CFL vs HID?

art fog

New Member
Dose anyone find that CFLs can be just as effective as HIDs (metal halide and hps) for plant growth when room temperature is balanced? I am using cfls 100w & 60w and light quality at 3200 - 5000k for vegetative and 5000k - 6500k for flowering (which translates to 1- 100w 2- 30w per plant). I am just going into flowering but everything appears to be growing well, the room is cooler and less electricity. I want to keep things simple besides i'm getting close to the same lumens w/ less watts. In the end I want a productive plant. I was told that HID would give me a better /more productive plant but I am not sure that is the case. The lumens seem the same the biggest difference is temp. I hope some one can shed some light on the subject and explain this to me since I am a beginner at this. Thanks:reading420magazine:
 
Dose anyone find that CFLs can be just as effective as HIDs (metal halide and hps) for plant growth when room temperature is balanced? I am using cfls 100w & 60w and light quality at 3200 - 5000k for vegetative and 5000k - 6500k for flowering (which translates to 1- 100w 2- 30w per plant). I am just going into flowering but everything appears to be growing well, the room is cooler and less electricity. I want to keep things simple besides i'm getting close to the same lumens w/ less watts. In the end I want a productive plant. I was told that HID would give me a better /more productive plant but I am not sure that is the case. The lumens seem the same the biggest difference is temp. I hope some one can shed some light on the subject and explain this to me since I am a beginner at this. Thanks:reading420magazine:

I've read that HID will be better grow lights for your grow. I use HID but not cfl's so I can't really say what the difference is from experience.

I can tell you that if you cruise around the journals in progress you'll see many many great cfl grows.

I think if you're growing indoors in a small space, with cfl's you'll be great. Go 2700K for flower and 6500K for veg. Provide enough light and you'll grow great plants.

Search "dirtinmyears" for an awesome example of a diy fixture that rocks.

:Namaste:
 
CFL's are good, but HID is much better. Plants grow much faster and bushier and the buds get so much better. I've grown with both, flowered with both. I currently have a T5 for vegging which performs the same as CFL's. I wish I would have bought a 400w MH though. I used to veg under a 600w MH before going perpetual so I can really notice the slower growth difference with the T5. Average CFL's will put out 1000-2000 lumens. A 600w MH puts out around 50,000. Think of lumens as energy you're providing to the plant.
 
That link sure covered a lot of ground and new2grow thanks for that. Since I first asked the question "CFL vs HID?" I have picked up a lot of stuff.
Dose anyone find that CFLs can be just as effective as HIDs (metal halide and hps) for plant growth when room temperature is balanced? I am using cfls 100w & 60w and light quality at 3200 - 5000k for vegetative and 5000k - 6500k for flowering (which translates to 1- 100w 2- 30w per plant). I am just going into flowering but everything appears to be growing well, the room is cooler and less electricity. I want to keep things simple besides i'm getting close to the same lumens w/ less watts. In the end I want a productive plant. I was told that HID would give me a better /more productive plant but I am not sure that is the case. The lumens seem the same the biggest difference is temp. I hope some one can shed some light on the subject and explain this to me since I am a beginner at this. Thanks:reading420magazine:
CFLs are still a new thing that will probably yield more positive result in the future. I suppose the intensity of HID could simulate the Panamanians tropics better but the true answer is in the balance of products yield, time & expense of materials (electricity) and that is about to be answered since almost everyone I know are using either and/ or T5s. LEDs, & CFLs. Also a footnote is most of these growers i talked w/ are not interested in selling but for personal use and this also has an effect the above equation.
- To giantsfan24 from a Jet fan as I understand 2700k is veg and 6500k is budding and thanks for the info it has helped me.
Thank you all I am learning from the beginning and as soon as the results are in I will pass them and photos along. This is a great site.:pop2
 
That link sure covered a lot of ground and new2grow thanks for that. Since I first asked the question "CFL vs HID?" I have picked up a lot of stuff. CFLs are still a new thing that will probably yield more positive result in the future. I suppose the intensity of HID could simulate the Panamanians tropics better but the true answer is in the balance of products yield, time & expense of materials (electricity) and that is about to be answered since almost everyone I know are using either and/ or T5s. LEDs, & CFLs. Also a footnote is most of these growers i talked w/ are not interested in selling but for personal use and this also has an effect the above equation.
To giantsfan24 from a Jet fan as I understand 2700k is veg and 6500k is budding and thanks for the info it has helped me.
Thank you all I am learning from the beginning and as soon as the results are in I will pass them and photos along. This is a great site.:popcorn:

6500K for vegging and 2700K for budding but I know what you meant..:) I got a 7200K MH for vegging and it was incredible. Going 2100K HPS right now in flower.

I think T5's and CFL's are fine for growing especially if you have a small grow space. If I had to do it all over again, I would go cfl's as my space is very small. It took a lot of ventilation for the 250w, which isn't much really, to control temps..

A buddy of mine here is growing a great pair of plants with his fixture...they are really growing beautifully.

:Namaste:
 
Yes, someone pointed out that I had it backwords. the correct lighting is 2700k for flowering and 6500k for veg.:bong:
 
Back
Top Bottom