Got a 6x6 space looking to try cfls whats the best way to make use of them

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420newbieg

Well-Known Member
I was gonna try cfl and do 2 or 3 plants at most in the space I have so im trying to figure out what are some ways or techneks that give the best results with cfl ive seen some pretty big solid buds with cfl.

So any avice on how I should set the space up I also have a t12 double floro
 
6x6 space with cfls ? Good luck.
With cfls your gonna need to grow smaller plants due to the lack of light intensity. That is unless you have a lot of cfls surrounding each plant.
Do some more searches on cfl growing and how others set up their room.
 
lightsunder.jpg
 
that is beyond ghetto. i can only hang my head and mutter "why?" under my breath.

when you have a chance to do something, why not try and do it properly? i'm not saying you can't get decent bud with cfl lights, but i am saying why bother when you can get a proper light intended for growing plants indoors?

unless you have really low height to play with i wouldn't entertain anything less than an led, preferably a hps. 6x6 is a large growing area, way too big to use cfls in, you are gonna need a hundred of them, that will cost more than getting a 1000w hps and not give as good results.

my first grow was a 5x5 grow tent with a 600w hps set up, everything cost me 400bucks and i got over a pound of high quality buds, what more do you want?
 
  1. I think 6x6 with cfl is to big I use cfls in my room and it's 6x3 I use a 4 ft power strip with 13 outlets and run about 30 cfl bulbs I get real good bud but I think I'm pushin it good luck if u ate anyone else gets a chance check out my poll on bud curing in the harvesting forum
 
What ghb said; Way to big of a space for CFLs you would have to spend so much money on bulbs that it would be better to go HPS/MH

also 2 - 3 plants in a 6 x 6 is a long ass veg period and huge plants to maximize yield for the space. If you really want to go CFL, you don't have to use the whole 6x6 though can just use a corner of it.

you need a mix of 2700k and 6500k color spectrum at 23watts each (most efficient lumen to watt ratio). The 6500k are about 5$ a pop, the guy above has 30 bulbs so if 15 were 6500k that's 75$ just for half his bulbs. I made a 184watt DIY CFL reflector (8x23 watt CFLs); after bulbs, power cords, ties, vent pipe, etc was only about 80$ to make I thought I was golden. Well the temps weren't as cool as people said. End of day i regret not spending the extra what 50 bucks and getting a cheap MH/HPS at 50% power (budget 400watt HPS systems start at 125$, you can run it at 200watts if power draw is a concern, but again 8 CFL is 184watt draw). So yes CFLs are cheaper to a point, are cooler to a point, and draw less power to a point. Anyone with more than 150 watt of CFLs is doing it wrong IMO you will get more with other lighting options guaranteed.

I am not knocking CFLs they are great for very small cabinet grows, seen people pull 2 zips with 4 bulbs in a cab. But a 6x6 space go LED or MH/HPS. if you are considering CFL I assume you are on budget so LED is out of question.
 
ghb said:
that is beyond ghetto. i can only hang my head and mutter "why?" under my breath.

when you have a chance to do something, why not try and do it properly? i'm not saying you can't get decent bud with cfl lights, but i am saying why bother when you can get a proper light intended for growing plants indoors?

unless you have really low height to play with i wouldn't entertain anything less than an led, preferably a hps. 6x6 is a large growing area, way too big to use cfls in, you are gonna need a hundred of them, that will cost more than getting a 1000w hps and not give as good results.

my first grow was a 5x5 grow tent with a 600w hps set up, everything cost me 400bucks and i got over a pound of high quality buds, what more do you want?
Click to expand...
how many did you have under the 600watt?? what strains? i just got my first 600 watt hps xtrasun ... the whole setup ballast and all 200 bucks at my local shop!! i started vegging with a 400 watt mh 2 months ago, ive had em under the hos for 3 days and they are loving it!! 4-5 inches taller in 3 days and they look bushy and green!!
 

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there were 3 cheese, and 3 lemon skunk, all in 18l pots, some were bigger than others but your plants look much more uniform.

i'd look to flip them within 1-2 weeks, don't want them getting too crowded in there.
 
