CFL Grow Advice Needed!

K

kaptinKhronic

New Member
how far away should you keep a 20W CFL tube light away from a 3 week old seedling ? my plant looks like its getting bushier but it isnt growing in height at all . its probily 3 inches and i keep the light about 2 inches above it so it can hopefully strech for light . i water only when the soil is dry and keep the light on for 24 hrs until im ready to switch to the 12/12 cycle . plant looks nice and green and when i rub my finger against the stem it smells really dank . any advice on what i should do to make it grow a little taller ? or will it grow eventually ? i posted a few pictures below so some feedback would be nice


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:tokin:
 
Re: CFL Grow Advice Needed!!!

Could be more light? Or maybe u need more soil for the roots to expand cuz plant will only grow bigger if the roots can grow bigger, correct me if im wrong :)I looks very nice tho!
 
Re: CFL Grow Advice Needed!!!

Hi, im also doing a cfl grow so we could compare notes, your plant is slightly further ahead of mine, mine is just sprouting the 2nd set of real leaves and i have 3 plants growing, ill keep track on your journal and try and help the best i can. but i already see the tesmp is all ready here and he is a top bloke, he has gave me loads of advice so take a look at my journal if you like as a lot of his advice is on their, this is my 1st grow using cfl so ive asked loads of questions and done loads of research, so ill keep watching and see how are grows compare, its good to see someone is not far ahead of my grow so i can sort of compare

this site is the best for help and advice and loads of helpful people here, its the best ive came across and ive not gone back to any others since joing this site,

good to see another cfl grower, its gota b worth a try and its a bit cheaper
 
Re: CFL Grow Advice Needed!!!

It seems tall to me for the amount of leaves on it. It looks like its reaching. If it wasnt reaching you would never need the splint. Put your cfls within 2 inches.
 
Re: CFL Grow Advice Needed!!!

the cfls your using should be cool enough to hold in your hands for as long as you want, im using the 30 and 40 watt spiral cfl and i can hold them in my hands for as long as i want, when mine first sprouted i had the lights about 6 inches away and noticed they was stretching i then lowered my lights so they was between an inch and 2 away from the plants, as long as you have a fan running im using to 12v computer fans wired upto a phone charger and i angle these so their blowing where the bulbs are and this also blows the plants and strengthens the stems up, and as long as you have got this breeze from the fan this will prevent any of the heat building up and wilting the leaves, so i found the closer you have the lights the less stretch they do, so see whats best for you and get the lights as close as you can to the plants, id say roughly 2 inches at the most. if you are unable to lower the lights then raise the plants.

also i cant really see the size of the pot its in so possible get a bigger pot to allow for more route growth this will improve outward growth and allow the plant to spread more.

ill put the link to my journal below, your a bit further on than where i am, mone are only on second set of leaves and ive got 3 plants, all from seed.

this is my 1st grow with cfls so ive learned a lot and got a lot of advice and glad to pass it on, the best advice was getting the lights as close to the plants as possible as this prevents the stretch due to cfls losing the lumins the further the plant is away from the bulb, you will notice that the light changes loads at more than 2 inches away so keeping the tops of the plant in this range will improve your grow, you will also possibly need bulbs hanging around the plant as well to encourage side growth and to increase penetration to the inner and lower branches.

the link to my journal is here, ill keep watching yours so i can see how your getting on and try and get and give as much advice as possible.

First CFL Grow Using 30 Watt CFLs
 
Re: CFL Grow Advice Needed!!!

i just replaced the tube cfl light with a 100w cool white cfl bulb . measured the plant today and it stands at about 7 inches. the lamp is about 3 inches from the top of the plant. is 7 inches good @ almost 4weeks ?
 
Re: CFL Grow Advice Needed!!!

I actually have 3 of them in my grow box , && my grow box is completly coverd in aluminum foil . I have a fan also keeping the ventalation going, I have 2 other seedlings but they have just started to grow very fast these past couple of days
 
Re: CFL Grow Advice Needed!!!

