CFL Temperature Bulbs

frenzied

Active Member
Hello,

Heres my problem over here they do not sell anything over 2700K temperature bulbs wise :( dont know why but its near impossible to find them ive seen some but there like £10 a bulb :O :O :O

So my question is you think its possible to veg nd flower using just the 2700K temperature CFL bulbs??? Or would u at least recommend bying 1 or 2 of the higher tempature CFLS and mix them with the 2700K temperature bulbs??

There are bulbs from china with no brands on on stuff like ebay but i do not feel safe using no branded, respectable branded named bulbs as i dont want the bulb to melt and cause fire

thx
regards

( Im not to this will only be experimenting with growing whilst i wait for my 600w stealth cab to be ready and in function )
 

TohToh

Member
hey dude, you can use just 2700k bulbs, but just remember your plant will grow very thing and spindly! as red light promotes stem growth and flowering. I feel you dude, if your from the UK the blue bulbs are near impossible to find, your best bet is to use eBay for them, but bare in mind there are lots of variables when it comes to light, personaly, if you want the best light, get yourself a CFL reflector for about £10 off ebay, and buy yourself either a 125w or 250w CFL bulb for around £25, you wont need any other lights, and if you really want to, you can get dual spectrum CFLs in 125, 200 and 250watts. Its always good to mix the spectrums up a bit as the sun never gives out just red or just blue light, but you want predominatly blue light for vegitation, and then red light for flowering. Remember aswel, dont go by the incandescent equivilent i.e a CFL says, 11w = 60w, forget about the 60, its the 11w you want to think about, and my general rule of thumb is AT LEAST VERY VERY LEAST 100w/plant. Also my own theory on red and blue is this;

if your using 100watts of blue light (5000k+) for vegitation and you want your plant to be 40 inches at its final stages, then swap the plant from vegitation to flowering at around 20 inches, because the plant will grow to at least double its size during flowering, and because of this it brings me to the Red Spectrum (3000k-). Logic would say that if the plant is going to grow to DOUBLE the size during flowering, then you're going to want DOUBLE the amount of light being fed to it, or it will starve, and you'll end up with whispy buds because ts strecthing more to find the light. Simply put; if you use 200watts for vegitation, then you want at least 400watts for flowering.

also, B&Q sell a 2ft 18w T8 4000k fluorescent bulb, which is fine for getting your plant started, just never have the CFLs more than an inch and a half above the plant, otherwise you'll strech it!

Good luck dude!
 

TohToh

Member
also, the reason for them only selling warm white (2700k) bulbs is really quite logical. England and most of northern europe are high above the equator, therefor we live in colder temperatures, so the manufacturors make Warm White bulbs because it gives the illusion of heat (Just what you need in england), the further towards the equator you go, the cooler the colour temperatures get. Basicaly, the hotter the country, the cooler the bulb, the colder the country, the warmer the bulb. =]. I spent many MANY hours researching into this! :D
 

frenzied

Active Member
Yer i know about all of the above :D its a tiny little space not much bigger than a pc case, like i said its a experiment whilst im preparing the mothership LOOOL :D just so i can play about with training methods and that, my only other concern is will a tiny little plant kick to much of a smell up? like im thinking 2-4 weeks vegging and playing about with training then probably flower im not to concerns about things just a little tester
 

TohToh

Member
ahh I see, sorry about the HUGE amounts of crap that I've just filled your brain up with then dude :P, I think any plant with some fat buds on it is gonna kick up a bit of a stink! But I've never gone as small as you're doing so I'm afraid I can't help too much! Hopefully one of the more Experienced PC growers will be able to help you. Only thing I could probably say, is yes! Its still gonna stink :D, good luck dude, cant wait to see the mothership! haha
 

frenzied

Active Member
Anyone got any input on this this little cabinet thing is 21" H 15" W 12" D going to be using 23W CFL bulbs you think a bathroom extractor fan which has a Extraction Rate 85m³/hr is a bit over the top for this space?
 

