CFL vs HID?

[art fog]

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

 

[Giantsfan24]

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

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.

 

[Steve McStoferson]

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.

 

[New2Growing91]

Give this a read.
Cfl vs hps?

Hope this helps

 

[art fog]

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

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.op2

 

[Giantsfan24]

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.

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.

 

[art fog]

Yes, someone pointed out that I had it backwords. the correct lighting is 2700k for flowering and 6500k for veg.