YYeah I 2nd what they said, best things to remember fan (not blowing at the plant) get around 5k lumens, I have 2 27w daylight and 1 2700starting for full spectrum and she loves it :)and im taking her outside for a few hours now
 
Re: CFL Grow Advice Needed!!!

hi, you will be a lot better of getting the 30 watt cfls or the 40 watt cfls. those 23 watt are what most people use in their house lights and they give off very little light, you could more or less have this bulb touching the plant, if you try holding the plant just under the bulb and then lower it you will c how much light your losing at just over an inch away from the light, the 30 and 40watt cfls are cheap to buy and are not more expensive than the 23 watt ones your using, always go by the actual voltage and not what it compares to, so for a 100 watt of light output you will need 4 27watt cfls bulbs, but i wouldnt waste your money on the 27 or 23 what ever they are bulbs as their not juts worth it and will cause your plant to stretch, you need to get hold of some 30 or 40 watt bulbs, i would suggest using 4 30 watt 6700 kelving bulbs for veg, but you need to remember as the plant grows you will get hardly any light further down the plant so you wont get much yield past the top few inches of plant, this is ok if you was going to use low stress training technic, but you would be better off having 4 30 watt 6700 kelvins above the plant and when the plant is getting big you will need to hang some other bulbs around the plant to increase light penetration to lower and inner parts of the plant, you can always put a 2700 kelving bulb in to give it the extra light spectrrum as im doing the same, but those 23 watt bulbs that say you get 100 watt are just really not worth it and will make the plant stretch more.

your best option would be to try amazon or ebay for the 30 watt 6500 kelving bulbs or the 40 watt types, you will need to get a few for the veg stage and the same amount if not more of the 2700 kelvin for when you turn it to flower.

if you get these 30 or 40 watt bulbs you will notice a huge difference very soon, i did, with cfl's you only go on the actual watts of the bulb and not what it compares it to, i mean if you had a normal 100 watt incandecent bulb and had it side by side a 23 watt cfl you will see that the 100 watt is a lot brighter so you cant really go by the suggested out put, if the cfl's says its a 23 watt bulb then thats what your plant is getting, the comparison of the bulbs is only relating to the power usage and not the lumins, so its saying that this 23 watt cfl is the same as using a 100 watt bulb, its just a comparison and dont really mean much when growing plants, you need to go by the real wattage, the 30 and 40 watt bulbs are not expensive and will make a huge difference.

for one plant you will need roughly 4 or more 30 or 40 watt bulbs above the plant withing a couple of inches from the top of the plant, and i would say that when the plant has reached its fourth set or proper leaves you would need to then hang some light around the plant so it gives more light to the lower leaves and inner parts of the plant,

you will find this will benefit your plant loads
 
Re: CFL Grow Advice Needed!!!

also using white emulsion paint would reflect the light alot more, foil is very poor at reflecting light, if you must use foil then the dull side reflects the light more, but you would be a lot beter of buying some emergency mylar blankets, i managed to get a pack of 5 of these mylar blankets for next to nothing off amazon, this is about the best material at reflecting light so i would try and get hold of that, dont buy it in a roll as it costs a fortune just buy the mylar rescue or emergency blankets, they look like feel but have different reflective properties, their the kind of blanket you see athletes wrap round them after a marathon or resuce people wrap people in them if their suffering hyperthermia or when they rescue them somewhere cold, they cost next to nothing and will benefit you loads
 
Re: CFL Grow Advice Needed!!!

you could be right tesmp, but i did notice a huge diffrence in the higher wattage bulbs, the light did seem a lot brighter, it may not penetrate as much but with the lights that close i thought the brighter bulbs would work better, but im new to this so could be looking at it all wrong, ive got loads of fittings i could wire up and the 23watt would work out cheaper to run than the 30 or 40 watt bulbs, i think ill keep the 30 watts above the plant but im going to hang the 23watts around the plant so it gets light all round as well, if they work out better then thats what im going to try.

@teSmp, ill give it a try, ive never sat down and worked out the lumens etc, ill post the writing on my boxes so you can have a look and let me know what i would be better using, the better i can get the grow going the better the results, when i get back to my grow ill check the boxes and post what lumens it says it gives off.

so its worked out like lumins to watts, so 23 watt gives off so many lumins so if i compare that to what my 30 watts are giving off how do i then work out whats best, is their some kind of calculation i can use to work out the lumins, i mean a 23 watt bulb is only 7 watts lower than the 30 watt bulbs, how do i work it out, do i devide the lumins by 100 then times that by the watt, and will that then give me some sort of answer.

