Advantage V. disadvantage CFL's

chronic123

Active Member
i think im going to use CFLS, so i can get them at home depot? what watts ? and whats the deal with flourescents like the tubes warm and cool should i get some of them for flowering? just more light
 

JordanTheGreat

Well-Known Member
yep, home depot can plug u... and you can use however many of watever u want as long as they are cool white for veg and warm white for flowering...
 

jamesthecat

Active Member
i had five flowering females under about 150 watts of cfls in a reflective enclosure veg'd for bout two weeks and fim'd one of em and topped a couple others prior to flowering. yielded a good zip of dry weight minus anything that was less than a point two dry... had bout another ounce of that fluffy lil undergrowth, used it for butter...

good stuff. that's very reassuring. you only veg for two weeks??? howz that work? do u keep them on 24 hr light for two weeks? were your plants not real small?
 

GrowSpecialist

Well-Known Member
Lastfrontier: Your thoughts are very enlightening and I appreciate them... but I must say, That was the longest run-on sentence I have ever SEEN! It was kinda hard to read. You don't believe in punctuation at all?
 

jamesthecat

Active Member
ok whats better for the vege state ? cool white which is 3600k to 4900k or full spectrum 5000k or more ?
veg needs blue light mostly so anythin above 5000k. the optimum being 64000k. for flowering you wanna drop right down to 27000k which is lower down the spectrum in red. i believe.
 

JordanTheGreat

Well-Known Member
damn... just started flowering my first HPS crop. boy, i never thought it would be that much of a difference between CFL and HID. hopefully the yield difference will be enough to offset the powerbill increase
 

ceestyle

Well-Known Member
damn... just started flowering my first HPS crop. boy, i never thought it would be that much of a difference between CFL and HID. hopefully the yield difference will be enough to offset the powerbill increase
If you set them up even remotely properly, it will - especially considering how much more efficient they are than fluorescents. Even trading the same wattage CFL for HPS (same power consumption) will result in improved yields.
 

JordanTheGreat

Well-Known Member
If you set them up even remotely properly, it will - especially considering how much more efficient they are than fluorescents. Even trading the same wattage CFL for HPS (same power consumption) will result in improved yields.
now thats what im tryin to hear... right on mayne
 

NotMine

Well-Known Member
Yeah I've been experimenting with CFL's, and was always set up under HIDs, veg seemed to be the same groth rate,speed wise,and the plants stayed preaty tight under the CFL's, however as the plants got bigger I needed more lights. Now i'm into flowering and the planst are streeeching a little,not bad, but when you have very little space to work with, thats less in my sac in the month to come, so with me the verdic is still out, as with anything in life you should make your own conclusions based on what you see and you live who cares what everyone else thinks if it works for them right on! My experiment only required an extra clone or three and a 4x4 area in basement, and what seemed like 100.00 in little bulbs 6x32w. hell I think for clone/veg growth they are better just for reduced heat. I see all those big CFL buds and hear this and that but this way I know whats best for me. and maybe I can finally throw that old 400w HPS landscape light away in the clone room. and replace it with These CFLs,dude in cali...Always look up the CRI on your bulbs some out there are as low as 21 sunlight is like100 and good hortaculture bulbs are 60-65 CRI just a thought. sorry so long
 

ceestyle

Well-Known Member
I'm all for using what works for you, but if you employed that strategy for everything, you'd have to reinvent the wheel every time. This is what science is for.
 
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