About to start my first CFL grow

I just finished making a small grow box that fits nicely in my closet. I still need to wire some stuff. Its pretty basic though. I will upload pictures later.

Anyway, I need some advice on CFLs. I bought four 75W equivalent 2700K bulbs and two 100W equivalent 5500K daylight bulbs.

I was reading some of the CFL guides, and I understand that the 2700K bulbs are best for flowering and the 5500K bulbs are best for veg. Which bulbs should I use for my seedling though? Most guides seem to skip over this stage.

Any help is appreciated.

if thats all you got use them all....

saynotothebs said:

if thats all you got use them all....

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Is that your bike in your avator?

I am only growing a couple small plants at a time with this setup though. I am using beer pong cups and soil for my medium.

Bump. C'mon guys this should be an easy question to answer.

i have two seedlings in cups about 9 days old. im using five lights right now 2 26w 2700k and 3 27watt 5500k bulbs and they seems to be growing great. im using mylar as my reflectivity and i do think i will need more lights a bit later but for now you can get by with less light.

So the color temperature doesn't really matter during the seedling stage?

akilleez said:

So the color temperature doesn't really matter during the seedling stage?

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You wanna use the higher K bulbs(5500-6500) for seedling/veg.. But it's also a good idea to mix in some of the lower range K bulbs(2700) for a full spectrum.

I'd say for every 2 5500K bulbs you use, thrown in 1 2700K..

And as always, with cfls, the more the merrier.

like he said. use a 2:1 ratio of spectrum.

Alright thanks guys! +rep to the both of you.

I'm in the same situation as you are, got 2 23w daylights bulbs and 4 24w warm white bulbs. What I was plannin on doing was to veg with these 2 daylight bulbs and flower with all of the bulbs. I am at germination stage at the moment - 1 seed, Super Silver Haze.

Good luck with your grow!

Groga said:

I'm in the same situation as you are, got 2 23w daylights bulbs and 4 24w warm white bulbs. What I was plannin on doing was to veg with these 2 daylight bulbs and flower with all of the bulbs. I am at germination stage at the moment - 1 seed, Super Silver Haze.

Good luck with your grow!

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I'm thinking you should do the opposite man. Veg with all the bulbs and flower the the 2500Ks. They need as much light as they can get during vegging.

you can use all your lights throughout the whole grow... i grow using 3 27 watt 6500k, 4 13 watt 3500k, 5 13 watt 2700k thats for veg and flower...they get full light spectrum and its only for 2 lst'd plants..and this is all in a box 18L"x16W"x18H" that big

yeah when using cfls you want as much light as possible. make sure your lights are as close to the plant as they can be without burning it. do the hand test to see if you have them close enough(place your hand between the plant and the bulb, and if its too hot for your hand then its too hot for your plant). this prob shouldnt be an issue though because cfls dont produce that much heat. hope all goes well for you.