Is 184 watt CFL enough?

MisfitMJ

Active Member
Hey im new so just bare with me here. I'm on my first grow I have 2 plants under184 watt CFL (8. 23 watt bulbs) in a 2 Sq ft grow box growing in soil. I am 35 days into flowering, and barely have any buds on them. Not sure of the strain (bagseed). My question is do I have enough light or am I just being impatent? What kind of yield(ballpark) should I expect from this setup?
 

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Eli_420g

Member
I'm no expert or anything, but I think a general rule of thumb when it comes to wattage is 100w per plant and then 50w for another. So you need 150w for 2 plants. So I think you're good as far as wattage goes. Also, the reason it's taking longer is because it may be a sativa dominant plant (sativas have a longer flowering period). As far as yields, I couldn't say. I have some questions too,
1: What is your lumen output per square feet?
2: What's your light cycle?
3: Are you using nutrients?
4: What color temp are you bulbs?
 

Flagg420

Well-Known Member
maybe instead of ghetto rigging 8 reading lamps, invest the like $60 in a grow light?

yield? lol, off your reading lamps? With the MAYBE 2" of light penetration?

<1oz

thats if its a damn good strain....

Don't grow until you have growing gear, don't half ass anything if you want to produce anything that isnt half assed...

Garbage in, garbage out bro.... take the time to do it right.
 

mean.green

Well-Known Member
the sun generates on average about 10,000 lumens per sq ft.

In a nutshell…

Lumens per square foot:

Minimum amount of lighting needed is around 2000 lumens per square foot.
(Two – 23 watt CFL’s, per square foot*)

Mid range is around 5000 lumens per square foot.
(Three – 23 watt CFL’s, per square foot*)

Optimal is 7000-7500, or higher, lumens per square foot.
(Five – 23 watt CFL’s, per square foot*)
 

MisfitMJ

Active Member
I'll post more pics in the morning when the lights come back on. They are on 12/12. Started 12/12 on August 4th started flowering about a week later And the nute ratio I'm using is 1-3-1. I have 12,800 lumens total and 1 of the plants is damn near touching the lights.
 

dirtpower

Well-Known Member
CFL's loose there color spectrum very quickly, you may see bright light but the color the plant needs isn't there. I would invest in at least a 400 to 600 watt hid and you would see much better results, so much so that it may surprise you.
 

Lucky Luke

Well-Known Member
Hey im new so just bare with me here. I'm on my first grow I have 2 plants under184 watt CFL (8. 23 watt bulbs) in a 2 Sq ft grow box growing in soil. I am 35 days into flowering, and barely have any buds on them. Not sure of the strain (bagseed). My question is do I have enough light or am I just being impatent? What kind of yield(ballpark) should I expect from this setup?
184 true watts should be enough to get a yield in 2 sq feet if ur optimizing the area.
How old are the globes and most importantly is what K (spectrum) are they? 2700k in flower is recommended.
How old were the plants before you went to 12/12?
Have you been stressing the plants (ripping leaves off willynilly and such)?
Not knowing the strain can make it difficult to judge time frames etc.
 

Cyrus420

Well-Known Member
It's possible but requires training to create an even canopy you can keep your light close to. Also due to size constraints you'd probably have to flower real early like two weeks in. I'm suggesting this from personal experience my first grow being one plant under a 125W CFL. It had no training and still gave me close to a half o. It sucked though due to my other inexperience.
 

MisfitMJ

Active Member
184 true watts should be enough to get a yield in 2 sq feet if ur optimizing the area.
How old are the globes and most importantly is what K (spectrum) are they? 2700k in flower is recommended.
How old were the plants before you went to 12/12?
Have you been stressing the plants (ripping leaves off willynilly and such)?
Not knowing the strain can make it difficult to judge time frames etc.
They were about 6 weeks when I switched to 12/12 the bulbs are 1600k and are fairly new i put them in at the start of flowering (veged them outside) and I have clipped off the bottom leaves that turned yellow off.
 

