How many CFL'S should i use?

[RussellSprout]

Hello s This will be my first grow and wanted alil advice about CFL'S.I have just purchased a 300w cfl dual spectrum grow & flowering bulb but now think I ought to buy some more.My grow tent is 1x 1x 2m with 8 plants in so how many should I be using and should I get the same bulb? any help would be great thanx. RSprout

 

[PetFlora]

NONE. Do your fucking homework about how bad they are for you, any live pets in your home, and the environment. Can you tell I'm on a soap box against cfls?

Return the cfl. If you are on a budget, develop a set up like captainmorgan using household Cree spot lights (thread on RIU), or look at a quality light like Area 51 SGS 160, Apache Tech, CLW SolarFlare.... The extra expense will come back in useful life and much better yields

 

[Sunbiz1]

none. Do your fucking homework about how bad they are for you, any live pets in your home, and the environment. Can you tell i'm on a soap box against cfls?

Return the cfl. If you are on a budget, develop a set up like captainmorgan using household cree spot lights (thread on riu), or look at a quality light like area 51 sgs 160, apache tech, clw solarflare.... The extra expense will come back in useful life and much better yields

wtf?..........

 

[Sunbiz1]

Hello s This will be my first grow and wanted alil advice about CFL'S.I have just purchased a 300w cfl dual spectrum grow & flowering bulb but now think I ought to buy some more.My grow tent is 1x 1x 2m with 8 plants in so how many should I be using and should I get the same bulb? any help would be great thanx. RSprout

Go with smaller bulbs, the 42W by ecosmart etc give better bang for the buck.

 

[RussellSprout]

Go with smaller bulbs, the 42W by ecosmart etc give better bang for the buck.

Thank you for your input.I knew you had to be careful if one broke and worse thing you can do is hover the mess up.Thats put me off em somewhat (tut) hav to go bck to the 600w n heat temp probs maybe end up putting a hole in the wall and blow the hot air into the bathroom n out that way lol just when I thought I had the prob licked it not only came bck to bite me in the arse it came bck n slapped me silly (tut) think I should get a cooltube n do the hole in the wall but whatever I do it seems somethings wrong with it one way or another.Thank you again for your input and informing me of the dangers of cfl's.

 

[Sunbiz1]

Thank you for your input.I knew you had to be careful if one broke and worse thing you can do is hover the mess up.Thats put me off em somewhat (tut) hav to go bck to the 600w n heat temp probs maybe end up putting a hole in the wall and blow the hot air into the bathroom n out that way lol just when I thought I had the prob licked it not only came bck to bite me in the arse it came bck n slapped me silly (tut) think I should get a cooltube n do the hole in the wall but whatever I do it seems somethings wrong with it one way or another.Thank you again for your input and informing me of the dangers of cfl's.

Largest bulbs I have are 68 actual watts, problem is they take up twice the room of 42's but only give 50% more wattage. Plus CFL's don't penetrate very far into your canopy...while an HPS does. So, if U decide to stick w/CFL's you're better off surrounding plants w/smaller ones as opposed to that huge 300 watter.

Heat is an issue here as well, so am looking into using LED panels to expand/supplement CFL's...problem there is you need a LOT of panels.

Good luck!

 

[ItsOreganoOfficer]

I was just reading about all this stuff. If you use CFL's you want to get as close to the plants as possible and focus light from all sides. You are going to need I would estimate 32 light bulbs and fixtures (4 bulbs per plant) and arrange them to get the maximum light penetration you can. Otherwise you will be lucky to produce a few grams per plant (that's if they don't hermie, stretch, and/or die first.)

 

[hyroot]

I'm against cfl's too. Sometimes money dictates things. I'm using 12 of them. 23w 2700k. Vert style so my plants surround them. The crees do kick ass. I got the cfl's for free.. I do plan on swapping them out for cree's eventually. Cree's can be 6 inches away and will do a better job than any cfl and only pull 9.5 watts each. They are $13 each. It adds up. But it is very cheap for the quality of led you get Cree xlamp x-te. and a 10 year warranty.

Cfl's are bad due the amount of uv-c they put out. Plus the poisonous phosphors

You can grow big dense buds with cfl's though

 

[ItsOreganoOfficer]

I've heard of UV-A and UV-B. What is UV-C?

I don't think CFL's are bad as long as you don't break a bulb.

 

[hyroot]

Uv-c is harmful ultraviolet radiation that damages dna and causes skin cancer. The sun puts out uv-c. It does not reach the surface because the ozone layer blocks it.

 

[HighnessBC951]

yea like they said, just surround the plant with them.... i prefer the 100 w replacement = 23 w, 6500 k and have about 3-4 on each plant i have... they're growing quite well... i have a friend with the huge cfls and mine are doing just as well... his produces more heat. i'd say more smaller is better then a few large ones. and definitely get both color spectrums