what and how many cfl's!!!

So far I think lighting is the most difficult. I have decided to go with cfls on my first closet grow.

1. How many cfl's for 3-5 plants?
2. What wattage?
3. What kelvin rating?
4. Warm or cool light rating?
5. I want to shop around for them tommorow so any info asap would be great!!!!

as many cfls as you can get your hands on, thats how many. higher wattage USUALLY means higher lumen output, and that is your true concern. how many lumens does this specific light put out? a lumen is a measure of the amount of light a particular bulb puts out, and thats important because you want the most light possible. so check lumens. i have 1 plant in particular right now that i have 10 cfls on. so you need as many as you can get. get " y " electric fitting so that you can use 1 socket with 2 lights in it. 75 watt minimum i'd say, and go up to whatever wattage your fixture can handle. 125, 150, etc. keep those cfls close to the plants, 2-3" and you'll have a lush, beautiful garden.... good luck

ijustgrowGREEN said:

as many cfls as you can get your hands on, thats how many. higher wattage USUALLY means higher lumen output, and that is your true concern. how many lumens does this specific light put out? a lumen is a measure of the amount of light a particular bulb puts out, and thats important because you want the most light possible. so check lumens. i have 1 plant in particular right now that i have 10 cfls on. so you need as many as you can get. get " y " electric fitting so that you can use 1 socket with 2 lights in it. 75 watt minimum i'd say, and go up to whatever wattage your fixture can handle. 125, 150, etc. keep those cfls close to the plants, 2-3" and you'll have a lush, beautiful garden.... good luck

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Well I know that cfl's are about 65 lumens per watt so how many lumens does 3-5 plants need, I know all the lumens dont penetrate to the plants. Um....I dont wanna buy $200 worth of cfl's when I could get a HPS for that price which is like 115 lumens per watt. So hmmmm.... whata a good number of cfl's? I mean as many as I can get my hands on isnt a good estimate because stores are filled with them.

12ish mixed spectrum for flowering,daylight for veg

lol.... i didnt mean buy the store out. i meant use alot of cfls. your original post said you wanted to use cfls, not hps. the garden needs a minimum of 1000 lumens to survive. 3000-5000 + is much more efficient however. so do the math and make the call.....

you need to get at least 4 get the daylight 6,500k at lowes or wally world these will be for vegg 2,600 or 2,700k for flower

The "experts" say you want 10,000 lumens per square foot of grow space, a 23w cfl puts out about 1600 lumens(not sure if this is per sq ft) it is listed on the front of the boxes. If size of the bulb is not a problem you can get 42w bulbs in single packs at walmart for $6.97, 13w bulbs are tiny and by far the smallest, then 23w are average size(slightly bigger than an incandescent) but the 42 w are about 30% bigger than the 23w. The Kelvin rating you use is debateable but most agree that the "daylight" or "cool" bulbs with a Kelvin Rating of 6500K is best for vegatation cycle, and the "warm" or "soft" white are best for flowering (Kelvin Rating 2700K) I would use a mix of the 2. The number of cfl's you need depends on the age and size of your plants, 3-5 seedlings would proabably do well under just 3-23w bulbs. 3-5 mature plants will probably need 10 to 16- 23w bulbs. Good luck Edgewater

do they all need reflective domes?? or will reflective matial on walls near plants work as good?

Yes cfl lighting goes out frm the side and not the tip u can get clamp domes for like 8$ at wal mart

oh another thing do ya think it would be wise to buy all my materials with cash so i wont leave a paper trail?

yall are talkin 10 cfls so thats like $80 for domes i am trying to get a good yield but keep the prie down.

gotta use cash only for certain things dont wanna use plastic

Get two 65 watt cfl's, that's 8000 lumens and add two 27 watt cfl's. Altogether that's 10k lumens which is bare minimum. Final price is like 30 bucks.

for 1 plant i use 6 cfls and want to add more so try to get as many as possible,much easier to get an hps though less wires.good luck

I wouldn't be concerned about a "paper trail". You're buying CFLs, just regular old bulbs that people use to light their homes. Nothing suspicious about that at all. When I moved in to the house I live in now, I went out and bought a whole bunch of CFLs to switch out with the incandescents that were already in the house. People do it all the time.

I'd go with either 26W bulbs or 42W bulbs, as these are the most efficient. Anything over 42W and you start to lose some of the punch. More, lower wattage CFLs are better than one big 150W. Not only because they are more efficient, but because you can easily move them around so the plant receives more light to the lower branches - which is important.

If you also want a single, overhead fixture then I suggest a high output T5 strip light. These are awesome because they create very little heat so you can literally put the bulb right on top of the plant without having to worry about burning the leaves. One 52W T5 puts out about 5000 lumens. A 26W CFL = 1750 lumens.

Right now I have a T5 52W 4ft strip and 3 26W CFLs (going to the store today to get some Y splitters to add 3 more 26W bulbs to my setup). I have 5 baby mj's and a bunch of roma tomato seedlings and pepper plants in a space about 1ft by 4 ft and everything is happy and healthy.

Good luck to you! You'll love the CFLs, trust me!

I dont know what to do I went to a local hydro store and they had everything from nutes to lights and I overwhelmed and ended up not buying a thing. I have 5 feminized nirvana skunk seeds in my drawer doing nothing right now. UGH!!

Get 3 42watt 6500k CFLs, and 3 42watt 2700k CFLs. Use a scrog setup for maximum yield with CFLs. Good luck.

That is the absolute minimum number of bulbs I would use for a SCROG setup with 3-4 plants.

If you don't SCROG then you will need lighting under the canopy aswell as over the top.

Also, I would recommend changing the 3 6500k out for 2700k during flowering. If you can afford to do that. If not then just get 3 of each, and use them all the way through.

SixthSensi said:

Get 3 42watt 6500k CFLs, and 3 42watt 2700k CFLs. Use a scrog setup for maximum yield with CFLs. Good luck.

That is the absolute minimum number of bulbs I would use for a SCROG setup with 3-4 plants.

If you don't SCROG then you will need lighting under the canopy aswell as over the top.

Also, I would recommend changing the 3 6500k out for 2700k during flowering. If you can afford to do that. If not then just get 3 of each, and use them all the way through.

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i think u got it backwards, i believe its more efficent if you use 6500k for veg by themselves.... and then a mixture of both or some full spectrum with most 2700k for flowering. i hear u get danker bud. someone correct me if im mistaken.