CFL's work just fine!

[biotrucker]

I bought several "photo quality" low-energy CFL's from amazon at about $8 a piece and some of those metal dome style work lights. I shoved them into a mylar lined grow cabinet (also available for $70 on amazon) and my babies are growing AWESOME!

Each light is only about 45 watts each. One lamp per plant. Photo bulbs are around 5500 lumens and they create pure white light.

But I need Red / I need Blue light argument?

Ahh, white light is created by blending all the colors of the spectrum, just like a prism creates the rainbow effect. Pure white has all the reds and blues you need from start to finish.

Air? A small 14" fan blowing on the plants. The cabinet has air vents. I could benefit from a duct fan but the temps are fine so maybe later in the summer.

Total cost of all equipment was about $300 and I can potentially grow anywhere from 10 to 12 lbs a year.

 

[kushgrower26]

i thought so

 

[ChesterC]

Are the bulbs you're using the same as daylight CFLs ?

 

[dragontoker]

I bought several "photo quality" low-energy CFL's from amazon at about $8 a piece and some of those metal dome style work lights. I shoved them into a mylar lined grow cabinet (also available for $70 on amazon) and my babies are growing AWESOME!

Each light is only about 45 watts each. One lamp per plant. Photo bulbs are around 5500 lumens and they create pure white light.

But I need Red / I need Blue light argument?

Ahh, white light is created by blending all the colors of the spectrum, just like a prism creates the rainbow effect. Pure white has all the reds and blues you need from start to finish.

Air? A small 14" fan blowing on the plants. The cabinet has air vents. I could benefit from a duct fan but the temps are fine so maybe later in the summer.

Total cost of all equipment was about $300 and I can potentially grow anywhere from 10 to 12 lbs a year.

10-12lbs in a year under 90w

 

[Grow Hard]

10-12lbs in a year under 90w

He said he bought several, not just 2

 

[dragontoker]

He said he bought several, not just 2

2, several or 20.....It doesnt make a difference being that he stated 45w per plant in a small grow cabinet,,,,,,,,10-12lbs a year, it aint happening... Thanks for the correction

 

[Grow Hard]

first you say 90w, then you talk about small grow spot after you're corrected, are you just trying to put this grower down or what? honestly what is your point here, other than proving you're a smartass? I mean all you did was quote everything he had to say, and then laugh at him for it? You feel good about yourself now?

 

[dragontoker]

first you say 90w, then you talk about small grow spot after you're corrected, are you just trying to put this grower down or what? honestly what is your point here, other than proving you're a smartass? I mean all you did was quote everything he had to say, and then laugh at him for it? You feel good about yourself now?

I call it like I see it, the amounts stated are absurd. By the way, I feel fine, thanks for asking.

I'm not about holding hands and singing kumbaya when BS is being posted.

 

[Grow Hard]

then take your negativity somewhere else maybe? no reason to get upset over a forum man.
im done talking about this subject now. its getting a little off topic.

 

[HiTimes4Me]

Its not negativity imo, I agree with puff... There's no way your growing 10-12lbs of dry bud a year with that setup....NO WAY! At 5500 lumens per cfl it would take around 27 of them just to make up enough lumens that 1kw hps would provide and won't get 10-12lbs off a 1kw a year with only a "small" cabinet and no separate veg room or anything else...i challenge ANYONE to prove me wrong...by all means show me the error of my ways if u can...not being smartassed only REALISTIC if the op can grow 10-12lbs of dry bud a year with this setup please post a journal and show me

 

[Luniz1979]

Well I can prove it and if you look at statements made by professionals in the field plants need 2000 lumens per square ft. The sun onlt perduces 90 thousand lumens at peak. So do the math a plant put outside and grow with right tools can produce over a couple pounds a plant but your saying that in 3 harvests indoor that 12 pds is crazy? Well your bs must mean something else go to hydrofarm.com they recommend cfl and sell them for veg and flower. I've grown a strain called zombie virus 5 plants with 25 thousand lumens and I got almost 6 pds cured weight with cfls nothing else of course I use best soil and liguid ferts but unless you've tried recently then you don't know so really stop thinking that hps hid and mh etc is the only way ya maybe ae yrs ago but not now. and also biotrucker turn lights off for atleast three hours of darkness it promotes root growth which in turn your plant will grow larger stronger and also produce lot more forbidden fruit

 

[HeadMed]

E=mc2

 

[crashnfool]

Well I'll see what I get out of the purple-widow experiment.....would be nice to get a decent amount.....four pounds a crop...HHMMMM

 

[biotrucker]

The 10 to 12 is an estimate. I said potentially. Never mentioned dried weight either. Six plants without being trimmed could yield 3 to 4 lbs total wet gross weight per grow times 3 grows per year. Anyways, my point was to just say that you can find some pretty powerfull CFL lightbulbs and my plants are loving it. Very bushy inside the cabinet right now, just switched to 12/12 a few days ago. I didn't intend to create a battle over the actual numbers. HPS and MH create tremendous heat and use ALOT of energy. CFL's are more than capable in quantity and use less energy and produce less heat.

Also, it was 6 lamps, one lamp per plant at around 2" in height in a hydro setup with air and excellent nutrients with LST.

