CFL Light Tutorial

Tell them to hunt me or the Deep Water Culture.

I'd like to have seen your harvest.

I have a few photos.....but the true harvest was the experience. I would not have changed anything to have more weed at the expense of what I learned. Yes the Deep Water Culture are a noteworthy group.....focused on having a new grower experience success. This you have done with me. In the end.....every plant the recovered from the algae was finished in DWC.
 
Roseman.
I have only been through page one of this thread so far and I have to say that you really put a lot of work into it and it shows. Thanks.

I am myself a CFL fan. Not only is heat removal an issue, but so is an actual fire hazard. Anything can happen with electrical wiring and we cannot cover every detail, but a fire could be started with multiple CFLs. However, with HID anything it touches that is flammable could start a fire.

With the massive heat that is produced by HID a grow can be detected by thieves or others with inexpensive infrared (heat) detecting device.

I was sold a long time ago on the heat and energy savings, but what I really love is dangling my CFLS between plants to maximize bulb efficiency.

I couldn't have said it any better. I whole heartedly agree.

First, Welcome to 420, a wonderful site to learn about growing, legalization and education. This site is so full of great pics, Tutorials, and info, I find something new to learn everyday here. I'm very glad you joined us.

Sometimes G-Dog, I feel like I have to hide the fact I am a CFL grower. It is not a very popular position being a CFL grower. It is like a Cigar Smoker saying he gets more satisfaction from smoking than a pipe smoker or cigarette smoker gets. And Some people just love to argue. Its a silly debate or arguement in my opinion and a debate and arguement I will not participate in.
I'm very glad you found this thread helpful. Many experienced growers have added to it and it is a "joint effort".
I hope to see you around the forums often, and again, welcome to 420!
 
Light loses intensity very quickly with distance. In the law of radiation physics light is lost at a square of the distance. Again that is a law of physics that can be explained with a diagram shown on this wiki link
Inverse-square law - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The way that a CFL radiates light is generally omni-directional. So if a CFL is placed between plants it emits light in all directions from the bulb. That is better than emitting upwards into a reflector and then back through the bulb and into the plants.

In my design I do employ a sheet metal reflector with six CFLs but I also hang lights between plants. I also have a very tight closed in enclosure of reflective material to bounce as much light back into the plants as possible. I have white foam core under the plants to bounce light back up and I build a shroud of reflectors all around the plants to bounce light back into the plants. The key is to reuse as much light as possible in a low wattage light setup.

Still keep in mind that heat removal and safeties to prevent fire that are fail safe.
 
Agreed reps g-dog

RM all lights are good and for reasons each person chooses whether it be price, heat ect. If you get what you want from the plant nobody else should say squat about what you do.
 
Amen, you'd be the first I would come to if I was wanting to learn about LED Growing. I think that thread you did on the LED comparison grow was the most informative I ever followed. NOT JUST the LED light info, but especially the feeding and nutes part too.


Thanks, running that grow was quite an experience.

I'm gearing up right now for another comparison, this time between LED and HID.

Maybe I can run a CFL versus something else comparison in the future.

Something you guys can sink your teeth into ;)
 
Setting sun I am going to read your journal since I have only read pieced but what do you grow with now since you have used all the lights?
 
I have one more question but I will read and am sure it is explained just haven't read it in months. My mind wasn't ready to comprehend it. You did a grow competition between two different LED's? Was the competition fair since one was way more wattage then the other?
 
Setting sun I am going to read your journal since I have only read pieced but what do you grow with now since you have used all the lights?

Really good question, but I don't have enough experience and/or data yet to be able to answer it.

For instance, I haven't done a pure CFL grow yet, so I need to do a few more comparison grows before I could tell you what I would use for my personal grows after all is said and done.



I have one more question but I will read and am sure it is explained just haven't read it in months. My mind wasn't ready to comprehend it. You did a grow competition between two different LED's? Was the competition fair since one was way more wattage then the other?

The manufacturer of the lower-powered 126w light had a lot of confidence in their product and agreed to go head-to-head with the 180w light.

SS do a cfl vs led.

That would be an excellent comparison, and it would be easy to match up the wattage. I would love to do that one.

SettingSun, you should do a HID vs LED vs CFL grow!!! :thumb:

I would love to do that one even more, but in the interest of marital harmony, I probably should not set up a third tent ;).
 
Yes heat issues with the hid. CFL and LED no venting needed. That is why I thought it was a good compassion. I also have come to understand last night that in the long run LED comes out way cheaper since they last so long with no loss of lumens according to what I read. CFL's last two grows.
 
But there is also a factor of learning how to grow before investing big money and that is where cfl's have there place.

I stepped from cfl's to hid's with cfl augmentation and I'm open to led's but I want some proven tech with some of the research and development money out of the price I pay.
 
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