CFLer's who have switched to HID...

Being a student, i'm on a very restricted budget.. i've mainly only grown outdoors but want to try my hand indoors as well... i went first with 6 CFL bulbs but after much reading, i've noticed that 6 CFL's wont get u too far so i'm faced with a problem.. is it worth it to switch to an HPS light? will i get my money back from them? i'm just figuring that if i'm going to grow a couple plants, i might as well get a bang for my buck, instead of growing weed and having it turn out mediocre at best... anyone out there that has switched from Cfl's to HID? if there is, i would love to hear from u...

How much do you want to yield?

8 - 43 watt CFLs should get you 3 plants that look like this... 8 ounces


iloveyou

stick with the CFLs just make sure you surround the plant with the CFLs and you'll get great results

alrighty, i'll try that for this grow then, i guess my logic was that if i went out and bought an HID light i could use the CFL's when i have clones and such and use the HPS to flower, that way i could have two smaller grow rooms going, one for veg and one for flower

I started growing with 4 42W CFLs and 4 32W CFLs... one plant. less than a half ounce. harvested a week early... but it was soo smal. I didnt really care.
I bought a 400W HPS grom HighTechGardening.com for 135 inluding S&H. best decision I've made in years

I just switched to a 70 watt HPS and already see a big differance...and the heat is lower....yes lower....was using 8 23 watt CFL on 2 babes and temps were in the 90s with all fans blowing....now I have 70 watt HPS above and 4 36 inch 30 watt floro tubes on the sides... temps running 84-86...CFLs are not as low heat as hyped...make the switch you wont be sorry...plus look at the watt savings on top now...was 23x8=184 watts...compared to 70 now...and light penatration is better.

I was once a CFL'er 6x42w to be exact, they did the trick dont get me wrong. But I wouldnt go back to them having now used a 400wMH/HPS setup.
I do keep the old rig around though for, like you said, clones and seedlings.

yea I use my CFLS for clones and veging, they work fine for that.
but I spent 80 bucks just on bulbs, broke about a bulb a week so I spent more than 150 on CFLs when when you buy a HPS you only need to replace 1 bulb for 25 instead of 8 for 10 bucks a pop