Daylight VS. Soft White

Hey guys,

I just started my first CFL grow about two weeks ago now. I have been using 200 true watts of daylight CFLs for veg, but wanted to know if I really have to switch over to soft white for flower. Is it okay to still use the daylight bulbs? Is it going to make a big difference if I do? Just trying to keep the expense down. I appreciate informed opinions! Thanks

i`d say you`ll need some daylight 6500k and some 2700k soft or warm white, how many lights have you got going?

I have 10 lights right now. all daylight though

well i`d run at least 2 2700k in there now in veg, and up it to 8 when you flip into flower..

I like 50/50 day/soft even spread for flower.

thats the thing with cfl`s, different strains it seems react a little different under them, some thrive and others are slow to give the goodies...

also you say 200 true watts, this is good, if the gram per watt is anything to go by then you`ll do fine, what would your wattage be if you flipped to more 2700 than 6500, i often find the 27`s are always a lower watt than the 65`s...

heres my small setup, space restricted, so i`ve just re-wired it to take 8 bulbs, have 4(36w) 6500k (this is what i started with originally just hanging bare over the girls) and threw in two spare 2700k i had to test it as you see, i`ll be running another 2 same 6500`s and moveing the 27oo`s for better light scatter in the hood..

here you see them at 3 weeks veg from seed on one week 24/0 and 2 weeks 12/12....

do you think its better to place them vertically like that rather than horizontally? i could easily change my setup i was thinking about it anyway, what do you think? heres a pic (sorry for stealing your thread XD)

i have mine hanging for two reasons its easier and i have my hood folded over the lenght of the bulbs so all light is directed down at the girls, there are lots of ways of doing it but in my experience its best to go with what works on a daily basis, as with cfl`s being so close to the canopy and haveing to adjust them each day i found it easier to just hang the so..

rätthemligt;7194529 said:

do you think its better to place them vertically like that rather than horizontally? i could easily change my setup i was thinking about it anyway, what do you think? heres a pic (sorry for stealing your thread XD)

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RATT your setup is straight i wouldnt change anything.

I can actually get just as much wattage if not more with the 2700's. After all the advice I will add more 27s when flowering time comes. Thanks!

I am in a 26 inch wide by 32 long closet and I have three daylight fluorescent bulbs that I just switch to all are 100watts i was using 3 100 watt soft white also i have had the hole time on my plant is 2 24in t5 bulbs with hoods but i still dont understand which is better to use im about 3.5 weeks into my grow

I am currently running a mix of daylight and soft/warm white as well as some older T8 4ft. 6500k and 7200k with what seems like very good results my total watts is roughly 386 and I am running 8-10 plants in my 50"x32" and 4'9" tall but what I got is autos and two photos. Positronics super cheese photo and g13 labs midnight kush photo

ae86 grower said:

well i`d run at least 2 2700k in there now in veg, and up it to 8 when you flip into flower..

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I've seen this suggested before. What benefit do you think there is in having the 2700ks there in veg? Less of a light shock when going into flower? Allows for a little more spread in the node spacing? I used to run PLLs in my veg cab, now I'm on CMH. For my grow style (tight, compact plants) I prefer using all 6500k for veg, but I have not tried a mixture either. Might try it soon, I want to go back to the PLLs because i liked the way they vegged the plant much better than this CMH, and its rated at 4000k color temp. I find that my plants are harder to control, height wise, with the CMH so I end up with plants that I feel are too high for my tent. I could control this with training, and I've had to do this with certain sativa strains/phenos, but I could just let the lights do most of my work for me with the 6500k PLLs. All of my plants then were compact with just topping. They were nice and bushy and short, with good exposure to the four main tops. I'm not getting that with the CMH.

Dalek Supreme said:

I like 50/50 day/soft even spread for flower.

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Where do you have your flower days, 5000k or 6500k? I always hear people say 65 is better in veg, but is 50 lacking something that 65 is providing in flower? Going from memory, I would think 50 would have more red than 65, but I could be wrong.

I have heard multiple times that using a mixed spectrum of 2700k and 6500k during flower works great. Just go with as many actual watts as you can. There was a just a thread about this yesterday and his buds were insane looking. I can tell you right now I am using around 325 watts of 2700k for a plant I have in flower and 4 other little seedlings that I'm trying to try a 12/12 from seed with and the little guys are growing slower than when I have 6500k on them but they are still doing great under all 2700k

This is the light setup i have right now. I just added another bulb which give me a total of 4 cfls and i will be adding a 5th. The sides are t5's the cfls are 100watts each. any opinions on my setup? also i am going to be adding a vent/exhaust fans one on opposite side inlet and a outlet which should help control temp in my small grow space.