CFL buds

[Smokemupm8]

Hi mate, If you use CFL's.. Get 6500k's for Vegging, theyre warm white or daylight, These are fine for veg i use them myself. Then for flower youll need the soft white or 2500k's. You should be able to see on the packeage how many K's they are ( kelvins) its the measurement for light - So if youre just starting a plant, it will grow slower under the 2500 K's than the 6500k's ok?? Goodluck mate, Smokemup..

 

[sfw88]

your plants will do fine as is , My first grow,I had 9 lights ,but they were all 2700K ,both soft and cool white,,and left em in the whole grow ,All I did was change from18 hrs to 12 hrs after 8 weeks I was just learn'n indoor stuff , but I grew ,Nirvana's "super scunk" ,and here is a proof pic.

You always learn ,and improve your grow area , as ya grow new plants

 

[snugglefunked]

Gonna throw some science stuff in here because that's what Cave Johnson would do...

Anyways, fluorescent phosphors are fluorescent phosphors. Doesn't matter if it's a T5, or T8, or a fatty T12 or a CFL. Doesn't matter.....almost identical spectrum per kelvin temp and CRI category.

There are two types of CFL's; spiral, and linear. The spiral ones are the most common ones referred to as CFL while the linear dudes are most often used for commercial applications.

The biggest problem with spiral CFLs (besides the cheap ballast that often catches on fire when it gets hot ) is because of the spiral shape a significant part of the light emitted hits the inside of the spiral and is wasted. That's why the things have problems getting above 50lumens per watt or so. So, it's not a matter of them being able to grow stuff, but how many more do you need to keep up with T5 H0, which you can find 4x48" for less than $100 now. The T5 rig is going to throw about 30% more light per watt out the front -vs- just wasting it. Plus, the better ballasts are going to rapidly increase the lifespan of the bulbs.

However, one thing you can do with a big nasty CFL is you can hang it on the end of a drop extension cord like some of the pics above and use it for excellent distribution on the sides or between plants. This is expensive to do with T5, but fills in nicely with CFL. Save the tin foil for our helmets.

spectrum may be identical, but flash rate is different. Long t4's have a lower flash rate than cfl's. This makes a HUGE difference in my experience, which is why t4 plants tend to be more stretchy than cfl plants. I personally LOVE cfl's. But bud density, I've found, depends largely on strain. Of the plants I had, the buds that were more on the indica side tended to be quite dense, comparable to density of HPS grown buds. However, some of my plants, like Sour D and Trainwreck tended to be kinda airy. I've noticed a slight difference in potency between CFL-grown indicas and straight HPS-grown buds as well. Personally, I find CFL-grown bud to be, in general, more potent, which is why I now swear by flowering under HPS, boosted by CFL. Of the plants I last had, NL5, NL, DJ Short's Blueberry, and Pineapple Thai did fantastically under pure CFLs. People often say that DJ Short's Blueberry is great, but not as potent as other buds. However, one small nug in a bowl between 8 people in Cali had everyone wandering around the campgrounds, stating that they'd never smoked such potent weed before!

 

[snugglefunked]

I Just have a couple questions. I have 3 plants grwoing right now that are females and I have 2 65W bulbs and one 55W bulb. The plants are about 2 and a half weeks into flowering. My concern here is that the two 65's are 'Soft White' and the 55W bulb is a 'Cool White'. How will this affect my grow and is that enough wattage (185W) for three plants?
Oh, and they do look very good right now and seem to be on the right track. Very strong stems and great leaves. The area is well ventilated.

Personally, I'd get more lights. But that's the beauty of CFL ops... you can start small and cheap, and gradually buy more bulbs and work your way up!

 

[kandysman]

The ones I saw were at Home Depot for around 17 bucks. I hope you have good air exchange in your tent because CFLs get hot.

Good Luck I hope I get to see some pics

Thanks for the post

I disagree with the hot comment,my 55w cfl can be held in my hand fully warmed up without much discomfort, try that with ANY other bulb.

 

[sfw88]

I disagree with the hot comment,my 55w cfl can be held in my hand fully warmed up without much discomfort, try that with ANY other bulb.

I disagree totally in my tent I have 5 ,.55=300 watt cfls and with just a small fan circulating air its only 80 F.

 

[sfw88]

nh

 

[snugglefunked]

I'd recommend getting some more lights, man! In my closet that was about half the space, I had 8 64w and 6 42w cfl bulbs... It worked great for indica-dominant strains, but the sativas' buds were still a bit airy! Heat did become a minor issue for a little bit, but after adding a couple more fans, it was remedied. A single bulb doesn't get terribly hot, but with so many, with the built-in ballasts in the grow spot with the bulbs, it does heat up pretty good!