is it just a power saving thing though, i mean you might get higher lumins to watts with the 23 watt bulb but surely that dont mean its givng off more lumins than the 30 watt bulbs does it, so are you looking at it from a power saving type of view, i know the 30 watt bulbs was a lot brighter than the 23 watt bulbs, when i had them in my light sockts side by side the plants under the 30 watt light where a lot brighter than the 23 watt bulb and also just looking at the bulbs you could see the difference,

thanks tesmp for the info, how do you work out the ratios on lumins to watt, its something i would like to look into and work out if using more 23 watt bulbs will penetrate more than using the same number of 30 watts, say if i use 8 23 watt bulbs will it give out as much light and penetration as 8 30 watt bulbs, the difference in watts is 56 watts if ive worked it out properly, ill need to check the boxes to find out for sure
 
Re: CFL Grow Advice Needed!!!

flat white paint is only a couple points away from mylars reflecting capabilities.
make sure there is plenty of ventalation.
i use 40 watt 4' florescent tubes, daylight bulbs and a shop light receptical. i couple two together for 4 lights and the inside of my rectangle box is flat white. my plants r growing exceptionally well, with branches coming off all the locations available. 6 to 7 inches tall and 5 to 6 diff. branch sites.
the lights are almost touching the light tubes. almost, like a 1/2 inch and when they touch i just move the light up a slight bit. as long as they are not in contact for en extended period of time, there will be no damage to the plant from the light. with the 4' florescent bulbs.
 
Re: CFL Grow Advice Needed!!!

yep i found the same, with the light tubes and cfl bulbs they give off very little heat at all, ive not left my plant touching the bulb for any length of time in case it causes the leaf to dry out, but im using 30 watt 6700k cfl's and i can hold them in my hand and their barely warm so i think you could have them as close as you like, ive got my 12volt computer fans blowing on teh bulbs to disperse any build up of heat due to their been 4 cfl's in my light frame at the moment, this will increase and ill also hang lights around my plants and give more penetration, but i keep mine about an inch away from the plants and it does mine no harm,

ive used white paint to reflect light in my cupboard, i only bought the mylar cuz i had some money left in an amazon acount that i wasnt using so purchased 5 mylar blankets for a couple of quid so will be lining the walls and floor with the mylar, but white emulsion not gloss reflects nearly as much as mylar so either way will work
 
Re: CFL Grow Advice Needed!!!

floors seem to be a bad thing to line with reflective materials. it puts light underneath the leaf where its not needed. i can tell you what the exact thinking is, but i did the same thing and found more problems than it was worth! leaf undersides do not like to much light
peace
 
Re: CFL Grow Advice Needed!!!

teSmp said:
@paul take the lumens and divide it by the actual watts.

23w CFL = 1600 lumens = 69.6 lumens/watt
40w CFL = 2600 lumens = 66.3 lumens/watt

So obviously we wouldn't really care about 3.3 lumens but multiply that by 40 watts and that's 132 lumens difference per bulb. It's not going to make a huge difference either way but I just wanted to point out there efficiencies. And sorry for jacking your journal bro!
Click to expand...

so witch gives the better coverage, the small cfl? or the 4' florescent that puts light everywhere!
 
Re: CFL Grow Advice Needed!!!

thanks for letting me know, im not an expert grower with man grows under my belt so still learning, so putting lights below the plant would not benefit me, so if thats the case, would it be also a bad idea to hang lights around the plant or slightly below the plant shining up, i was going to have lights above and around my plant and keep the ones hanging low enough to penetrate the lower parts of the plant, but this is only if i dont lst the plant which i probably will, so any light reaching the bottom of the leaves would not benefit me at all.

@teSmp, thanks for the working out, not sure what the lumin output of my 30watt bulbs is, but would it be unheard of to have different makes giving out different lumins or is it strictly based on the watts, ill check when i get back and work it out and see what actual lumins its giving,

this info would be usefull to anyone growing using cfls as it shows the actual savings using more 23watt cfls' ill work out what the lumins ratio is when i get back to my grow and compare the difference.

so just lining the walls is the way to go with the white paint n mylar then, thats a good tip as i would of covered the floor with mylar as well, so thats saved me some time cutting and taping the mylar to the floor, thanks for the info and it should benefit us all.
 
Re: CFL Grow Advice Needed!!!

yes your gonna need a bigger pot and more lights ,reflectors are cheap,they help a lot,, puts the light on the plant, not just everywhere in your box..you can get em at a farm supply ,or home depot type store, I have 9 of them you can see in this pic, and you can grow great weed with CFL's
danis_candystore_028.JPG
danis_candystore_009.JPG
 
Re: CFL Grow Advice Needed!!!

very nice example!
r those cfl's
peace
 

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