CFL placement; fan leaves or buds?

John400HPS

John400HPS

Well-Known Member
Hi,
Would you agree that if you are growing a foot tall plant with 5 cfl bulbs it is impossible to get the lights within 1" of the buds without leaving the fan leaveson the outside of the reflectors? In this case should you put the lights on the buds or the fan leaves? Putting the lights on the fan leaves will leave them about 4" away from the buds.
thanks
-John
 
F

Fallen Buckshot

Guest
yah if you are going to have 5 cfl's that close you will need a fan or 2 prolly
 
mmccrory

mmccrory

Well-Known Member
try to spread the light out as evenly as possible, while keeping the lights fairly close...i can assure you, you will NEVER get the lights exactly how you want them, and if you do, it will only last till tomorrow when u have to move them again lol
i am basically doing what you are describing right now, although mine is over a foot, but its definitely still on the short side, and it has 6 26w on it and is doing great! 4 on top and 2 on the sides
 
mmccrory

mmccrory

Well-Known Member
and like buckshot said, u need a fan...i have an oscillating fan running 24/7 in the closet, its enough to blow the hot air out, and keeps the leaves swaying gently
 
John400HPS

John400HPS

Well-Known Member
The plant is on a windowsill in an open room with a fan on it so ventilation is good. Right now i have a cola and 4 nodes with bud sites, so i have a 26 watter on each site. So one at the top and one bulb right on each budsite like an inch away. This leaves the fan leaves outside of the reflectors.
 
John400HPS

John400HPS

Well-Known Member
heres a picture i found online of a similar set up as mine. You can see fan leaves are outside of the light, while lights are placed right on each individual budsite
 

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growitEZ

growitEZ

Well-Known Member
John400HPS said:
heres a picture i found online of a similar set up as mine. You can see fan leaves are outside of the light, while lights are placed right on each individual budsite
Click to expand...

hey i have one of those black clamp lamps... for rite now just let your plant fill out more, i like focus more lite on the buds so i cut some fan leaves. i dont know if u shuld do this, unless ur plant is a good size.
 
John400HPS

John400HPS

Well-Known Member
Well my plant is actualy 9 days into flower. Each budsite has pistils with small caylaxes waiting to swell :hump: However its not very bulky because it was started with 12/12 lighting and showed its first pistil after just 2 weeks! (2700k lighting the whole way, maybe that did it?) It is also a fast flowering strain which is suposed to finish in 6 weeks (passion 1)
 
Dr.RR

Dr.RR

Active Member
John400HPS said:
Im still wondering, is it better to put the bulbs on the bud sites or the fan leaves??
Click to expand...
I've got my CFL's as close to the bud as possible. If you could build a small box or whatever....even put up white paper around the plant or sumthin...that can reflect the light you'll be good to go. Even though my CFL's are about an inch from my buds, the light relfects off of the white I got up and hits the fan leaves as well. Hope I made some sense, I'm enjoying some good smoke from my first plant! :peace:
 
John400HPS

John400HPS

Well-Known Member
thanks DR.RR i think thats what im going to do. Ill also consider building a box or moving it to the closet which has white walls. So long as the temps are good
 
Z

Zylar

Active Member
This is a subject of much debate, I've found. Some people swear having the light directly on their buds increases the size of those buds. Others have told me that it's the fan leaves that collect the light to make the buds grow. Chlorophyll (the chemical that converts light to energy) is what makes plants green; in theory the leaves have more of it than the buds, since the buds are usually lighter green with less surface area in direct light.

Personally, I really don't know which is better, I've always wanted to do a side by side comparison with identical clones. But with growing other plants, would you expect the leaves or the flower(bud) itself to absorb the light? Like with a rose or sunflower or something. Or expecting the orange to absorb the light on an orange tree? The pot bud is for seed production, like an orange or sunflower. Just something to think about.
 
DaGreenThumb

DaGreenThumb

Member
lol u dont put more light on a red apple for a tree to produce c02 so it can produce apples and if the was the case what spectrum of light would benefit a red apple, green and yellow? which they say r useless . so i would say put it on the fan leaves which give the plant exactly what it needs
 
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