 

[HighDesertRat]

I started out growing with just CFLs. I decided to invest in a 1000 watt HPS system for my flowering room. I felt like I could get a bigger yield than with the CFLs. I do think the girls love the CFLs to veg in. They get bushy as fuck. But you gotta get that light close (I keep my CFL fixtures 6"-8" above canopy). You don't have to worry about burning the girls with the CFLs. One warning.....make sure your lights are secure. One of my fixtures dropped and broke several bulbs. The gas in the bulbs killed every plant in my grow-op. It took like 6 months to get back into my flowering rotation. My fixtures are very secure now. Anyways, here are some pics of some Urban Poison. I've got 4 plants in bubble ponics under T5 fixture and 12 plants in Aeroponics under 1000w HPS. All the plants were germinated at the same time. I'm gonna see which produces more, if anybody's interested let me know and I will post pics throughout flowering. These are 2nd week in.

HPS

CFL

 

[HighDesertRat]

By the way. You wont find the wattage bulbs you need at your local hardware store ie Lowe's, HomeD. I order all my CFLs online. The ones from Lowes and places like that are not made for growing. It takes too many too get the lumens you need.

 

[nothinbtgreen]

hey just wondering if you could check out my setup and let me know what you think! 100% new to growing ill take whatever help i can get

hers the link to the thread with my setup:

Need advice on light/grow setup! Help!

 

[kandysman]

U can get 55w 200w equivalent bulbs at wal-mart that "are not made for growing" and they produce nearly 5000 lumens apiece. And besides the lumens don't matter. That is a measurement of visible light to the human eye. It has nothing to do with the amount of p.a.r. Light that you produce. The point is you can fi d awesome bulbs at wal-mart that work wonderful. No need for ordering expensive specialty bulbs when they are pretty much the same thing. The have " grow tube " fluorescent lights that are horrible at growing plants. And that's what they are for. Just so ya know.

 

[nibec]

i agree. years ago i grew with 26 watt CFL's from walmart 300 some odd watts of them, and would get about 3-4 ounces in the end.

i love CFL grows... theyre just plain fun. Not the best yielding bulbs, but they can fit into some pretty small places and grow out some pretty awesome buds

 

[HighDesertRat]

Hey green, I am fairly new to growing too. 3 yrs. I started out with CFLs and continue to use them. I saw your setup. If you want my advice, get rid of the spiral bulbs and go with the linear bulbs. I used the spirals for a little while and found I get more direct lumens to my plants with the linear bulbs plus I ended up with spiral bulbs hanging all in the way and couldn't get the consistent lighting I wanted. I made a DIY T5 HO 6 bulb fixture, with bulbs and all I have about $100 invested. I did order some fixtures online. Greners.com has some nice fixtures for a reasonable price. I ordered both spectrum bulbs for my fixtures. I thought I could get more yield from HPS, so eventually I set up 1000w system in my flowering room. And you can see the difference in these photos. You can also flower with the blue bulbs but mix them with red bulbs. I use Fox Farm nutes. And y'all can say what you want about the Wal-Mart bulbs, I've tried both and I can definetly tell the difference. Yeah, you can use em if you wanna keep getting 3-4 oz yeilds.

1000W HPS with co2 setup

8 Bulb T5 HO

Just my little seedlings White Rhino x5, not shown Maui Waui x5, Royal Flush x5 under my DIY CFL T5 HO fixture

 

[HighDesertRat]

Also, I usually cover my rockwool so the algae doesn't grow. Algae won't hurt the girls, but it does eat up nutrients. So keep em covered.

 

[nibec]

lighting is all controversal. you'll never please anyone. same with seed companies, fem vs reg, auto vs not. nutrients, etc.

if you want to go HO, go HO, if you want to spend $20, and put some spirals in a speaker cabinet, go for it.

i personally enjoyed the spiral cfls, 3-4 ounces IMO is great off the 1 plant i would do at a time, expecially for CFL in a little ghetto setup. nothing fancy at all.

yes i could probably get better results out of the same wattage of HO cfls. BUT, my cab was too small for that.

in the end. it comes down to what YOU want.

in my opinion, given that space is no issue and heat is no issue etc, and you can dial everything in no matter what;

CFL spiral bulbs<HO<LED<HID

but again, everyones perspective is different, and everyones space, heat, stealth etc requirements are different, not to mention grow style. so just go with what suits you best

since those days i finally went HID, and i dont regret it one bit. but, alas i have the space for it now.

 

[HighDesertRat]

I totally agree nibec. I too am limited on space so I try to get the maximum bang for my little grow-op. It's mainly preference but I was trying to share what little experience I have. Fortunately, I have some long timer growing buddies who have been mentoring my dumb ass. Because left to my own devices I can fuck some plants up. Thanks and happy growing