Ed Rosenthal Say's CFL's May be Better than HPS for Micro Growing

Tronica

Well-Known Member
Autoflowers suck IMO you can't keep a mother which defeats my whole system... I'm not going to tell you sorry I'm not done with my research and I plan on putting a book together for us micro growers.

you can keep make feminized seeds tho fairly easily with an af strain. an af on 20/4 could be kept small too with the right tools.

but yes, for your system af sucks. tho for others AF is a great system

the best part about them imo is the ability to run some right along with vegging plants
 

Mr. Bitti

Well-Known Member
lol im on the first few pages.. its that theres never enough information that needs to be heard ..

theres some info about cfls have a better cri index and therefore give out more useful light that a hps. and the always obvious reasons to use cfls. there should be some really good posts somewhere in here.
 

Tronica

Well-Known Member
CFL's in conjuction with HPS has got to be the way to go. Bing that nice red spectrum with the hps and toss in the rest with CFLS. 65k 50k and 27ks, all working together to cover a giant ass spectrum. I have found a light system that is a flat and long ballast (4' long 5" tall) with 2x 250w hps fixtures in the middle parts of it, and two 54w t-5 tubes running the 4' along both sides.

Mix those t-5s with 65 and 27 on each side... run the hps also....

amazing mini sog light. i will be buying one eventually

i had a pic of it in my journal but its not showing up now.
 

Mr. Bitti

Well-Known Member
yea i agree the best bud density comes from mixing the spectrum up ive seen some impressive grows with mh/hps combo and i think that any combo of the hps/mh/cfl that gets the red and blue spectrum will be best
 

Tronica

Well-Known Member
yea i agree the best bud density comes from mixing the spectrum up ive seen some impressive grows with mh/hps combo and i think that any combo of the hps/mh/cfl that gets the red and blue spectrum will be best

yeh my current grow has a 600w hps and a 400w mh.

expecting good things.
 

relativeood

Well-Known Member
My personal study and research said that HID lights grow Bigger Plants, FASTER, with Tighter Buds.
BUT, with my cheaper CFLS, I use less electircity, they use any regular socket with no extra ballast,
I do not have any HEAT to contend with and I do not VENT. And I can easily move them around. From 6 plants, I always get 15 or more dried manicured ounces and I am very happy. And NOW I admit to OVER KILL, or to using too many bulbs and watts now.
BUT
2 or 3 years ago, with 4 65 watt bulbs over one tank, and 3 plants, Vegged 3 or 4 weeks, I still got 5 and half ounces.
AND my first 65 watt bulb cost me $39.95 each. Today, they are $16.95 at Lowes or Home Depot.


There is no way in hell you are using less electricity with that ridiculous set up then you would be with an HID setup that produces the same buds.


CFLs only save money on electricity if its a small grow.
 

Tronica

Well-Known Member
Wrong.



No it's not.

Follow the link in my sig. If you have any questions feel free to ask.

I've seen your posts. and I still say the results kind of speak for themselves. A large grow with HID's is better than one with cfls. Even if Sensai has a greenhouse using Enviro lights, it's just one. That's because watt per watt and garden space make HID's better.

I've never argued hid over cfl for micro (and I consider anything under 1000w definately micro, including your 4x4)

DrBud gets some of the best gram per watt ratios I've ever seen with 1172 watts of CFL. Results not typical, but you know what CFL's can do.

But I'd still rather have 1k watts in HID and 200w in CFLS. than 1200 watts in CFL.

Call me crazy but CFLs don't belong in large gardens.... yet.
 

TeaTreeOil

Well-Known Member
Solely red & blue LEDs lack range for supplemental pigments; however, they're ideal for supplemental support for any grow period with their dual(magenta) spectrum.

EDIT:

Tronica, I don't see the point in comparing novice growers and their novice-level CFL grows to seasoned growers(of any environment).

Now when you compare seasoned growers of both types. Growers that are not only seasoned at growing, but have done CFL grows numerous times, and conversely 'equally'(if not the same person) seasoned HID growers. The CFL growers tend to do much better in terms of yield divided by cost.

My target is solely HPS in my thread. I think there's a MH bulb superior to any HPS in every conceivable plant-related aspect except, perhaps, phyco-pigments.
 

Tanuvan

Well-Known Member
...
My target is solely HPS in my thread. I think there's a MH bulb superior to any HPS in every conceivable plant-related aspect except, perhaps, phyco-pigments.
This is particularly true with CMH. CMH has perhaps the most balanced spectrum for plants out of all the MH.

Also, LEDs lack far red which helps induce flowering. This is why it often takes longer to flower under LED.

There is some far red in the white LEDs, but it would take a lot of them because the percentage of far red in white LEDs is low.

Some have used regular incandescent with LEDs to supplement the far red, but the watt efficiency of the setup goes down.
 

GrowGreenGreen

Well-Known Member
They have 10w 2700K LEDs now and I bet those work fine for flowering...
The newer LED grow lamps have been engineered with more than just the proper red/blue balance; they're now including spectrum from the green, orange, IR, FarRed, & a dash of UV, in addition to wider blues and reds in general. See my light for details. New Ice and G-13 side by side grow with a 275W CFL veg and 330W LED (on mover) flower coming soon. Crystally potency.
 

justatoker

New Member
I consider anything under 1000w definately micro, including your 4x4

are you kidding me? So, what do you use or consider "large scale" ?.. 200 1kw lights in an airplane hangar? Give me a break.What would you would call those PC grows "microscopic" grows? lol
 

TerribleTrichomes

Active Member
As fotr the 10w LEDs they would be arranged in a configuration of 20-30 of them cuz the UFO uses 5w LEDs so I don't see what you are saying...

Also I use nothing but 23w CFLs in my 1.5 sq ft cab and 42w in my 2.4sq ft cab and get the same results..
 
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