Advantage V. disadvantage CFL's

kid cannabis

Well-Known Member
yes there is more heat per watt in cfls but the heat is more concentrated in an hid. more over no one vegs for 3 months with cfl unless its a mom then its constantly being trimmed. to be honest hid is by far the best choice if your growing plants over 3 feet. but not all of us have that much space for us cfls are better.
id like to see you do a single rubbermaid with an hps. im not hating just saying cfls may not be for you but they are another way. just wondering whyd you veg for 3 months
 

Final420

Active Member
Don't get me wrong, I am totally not hating on CFL's. I still use them for side and underlighting.

Veg 3 months from seed to what I thought was tall enough for the yield I need. Money issues backed me in to a corner where I needed it rather than just experimenting with it so I had to veg longer. :) Also due to money, the clones I've kept got a slower start. So yeah, all yield vs. time vs. money issues as I'm sure everyone deals with.

When they grew, they liked to get thick stalks and just grow tops slowly. I did let them get to about 16" before flowering. Isn't 3 mo from seed to 16" slow? (on average of course depending on strain.)

Yeah, if you're confined to a stealth grow, even a tiny closet, it seems CFL's have to be the way to go. I am working with a 5'x6 flowering and 5'x4' veg/water storage room. So you're right, my needs and space are very different now. I could see a 4x4 room working with HID, but much smaller would be a challenge to fit and keep that space around the bulb as cool as possible to not focus the heat intensity. I need about 4'x3' to properly hang and cool my 400W.

yes there is more heat per watt in cfls but the heat is more concentrated in an hid. more over no one vegs for 3 months with cfl unless its a mom then its constantly being trimmed. to be honest hid is by far the best choice if your growing plants over 3 feet. but not all of us have that much space for us cfls are better.
id like to see you do a single rubbermaid with an hps. im not hating just saying cfls may not be for you but they are another way. just wondering whyd you veg for 3 months
 

Final420

Active Member
I really wanted to see 226g out of my rubbermade, but I just didn't see how that's possible at least in my early stealth box pipe dreams.

.5m² of plant only space I'm assuming. I was trying to figure lights in to the same space, with no go. I suppose you'd need a good 15-30cm around the boxes for lights and whatnots.

That still sounds like a ton for what, 6-8 small plants? 226g dry weight? Really? Dayum :bigjoint: Uhh if I do 1/2 that well with that much space under HPS, I'll be a happeh pothead.

under cfl I got 8 oz from .5 sq m
 

Anotheroldephart

Well-Known Member
I really wanted to see 226g out of my rubbermade, but I just didn't see how that's possible at least in my early stealth box pipe dreams.

.5m² of plant only space I'm assuming. I was trying to figure lights in to the same space, with no go. I suppose you'd need a good 15-30cm around the boxes for lights and whatnots.

That still sounds like a ton for what, 6-8 small plants? 226g dry weight? Really? Dayum :bigjoint: Uhh if I do 1/2 that well with that much space under HPS, I'll be a happeh pothead.
If you'll go to my album you'll get a better idea. I figure I can double that yield to 500g with the addition of a few lights on the sides. For me, the biggest advantage to CFL's is cost of electric. We pay the second highest rate in the country at 12.7c per kwh. Hawaii is above us. Talk about a screwing with no luvin' ....Also, CFL's can be placed within the taller plants by adding a wire gaurd. I think you just had problems.
 

Final420

Active Member
I'll look through some pics I had of my CFL setup and post them. Things were pretty smooth during veg other than being slow.

We're getting raped in California. 400W x 24hr somehow end up costing about $80 extra a month. I backed off to 18/6 since the plants actually seem to like that better anyway.

The base rate may only be $.12 here but they sure do fuck you in the tiers. I'm really paying more like $.22 / kwH. Just a big fucking scam. We get railed when we go over some imaginary baseline number that some idiot calculated based on fake data no doubt. I don't understand how we go over our baseline, all the way in to tier 5, in the winter time with only about 300 extra KwH in the month.... Our heating has been non-existent until this last week. No A/C usage. I don't watch TV. I don't get it. There's bullshit afoul.... People need to start questioning these shady electric company practices... Why does it seem like Enron is STILL fucking us? From the grave no less...
 

Anotheroldephart

Well-Known Member
We're around $400 a month, but we cook with it..no a/c,no dryer, but we're both home all day due to disabilities. With the CFL's the bill only went up $15 a month..Can you use alt sources?
 

lastfrontier

Well-Known Member
wow that was a lot of info i have a few question i have not yet in my growing experience had yellow leafs due to a lack of light not saying it cant happen i just have not ever heard of it or read it or seen it i have seen this though in nuts deficiencies also have seen very slow growth due to poor PH balance due to the fact that this is a major contributing factor in how much nuts it will absorb/eat has any one else heard of this ??

i am interested to know the result of the light meter what exactly did it tell you ???

were you growing with soil or some other method ??

the reason i bring this up is because i have found that cfl's tend to work better when the roots get a ton of air flow which is why i use an airoponics method similar to the bubble bucket the roots flip out and my stems are fat as hell which is all part of the nuts delivery system .......

i think if you are going to grow for production then
HID is the way to go but that is a different thing because you are going in to it like a business and you have the correct funding and all of the appropriate equipment IE: spare bulbs and ballast extra timers and the such but for for less then 15-20 plants in my opinion CFL is the way to go for the record there are many thing that can be done about the consumption of power when using HID when i was growing a few years ago i was in production and my target goal was to produce an OZ of product for $30.00 dollars or less...

EVERY THING I HAVE SAID HERE IS A LIE AND I HAVE A SICKNESS OF THE BRAIN THAT CAUSES EXTREME LIEING AND TERABLE SHACKING OF THE HEAD.....
 