TohToh

Member
i would have thought so dude! if the air whips past your ladies to quickly, you could stun them, and stunt your growth.
 

frenzied

Active Member
Ok ill go with the 4 120mm pc fans with a passive intake hole below somewhere :D i just want to get as many 20w cfls in there as i can without it over heating :D
 

TohToh

Member
I hear ya dude! are you gonna put 4 together and use them as your outake? I'm not an expert or anything, but I kinda think if you were gonna do that you'd create a kind of vacuum? imagine more air being suck out of a bag than whats being fed into it, it would like suck the bag in, not all the way but until the intake can match the outake. I would use 2 fans for outtake and 2 for intake, that way you'd have a pretty perfect intake/outake and a constant non struggling flow of air across your bulbs and ladies. Like I said, I'm no expert, I just tend to think about practicality and whats gonna be best for my ladies. I know that people tell you that 25 celcius is a good temperature, but I just think that in some places of the world they grow naturaly in 40celcius weather so they must be pretty tough. Afterall, its not called "Weed" for no reason! :D sorry about the tons of crap again dude, just love actualy chatting to other growers!
 

frenzied

Active Member
i dont want to make 2 many holes as i dont know how im going to light proof these holes as it is, i dont think the 4 pc fans is strong enough to do what you are saying :D ill test out once attached ill put something flimsy inside and video it. Well atm im struggling to find these bulbs 5000k temp plus without having to pay £10 a bulb doing my head in i really dont want to do a 2700k pure grow would like to mix it up a little
 

frenzied

Active Member
Anyone have any knowledge on ProLite bulbs or have used them?? i found a site selling them for £5.50 a bulb which is like half price compared to others ther 30w with 1535 lumens each ??
 

TohToh

Member
yeh man, well the easiest way to do it, is get to B&Q and get yourself a Fluorescent Light Fitting, the tubed ones, get one to fit your grow area (or get a couple) the B&Q value ones are like £17 for a double fitting, then get online at www.qvs.co.uk and order yourself some t8 daylight bulbs theyre in the 6000k spectrum, the perfect one. The bulbs are about £2 each and they last a long time, the different wattage depends on the size of your fitting, if you have a double 600mm fitting, the most you can get is about 40w, if you get a 1200mm double fitting, you can get about 80w. And then chuck in a 2700k 20w or two, and that'll give you about 100/120 watts of light man, its not easy but its about the only way to do it over in england! Unless you want to spend wonga on the big CFLs on eBay. I'll take a picture of my CFL and upload it, you can get the bulbs on ebay for about £25 and the fitting im using was £6. Its a 125w CFL, and its brilliant, I have two more coming, plus the fluorescents. Here ya go dude!
IMG_0455.jpg
 

TohToh

Member
dude, i wouldnt worry about the lumens, lumens is a measure of light to the human eye, and unless your lady has eyes it means nothing to her, CFLs dont have great penetration potential anyway, so just focus on getting lots of 20w lights all around your lady. =]
 

frenzied

Active Member
the tube ones are to long for this little space thats why im using the spiral bulbs, i found some ProLite 30w daylight bulbs for £5.50 each i just want to make sure they havent got a bad name for themselves i dont want a fire :D and i have like 10 BC bulb fittings wired already with BC-ES adapters if i can only get ES bulbs :D. Nice little grow like i said my space is very tiny measurements are above i beleive, so ill be doing 1 plant with as many lights as i can fight before it gets to hot for them.
 

TohToh

Member
oh yeh, you're doing a small grow, sorry dude im so high. Keep me updated on what you find and where man, be really helpful! cheers man
 

frenzied

Active Member
Yer boi i couldnt refuse this offer at my local hardware store 18w CFL bulbs 2700K temp 1000 lumens 17p each :D bought them out :D
 

frenzied

Active Member
hahah pretty big tbh there doing a promo so hurry up check out screwfix there liek 10-20p each depending on quantity
 
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