Lucky Luke

Well-Known Member
stop clipping leaves off. They are turning yellow as the plant takes the nutrients outa them. If ur going to take them off wait until they are dry and shriveled.
Ive never heard of 1600k lights so I cannot comment on those. Most CFL growers tend to use 2700k for flowering.

Plants look a little stretched but its your first grow so thats understandable. Next grow look into topping etc as it will increase yields by a large %. (note im on a Lappy with a small screen).

My answer is ur being a little impatient. Here is my grow with dates for a reference point using a 130w cfl. My Micro grow- https://www.rollitup.org/t/luckys-fridge.916437/#post-12819228

GL with finishing her.
 

MisfitMJ

Active Member
stop clipping leaves off. They are turning yellow as the plant takes the nutrients outa them. If ur going to take them off wait until they are dry and shriveled.
Ive never heard of 1600k lights so I cannot comment on those. Most CFL growers tend to use 2700k for flowering.

Plants look a little stretched but its your first grow so thats understandable. Next grow look into topping etc as it will increase yields by a large %. (note im on a Lappy with a small screen).

My answer is ur being a little impatient. Here is my grow with dates for a reference point using a 130w cfl. My Micro grow- https://www.rollitup.org/t/luckys-fridge.916437/#post-12819228

GL with finishing her.
Shit my bad 1600 lumens 5000k . I think 5000k is more blue and 2700k is more red. Could that be my problem? They were fine in veg. But started to stretch when I switched to 12/12. Thanks for the advice man
 

mauricem00

Well-Known Member
Shit my bad 1600 lumens 5000k . I think 5000k is more blue and 2700k is more red. Could that be my problem? They were fine in veg. But started to stretch when I switched to 12/12. Thanks for the advice man
perhaps on your next grow you should raise the plants to get them closer to the light and stop taking off so many leaves.people have gotten good grows with CFLs and a 5000k will finish your plants but a 6500/3000k mix will give you better yield. also try topping them when they get 4 or 5 sets of leaves to give you 2 main colas per plant. with bag seed you don't know what your growing and all that trimming you've done could slow flowering.leaves are energy collectors and plants need energy to grow. be patient and remember a lot of people never complete their first grow.my first grow gave me 1/2 ounce with 96 watts of T5.but we learn from our mistakes and this takes time and patience
 

wdk420

Well-Known Member
I recommend waaaaay better soil next time. It looks like the cheap nasty Hyponex from Walmart.
 

Budzbuddha

Well-Known Member
  1. Soil needed perlite ... Looks super wet and compacted.
  2. 184 w is NOT ENOUGH ...
  3. 2700k for flower ( warm light )
  4. MORE LIGHT - Add surrounding light to plant
  5. Stretching BECAUSE not enough light and plants are looking for it.
  6. Stop plucking leaves

You would be better off sticking them out in the sun for now.
 

Yodaweed

Well-Known Member
I think you could get a couple oz if you really did well on your grow. But from your pics you can expect less than a half oz.
 

Lucky Luke

Well-Known Member
Shit my bad 1600 lumens 5000k . I think 5000k is more blue and 2700k is more red. Could that be my problem? They were fine in veg. But started to stretch when I switched to 12/12. Thanks for the advice man
They do prefer a 2700k in flower but the 5000k will get the job done (just nowhere near as well). If you can it would be worth while to get some to finish her with.
 

HazednConfused

Well-Known Member
maybe instead of ghetto rigging 8 reading lamps, invest the like $60 in a grow light?

yield? lol, off your reading lamps? With the MAYBE 2" of light penetration?

<1oz

thats if its a damn good strain....

Don't grow until you have growing gear, don't half ass anything if you want to produce anything that isnt half assed...

Garbage in, garbage out bro.... take the time to do it right.
Lol @ <1oz. I'm going to pull over 3 with a light hood made from 8 23 watt 2700k and 2 26 watt side cfls. I love when people like you search far and wide to try to bring somebody down. Let people be optimistic and happy with their shit instead of solid negativity.
 

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