, i would be interested in the results with the light.

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" knowledge is not power, knowledge is potential power"

"those who follow the herd step in SHIT"

Those t5's might be enough to veg with, or at least start to veg with, but I don't know how good those are for flowering. You need to think of about how many Lumens you want/need, and what color spectrum you want/need. Read this: El Cheapo Guide to Lighting

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Trainwreck - My first grow

Two Trainwreck's

The grow cabinet is small have no room for an hps or heat problems, don't want to use cfl's to many cords etc, want a nice clean set up 1 cord 1 light.
Grow room is 32"wx24"dx48"t Have to keep plants small due to space. Back to the original question if the plant is put into flower at 10" how tall will it be when it comes harvest time? (will be using 9" or 12" pots)

Get a 250 watt HPS hid with air-coolable reflector. Much better yield and about the same amount of heat as the T5. 2 cords (1 for the light, 1 for the fan)

As a VERY general rule of thumb, whatever the height of the plant is when you force flower... multiply that by 2.5 and thats the end height. For me thats been the case, in no way was that an official-scientific statement.

Don't have room for even a 250w hps due to the distance needed from the light to the plants plus the fixture so a t5 is the next best thing. So by flowering at 10" the plant would be harvested somewhere around 2' 6".
Thanks

no telling how big the plant will finish at

__________________
" knowledge is not power, knowledge is potential power"

"those who follow the herd step in SHIT"