Let's Talk about CFL's

Tokers/Growers/Knowledgeable Growers,

I am in the process of constructing an indoor grow box, something simple and cheap so I can enjoy some personal smoke whilst having something to occupy my time with. I am looking into using CFL's so the addition to my electric bill will be minimal. I'm sure there are people on here with experience in using CFL's; for a compact space, what wattage will perform will for an indoor set up for 2-4 plants.

2-4 plants?

how much smoke do you need per month?

i've been using cfl's for about 2 years, micro grows, which fit my needs pretty nicely
volume is the cfl's enemy, a big space is not cfl friendly
get a cfl close to the bud, and it is a good dense bud
i use a diy grow chamber that's 1.2 sqft for area, about 3 feet tall, 78w of cfl in flower
buds very tight and dense

I would say get a minimum of 200 actual watts to pull of at least some decent but with cfls the more the better. So since they are cheap try to add as many as you can fit.

I think the rule of thumb is 100 watts minimum for 1 plant and 35-50 watts per extra plant. If your looking at 4 plants, your looking at anywhere from 205 - 250 watts of CFL. If your using 42watt CFL's, which is what I use, your looking at 6 bulbs max to hit 252 watts. Heat output from this many bulbs in a small space will require some pretty good ventilation so that is also a determining factor in how many bulbs you use.

The grow I currently have going on is 1 plant in a very small space and I have 3 x 42 watt CFL bulbs and can keep temps in the box at 76F to 78F with 2 80mm low RPM intake fans and 2 80mm high RPM exhaust fans and 1 80mm fan exhausting heat directly above lights.. its quite a bit of cooling for just 3 lights but in such a small space, they do create quite a bit of heat..

Hope this helps.. my grow is in my sig..

Ooh.. you don't need all that wattage for veg.. I'd say with half the watts for veg, you'd be just fine.. you need much more light during flower..