1000 watt vs led? cfl

im seeing alot of people on here using cfls & leds ive always used 400w- 1000w hps & mh. my question is are thay or you getting the same quality dense pack budds as lets say 400w hps?? when i started out i used 400w hps and then switched to 1000w noticed higher quality bigger yeilds from same strains the same size. are you getting smaller yeilds less quality?? here is pic 1 week old clones under 1000w look at size and health can cfls or leds do this????? want to learn more about this as it could save money for hydro. and is it posable to do 8'-9' foot room if so how many will i need what power?View attachment 2846250

Difference between CFL's and HID's

Hid's have higher intensity of light while CFL's are RIGHT on the spectrum needed for chlorophyll production.

Thats the only difference in terms of growing with these different types of lights.

Led's are the right spectrum's and higher intensity. Could push HID's out the market once the technology advances a few more years

Any small time grower say 3x3 should use cfls, 4x4 and up should use the halides and sodium lamps.
I really like my cfl's.. 55-85w each.

It's a matter of yield. I grow 100% CFL ( check my pics nice dense frosty buds) and my buddy grows with 2 1,000w hps. He supplies the patients we work with, and in his down time I try to help who I can with what I have to spare. The feed back was apples to apples. The one difference was mine was a little harsher witch we concluded came from my chemical fertilizer, where my friend ( money no object, hence 2 1,000w hps) spent a good chuck of dough on a great organic diet for his ladies. Not saying a CFL could compete with a HPS any day of the week, but with the right techniques one could hold his own. I now have started my organic regime and the war is on. But now I have found myself with a 600w hps ( lent by our #1 patient who can't do what he needs to do at the moment ) to seek revenge on thee 1,000w dragons. Ha, Ha, Ha. Any who I can bring in 1 and a half zippers per plant where my buddy gets 4 high quality zipps ( that bastard )

diet coke said:

Any small time grower say 3x3 should use cfls, 4x4 and up should use the halides and sodium lamps.
I really like my cfl's.. 55-85w each.

Click to expand...

i got about a 3 x 3 space and no way in hell i'm using cfl's.. i gotta 400 watter and don't really have any issues..

BSD0621 said:

Difference between CFL's and HID's

Hid's have higher intensity of light while CFL's are RIGHT on the spectrum needed for chlorophyll production.

Thats the only difference in terms of growing with these different types of lights.

Led's are the right spectrum's and higher intensity. Could push HID's out the market once the technology advances a few more years

Click to expand...

and cfl's just like all hid's are no where near the right spectrum for chlorophyll production.. that would have to be the one area that led's shine, pun intended of course.. both hid's and cfl's put out ton's of light not usable by plants..

HID light will always yield better denser higher quality buds then cfl or leds. CFLs are good if you have a little plant in a tiny area and just need a bit less then an oz. otherwise your using 10 or so cfls which is a waste when a single 150 watt hps light will do much better and be much safer. LEDS are coming along but I do not think they will ever truely out do hid. The future will be plasma and Induction lighting for the true growers but cost is still to high right now

I couldnt imagine doing a 3x3 grow with cfls lol that would be such a waste

Not to run on but prosperian has 2 great grow albums. His first 400w ( AK47 ) and his second, led with a variety of strains. Awesome grows ( clean, tight, and beautiful )

The power of CFL is in all children Ha, Ha, HA.

Been my experience cfls are the shit....til u get a mh/hps 400 and then that light is the shit....til u get a 600 mh/hps and then that light is the shit....well 600s are just the shit, easy enough to deal with the heat and powerful enough to pack on the weight/density.

Generally CFL's suck. I only used them so far as a supplement to HID, CLF's have some merit in tents and boxes, but why would I use CLF in 3X3 "open" grow when I can use HPS, not worry about daily adjustment of lights and getting better buds?

Lately I put few seedlings under 2 6500 K 30W CFL's using reflector to save energy.... in a few days they stretched a lot become lanky, so I switched to a few 3-5 watts red and blue LED's , immediate improvement. Puzzled I put my cheap light meter under CLF's then my rather weak leds, I was stunned, light intensity diminished twice as fast with CLF's than LED's as the distance from lights grew!

That was a death sentence for my planned CLF expansion. I am continuing HID and expanding LED,s instead.

hey bud
I'll try to speak to LEDs lots of opinions of cfl
I use leds but i also grow on a pretty small scale.
I have 2 cabinets and leds are great for controlling temprature in an enclosed space scrog etc.
advantages... light to heat ratio leds are cool leds offer a wide range of light spectrum colors concentrated for optimal photosyntheses +UV +IR
they make great side lighting
disadvantages... leds don't seem to penetrate as far as hps leds can bleach the plant if they are too close for too long ....I can't think of any more

my last few grows have yielded some of the stickiest frosty dense buds i have ever smoked... even after cure bone ass dry will stick to your finger
hope that helps

With CFL's you can personalize your spectrum ( from 2700k for your flower stage to 5000k for your veg stage ) I personally use a 3 to 1 ratio. For every 3 2700k I put in 1 5000k. To simulate more of the sun spectrum. And as for cost I can replace 16 26w CFL's for 40 dollars. But it's the disposal that get's ya ( damn mercury )

nothign wrong with CFL's if you like moving lights around non stop and having to worry about tons of bulbs. once you get more than a couple plants CFL is just way to much work and way to many surge protectors and reflectors and such to me. power and cost wise and time wise HID just becomes better after a point. but ive grown nice buds with both havent messed with LED that much. i ever saw there are plasma grow lights on HTG supply now.

how hot do plasma grow lights get and how much area do they cover anyway? sounds like they would put off a decent amount of heat lol. and they are pretty expensive.

also im really loving my t5ho 4 foot 8 light setup i just put in my 4x4 tent. its pretty awesome for all my seedlings and clones veg'd up for about 6-7 weeks.

I hear that, it is a lot of work and forget about a long vacation cuz some ones gonna get burnt.

different strokes for different folks

Jbone77 said:

Been my experience cfls are the shit....til u get a mh/hps 400 and then that light is the shit....til u get a 600 mh/hps and then that light is the shit....well 600s are just the shit, easy enough to deal with the heat and powerful enough to pack on the weight/density.

Click to expand...

With 33% more watts that a 400 HPS the 600 is gonna be 33% more expensive to run, am I right?