Final420

Active Member
Soil grow, so that could explain some of the slow growth.

PH has been solid at 6.8 almost the entire time.

I'm pretty sure yellowing occurs when there is a lack of light. put some other plant out of light for 2 days and you'll see it.

Nutes haven't been a problem other than a slight over that I quickly flushed, but growth was slow before this as well. I expected a 1-2 week pause after the over-fert/flush and that's exactly what happened. Plants were a very healthy 12" by that point tho still 2 mo in to grow.

Light meter test was interesting. On an arbitrary/relative meter scale between 0 and 10, here were my rough findings.

The lower wattage (14W to 42W) all put out about the same amount of light at 1" from the bulb. Between 6 and 7 on the meter. As distance increased the meter reading dropped significantly. 1' from the 42W bulb read only 3 on the meter. And 2 feet from the bulb read a big 0-Zero.

Testing the 400W HPS about 1" from the bulb the meter reads an 8. 18" from the bulb, approx where the plant tops are, the meter reads strong 6 to 7.
3 feet from the bulb reads a 5. 4 feet from the bulb reads a 4 on the meter. 10 feet from the bulb I get a strong 2.

I could do some documented tests. These numbers are mostly from memory. Observation and the meter confirms that any more than 12" away from a CFL does nothing where you still get useable light up to 3 feet from an HPS. This has probably already been established.

I personally like my HPS(top) and CFL(under/side) :) Juicy 500W or so for my babies. :)

I'm a new grower anyway. This is my very first time and so far so good. I've made mistakes and it's possible that some of the mistakes caused a slower growth, but given the strenght, girth, internode spacing, and now the resulting mass of buds after 2.5 weeks of flower. Well, I can't complain. And CFL's sure as shit did a great job in veggin very healtyh plants when they were<12". That's for sure. :D

Smoke more HERB. Cure SICKNESS! :blsmoke:

wow that was a lot of info i have a few question i have not yet in my growing experience had yellow leafs due to a lack of light not saying it cant happen i just have not ever heard of it or read it or seen it i have seen this though in nuts deficiencies also have seen very slow growth due to poor PH balance due to the fact that this is a major contributing factor in how much nuts it will absorb/eat has any one else heard of this ??

i am interested to know the result of the light meter what exactly did it tell you ???

were you growing with soil or some other method ??

the reason i bring this up is because i have found that cfl's tend to work better when the roots get a ton of air flow which is why i use an airoponics method similar to the bubble bucket the roots flip out and my stems are fat as hell which is all part of the nuts delivery system .......

i think if you are going to grow for production then
HID is the way to go but that is a different thing because you are going in to it like a business and you have the correct funding and all of the appropriate equipment IE: spare bulbs and ballast extra timers and the such but for for less then 15-20 plants in my opinion CFL is the way to go for the record there are many thing that can be done about the consumption of power when using HID when i was growing a few years ago i was in production and my target goal was to produce an OZ of product for $30.00 dollars or less...

EVERY THING I HAVE SAID HERE IS A LIE AND I HAVE A SICKNESS OF THE BRAIN THAT CAUSES EXTREME LIEING AND TERABLE SHACKING OF THE HEAD.....
 

Jim Johnson

Active Member
Hey all you guys at the beginning of this post, lastfrontier and others. I am not a solely cfl grower and I think the best way to do it is with hps and cfls. Also all the math at the beginning of this thread and nobody says what the square footage of their grow rooms that also has alot to do with it.
 

spoadalive420

Active Member
I have read this whole thread. Its kinda funny.....all of it. So what about yeild, yall obsessed with it like dick size. Bottom line it looks like CFL's would work. And if you are gonna have a private, personal stash. How much do you really need before you have so much you either give it away or take it to the head! What I am saying is CFL would probibly be good for personal experimental grow. And thats what alot of folks are looking for info on. Besides any herb that can be grown in america, by americans, for personal use, hidden from view of children, etc. id a good thing. Doing so would screw these EVIL gang bastards who are getting powerful off good peoples money. IF one could grow thier own and have a sober period for "social life exspansion" for the price of a SMALL dank sack!!!! Why is this Bad? Hell with this LED technology we could make such cool, efficient systems that it would make more sence to have your own vegi garden than shop at the grocerery store.
 

brookstown

Active Member
bulll shitttt no way your gonna get 3 oz from any plant from cfl's. no way no way no how. if you vegged for 2 months that plant is still only gonna be about 20 inches tall and you don't have the power to flower 3 zips from one plant that's only 20 inches tall noway homie.
 

1982grower

Well-Known Member
what 3 ounces off 1 plant. def doable with cfl. they go up to 250 and 300 watts for a single bulb in any spectrum
 

1982grower

Well-Known Member
cfls do work and can yield as heavy or more than hps after cooling watts for the hid. i use t5ho so not tech cfl but they are amazing. as for side by side comparison i have both lights and vouch for flouros. anyone else with real proof. i yield the same with flouros and no watts for cooling
 

kid cannabis

Well-Known Member
bottom line it comes down to wants and needs. do you not have room for big venting fans and ballasts and is stealth an issue? then cfls are for you. do you have a large grow room and you are on a budget. HIDs are for you. if you have a large grow room and dont want to worry about ventilation T5's are for you.
all this argueing over lights is fucked up it doesnt matter. they all work and all have there pro's and cons.
 

allybam

Well-Known Member
garden knowm like the plants some fat ass buds but the weights after they all dry im sorry but i dont think dry u would b getting the same amount of onces maybe if ya were to add the stems it might get close or weigh them wet but no not dry n we bud only and again very nice lookin harvest aff ur plants
 
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