@420newbieg

what they said about CFL is true once u reach a number of them the amount of heat they make to the amount of light they offer is just not worth the money for the bulbs plug and power strips

i was looking for some light bulbs for my t5 and ran into something u might like
http://www.ebay.com/itm/T5-HO-Grow-...4960533?pt=US_Hydroponics&hash=item2c8e3d9115

crash course on T5 info
2 foot bulbs are 2000 lumen and only 4 choices of bulb types
4 foot bulbs are 5000 lumen with a choice of 5 bulb bulb types
http://www.ebay.com/itm/T5-BULBS-T5...50?pt=US_Hydroponics&var=&hash=item257623687e

since u are not led u need to know this 15000 lumen to keep plant alive and growing the more u it has the better it will do (noon no clouds is 150k lumen cloudy days is 100k lumen) u want some where in the 60k to 100k to get a really good plant

the light i linked yah is 40k lumen ..........the bulbs are just that bulbs u can use .........the UV/10k bulbs will make more resins on the plant
when u want to go into something else u see how the lights works so they make good side light or starting or finishing so this is equipment worth getting if u plan on doing this for awhile

my sack of cfl and plugs i gave away to buddy that wanted to start this .....he already moved to LED
 
ya I under stand what he saying but the closet is more like 4ft wide buy 3ft l and angled wall at top so im 5'7 and I can stand up inside it at the peak and I got almost another foot above me so id say its 6 and a half feet tall at the peak.

I have a closet pole that is at alittle over 5 ft going across what I have done is put mylar film on all the walls and I have hung a t12 with chains off of the closet hanger pole.

Then what I did was pickup a cheap dollar store sun visor thing for your car window that's shiney reflective looking and I ran it across the right side of the t12 fixture edge and to the closet door going at a slide angle not straight across fully. I now then got another reflector and ran that from the left side of the fixture and kinda gave it an angle and taped it to a shelf that's located in the back of the closet.

I then picked up a bunch of screw in socket adaptors reg 2 prong socket adaptors and lamp cord with socket kits. So now you have a lamp socket and a screw in socket adapter with 2 side 2 prong outlets. Now what I did was take two of the 2 prong socket adapters and plug one into each side of the main socket now what you would have is a place to screw in 3 bulbs on one lamp socket. So what I did was screw in 2 26w cfls into the sides and one 65w 300w equiv in the middle socket.

So I now had 3 of these made up fixtures in the closet looking from the doors coming in I had one cfl fixture on the left side of the closet hanging down underneath the t12 and one on the other side of the t12 hanging down then I had the last fixture on the back closet wall on the top shelf kinda pointing straight across at the side of the plants keep in mind that I also placed the side cfl fixtures kinda aiming across at the sides of the plant. Obviously the main bulb in the main socket the 65w would be the only one pointing directly at the plants sides. that's just how it happened first time.

So anyways I had a clamp light also in the corner left side of the closet near the doorsaiming at an angle on it that had 2 65w cfls in it.

I did 2 different strains one from clone and anther from seed and used a 5 gallon and a 7 gallon pot and put in a double blade window fan the kinda that blow in or out.

temps up till july when I harvested never went above 85 most times at peak hot weather it rose to 82. till my fan fell and broke then I just got a box fan somewhere and after a day or 2 was good to go all and all I ended up harvesting 2 dry zips one was kush both kinds were frosty too
 
Not that I would have to agree doesn't look too safe.

i am basicly using what I have I already have a bunch of 65w cfls and 26w cfls so the cost has already been assessed.
 
Something like this would be a little bit safer. Maybe start to veg under something like this and then research for flowering. I used this to start and now use LED. I am now looking at an hps 400 watt for a space 4x4x3 was going to go 600 but i think 400 is enough.
But go to the forum on CFL growing and look at what others have set up. The bulbs do have to be quite close to the plants. Heat can be a factor and if you aren't checking all the time the plants can get burned on the bulbs and perhaps start a fire. You also have to think about odour control as well. You need fans and venting etc regardless of the light system used.
 

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idk about all that power going threw one socket but that looks like it would work

However cfls give off the most output at the top of the bulb. so all of those bulbs pointing sideways are wasting light your not gonna get maximum use of those lights which is a waste of electricity if you ask me.

So in order to make a proper cfl fixture setup we would need to point the tops of those bulbs at our plants and you will want side lighting and top.

I am resetting up my grow space and ill post some pics after its setup. The last time I used all but one fixture had bulbs pointing directly at the plants I did only 2 plants and I got a 1 oz average.

No hps no fancy fox farm just old mg moisture control soil from a grow the season before had some perlite and vermiculite mixed in.

Only thing I used for nutes was big bloom and molasses during flower. One was an og kush indica from seed and the other was a clone from some kind of sativa. None got more then 4ft tall.

I also used mylar emergency blankets from good ol ebay on the walls. i have seen someone use tinfoil that I would not do don't work good and just as cheap to get the real shit the blankets


oh yea my area is 6ft tall by 4-1/2ft wide 4ft long btw.
 
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