I've heard that ordering grow lights and having them shipped directly to your house isn't such a great idea, or should i just go ahead and get them?
If I were you I'd order and ask for "stealth" shipping. That means nothing on the package indicating what's inside or who it came from besides a return adress. Because the only person who could become suspicious are the mailman/UPS guy. But if you're really paranoid, have it stealth-shipped to a (non-growing) uncle or friend etc.
I never ordr ANYTHING for my room online!!! i buy evrything with cash at a local gardening store....not saying you will get caught but if u have a store near y take the risk, you would pay with a credit card, right?? just my 2 cents
Where I live we have plenty of harware and gardening stores....everywhere, but they have hardly anything for high tech growing. They do have some HPS bulbs...one time i found a 600W ballast. Inventory for fans, lights, filters, nutrients, etc is very pathetic so I had to resort to online stores where you can find anything you need. I wish i could find all this stuff in stores.....
I think the thing is to not buy too much equipment on the net at any one time, and not to get anything particularly large shipped. You can get a lot of what you need from hardware and garden stores without having to buy off grow shops on the net.
Now forgive my laziness cuz i haven't gone to find one.. but do big box stores like Home Depot or Lowes have grow lights, like HPS and MH ??? Im in an area with NO grow stores seriously.... there's like a few big box within 30 miles and thats it. I guess i could go on a 3 hour drive to somewhere larger....
By ToadMon: "Some of those security lights at HD and other places are perfect for this application." Will they work? Yes. Are they they perfect for this application? No. "Look for the HPS ones, same as what's used in orange street lights." Security lights and streetlights are "tweeked" to put out the maximum amount of lumens (what the human eye sees as "brightness"). HPS and Metal Halide lamps that are specifically made for growing are "tweeked" to put out more PAR light (Photosynthetically Active Radiation) - that's why they work better for growing. Plus most security lights are rather small 70-150 watts or so. "Some wiring may be required so only go this route if you know what you're doing." Like I said, they're not made specifically for growing. Yeah, they could work for a very small grow, or keeping a mother plant healthy; but there are better choices. You get what you pay for!
Any body heard of operation green merchant? If you have you will never order anything grow related to your spot, and only pay cash in grow stores. I drive an hour and a half to the closest hydro store, and I always borrow my (non-growing) dad's car to do it. Better safe then sorry.
insidesun.com best prices and lights and such me and my bro sent cash and got a HPS from him, pretty happy with it,