 

[HeadMed]

I tell you what ... When I started I started with florescent. If know for a fact that you can grow some awesome weed under florescent. And the better your genetics the better the bud...

But I get a lot lot more weight now using HID

I have never weighed it wet nor thought of it before... but now I am gonna weigh it wet... I bet I can find a ratio that will tell me what it should weigh when its the right dry...

I mean knowing its dry by how much it weighs...

Have fun man... There ain't nothing like home grown no matter what

 

[crashnfool]

I tell you what ... When I started I started with florescent. If know for a fact that you can grow some awesome weed under florescent. And the better your genetics the better the bud...

But I get a lot lot more weight now using HID

I have never weighed it wet nor thought of it before... but now I am gonna weigh it wet... I bet I can find a ratio that will tell me what it should weigh when its the right dry...

I mean knowing its dry by how much it weighs...

Have fun man... There ain't nothing like home grown no matter what

I think the ratio is about 70 percent weight loss...

 

[jimm14]

CFLs and flo tubes win hands down for seeding/cloning/vegging just for low temps and you can touch them onto your plants = more useable lumans, even a 110w twin tube can grow 50 good size plants ready to flower.

Ive just never tryed to flower a plant under cfl but lets just say 45w of cfl gives 4000 lumens (at best) and 50w of HID gives 6500+ but only comes from above..

the sun makes around 10k lumens per sq/ft at equitor in summer what many plants don't need so as close to the 8k mark i guess would be best.

1000w HPS = 130k or so lumens so good for 13ft/sq or bigger grow space.

to match on a lumen basis that you would need 2 CFL's per sq/ft minimum @ 45w each = 26 bulbs....1170w of power..

but the fact you keep the bulbs closer to the plants and it's not just one big bulb above there put where you need light should need even less.

I've now moved to CFL for cost reason, my house gets hot with HPS power, that means 2x loud 6" extractor fans +ac unit + inlet fan + humidifier. So I'm moving on to CFL's, yes I'll be using more watts in CFL because I like phat nugs.
but 200w more per 1000w HPS i replace saves on AC cost and big fans are gone. now i have just one outlet fan 5" for smell scrubbing/inlet fan 4" for fresh air. temps steady 24c no AC needed and i can sleep at night.

Will report and do journal on full CFL grow soon 4x300w CFL duel spec bulbs in sun master shades and I'm making a rail to go around the side of my grow room with around 15x27w small cfl spirals that's for 16 plant flower room, I expect 2 pound per crop in this room.

 

[YardDog35]

Funny thread, some good banter!

Pounds and cfl's should not be mentioned in the same sentence...5 plants, 27,000 lumens, six pounds cured?? wtf??

Comparing lumens from the sun and lumens put out by a cfl is a joke. Cfl's lose lumens at VERY short distances. Yes, you can keep the smaller ones right on the plants, the larger bulbs can't even be touched when their on they get so hot.

People always have these big plans for cfl's, adding up lumens and thinking they can get a bunch of weight. The plans always sound great...where are the results??
Show me threads that say "look at my huge cfl harvest", "1+ pound from 10 cfls", nope, they don't exist because the plants don't get enough light and the weight is never there.

With all of that being said, yes you can grow a plant from seed to fruition with cfl's. Just not a big plant. A small reflective space and an LST'd Indica is the way to go under cfl's, IMO.

 

[patmrtnscks]

Im on biotruckers side here. With the right nutes, and upgrading a few of your cfls to 200w or 250w feliz bulbs, and you just might be able to do it. My buddy from oregon that grows his own medical is getting 10oz to 1lb per plant with fox farms soils, worm castings, and organic nutes under cfls. He uses 300w cfls though, and alot of them. You might be able to come close to that over the process of a year. Prove that dude wrong. I also didnt say anything about dry weight, and this is all just what he has told me, I have no proof. I do know hes not the type of dude to lie though.

 

[jimm14]

Funny thread, some good banter!

Pounds and cfl's should not be mentioned in the same sentence...5 plants, 27,000 lumens, six pounds cured?? wtf??

Comparing lumens from the sun and lumens put out by a cfl is a joke. Cfl's lose lumens at VERY short distances. Yes, you can keep the smaller ones right on the plants, the larger bulbs can't even be touched when their on they get so hot.

People always have these big plans for cfl's, adding up lumens and thinking they can get a bunch of weight. The plans always sound great...where are the results??
Show me threads that say "look at my huge cfl harvest", "1+ pound from 10 cfls", nope, they don't exist because the plants don't get enough light and the weight is never there.

With all of that being said, yes you can grow a plant from seed to fruition with cfl's. Just not a big plant. A small reflective space and an LST'd Indica is the way to go under cfl's, IMO.

I was very wary of the CFL's but the numbers add up...

I'm not talking about 6 small bulbs, the 300w CFL's i have you can touch with your bare hands and not need to more them.

for every 1000w HPS I have replaced with 4x 300w CFL's and 15x 45w CFL's.

It uses MORE power then a HPS but is COOLER and saves me running 4000W of AC/Fans etc.

If all the ''CFL grows'' weren't small set-up I would call bullshit too but please wait untill my grow log, it will be a no nonsense review of CFL's... If they don't produce then they will be sold and up go the 1000w HPS