Am I Crazy?

[Il Cuoco]

Hi guys, i'm writing to tell you something really strange I am experiencing...

About four months I had m first yeld, grown outdoor on my sunny balcony here in Italy...very good pot and nice results.

Anyhow, I was afraid for the winter, as I knew my last yeld wouldn't have last for too long.
So I decided to build a small growroom but money was scarce and didn't want to spend too much in electricity...so I decided to try with energy-saving lights, lots of energy-saving lights instead of one expensive WATT-eating HPS.

So I installed 3 warm-light bulbs and 2 white-light, an heating fan to keep the temp good, planted some spare seeds i already had at home and crossed my fingers.

I spent 50 euros for the bulbs and 20 for wires and the metallic support where I mounted the lights and, most important of all, the whole set up only consumes 150 watts!

...I never thought it could work...otherwise all the people who spends six times what I spent would be wasting their money for ages without any reason.

The plants grew, grew and still keep growing...we are now at the fourth month and will switch in flower mode in days: they're about 1,50 m high with wide green leaves...really healthy.

What's up? Why everyone keeps spending a fortune in HPS lamps?
I think HPS are heaters which also produce light instead of lights whitch also produce heat...aha

 

[mygirls]

light, air flow is al you need to grow with any light, but its the lights that do make a big big diffrence in yeilds. hell you can grow with normal soft white house lights but your not going to get them nice hard nugs and a smaller yiels, but yes it can be done with any lights...

 

[Arsehole]

Once you start flowering you'll see why more people don't go with just cfl's

 

[teflondummy]

Cfls can produce thick buds if applied properly. When used with auto flower strains the plants stay short and the bulbs can be right on top of the plant(3"-6"). If you use enough bulbs to cover them

 

[BoomerBloomer57]

But will they flower like this?

 

[MuntantLizzard]

Yes you are crazy, and Ill tell you why in one moment.

 

[MuntantLizzard]

http://www.hobbes-l.tc/Body.html

CFLs and LEDs suffer from the Average Lumen Fallacy: All that has to be done
is to add bulbs until we have the same Photosynthetically Usable Radiation (PUR
as opposed to PAR). The Average Lumen Falacy leaves us with a light intensity
problem that requires much greater growing skill than does an HPS flowering
lamp. You'll probably meet some of the best growers here on the CFL forum
because they have to be better to get good yields from less resources.
Plant light receptors evolved to absorb intense light over a short periods through
the day, then rest, then absorb again - they are less efficient at absorbing light
from one stationary source over 12 hours; and a chemical signal is sent by the
plant when it receives intense light: "Grow like crazy, hold nothing back! We'll get
lots intense of light later because we got it before, hold nothing back!" Like
exercising to loose weight - we don't just burn more calories while we are
running, the body's metabolism speeds up and we burn more energy 24/7, even
when we are sleeping.
If you're a Stargate Atlantis fan think Wraith biologically based Hyperdrive vs
Ancient technologically based. The Wraith's drive has to rest at short intervals but
will heal itself like any living creature. Trade offs. Plant Light Receptor vs Solar
Panel.

 

[golddog]

But will they flower like this?

I have 2 grow areas, and the CLF's don't get long colas or big yield.

Side by side I get 4 times the weight with HPS, but the Buds grown under the CFL's are awesome.

 

[bestbuds09]

you are not crazy if you want to save money. so no you are not crazy for growing with cfls. The one thing i will say is that in the end (harvest time) you will notice that the buds you will get are going to be very fluffy and light and they will not "fill" in all the way as they would with HID. CFL's are not bad at all to grow but you will need a lot of them to get a very hard fat bud. I myself grow with cfls but when i flower i switch it to a 150hps and that will make my buds be more dense and fat. and next time you are going to spend 50 euros on lights i would suggest to do some shopping around since a 150hps runs about 60-90 US dollars which makes it about 45 to 70 euros more or less. correct me if im wrong.

 

[MuntantLizzard]

Yes, Your right but running the hps and cfl watt for watt, HPS is cheaper.
That chart only compares lumen out put.

 

[MuntantLizzard]

What you are looking for is a lumen Per watt.

 

[bunnyface]

Hi guys, i'm writing to tell you something really strange I am experiencing...

About four months I had m first yeld, grown outdoor on my sunny balcony here in Italy...very good pot and nice results.

Anyhow, I was afraid for the winter, as I knew my last yeld wouldn't have last for too long.
So I decided to build a small growroom but money was scarce and didn't want to spend too much in electricity...so I decided to try with energy-saving lights, lots of energy-saving lights instead of one expensive WATT-eating HPS.

So I installed 3 warm-light bulbs and 2 white-light, an heating fan to keep the temp good, planted some spare seeds i already had at home and crossed my fingers.

I spent 50 euros for the bulbs and 20 for wires and the metallic support where I mounted the lights and, most important of all, the whole set up only consumes 150 watts!

...I never thought it could work...otherwise all the people who spends six times what I spent would be wasting their money for ages without any reason.

The plants grew, grew and still keep growing...we are now at the fourth month and will switch in flower mode in days: they're about 1,50 m high with wide green leaves...really healthy.

What's up? Why everyone keeps spending a fortune in HPS lamps?
I think HPS are heaters which also produce light instead of lights whitch also produce heat...aha

heya,,
my exp with cfl's is the buds wont be as thick and dense,,espically if the plants are so tall.the lower nuggets will be tiny.. I think the light setup would need to be sorted to give the lower parts extra light. hps penatrte foilage and canopyies.. maybe you shouldnt dis hps untill you have brought them through flower,,,and then dry wieghted them see whos laughing.
also in my view at the end of the grow with the lumens per watt per 30days is what matters.
yes cfl are great,,I wont use out else for my veg and seedling/clones but for good nuggets my hps kicks my red 250w cfl hands down, espically for the size of room it can iluminate,yes every foot light diminshes to 1/4 the orginal, so 600w=90,000 at 1 foot, will be 22,500 at 2 foot but with the right setup my 3x3x9 foot tent can be filled with plants....where as Id need lots of cfl's for it.
Im not sure but a cfl has a worse distance to lumens ratio,,say my 250w makes 19,500(just enough for two small plants as 10,000 lumens a plant is needed in flowering) at 1 foot its nearly 1/6 that at 2 foot.
anyhow take iteasy and good luck...

 

[legallyflying]

Yeah if you want to save money,its always a good idea to choose a bulb with lower lumens per watt . But they don't put off any heat. Oh wait, bulbs of the same wattage put off the same heat? Man, physics is a real bitch.

There is nothing funnier to me than a grower with 250 watts of cfl's. Why wouldn't you just get a 250 HPS? I guess fi your broke, your broke and that is that but if your going to spend all the time it takes to grow weed (and the fucking RISK!) why not do it properly?

 

[legallyflying]

Cfls can produce thick buds if applied properly. When used with auto flower strains the plants stay short and the bulbs can be right on top of the plant(3"-6"). If you use enough bulbs to cover them View attachment 1310510View attachment 1310511View attachment 1310512View attachment 1310513View attachment 1310514View attachment 1310515

BTW, Yoda Would NEVER grow with Cfl,s (or use co2 without a ppm meter)

 

[IAm5toned]

grown under nothing but the same (4) 43w cfl's from seedling to harvest
its all about the correct spectrum.

 

[spandy]

There is nothing funnier to me than a grower with 250 watts of cfl's. Why wouldn't you just get a 250 HPS? I guess fi your broke, your broke and that is that but if your going to spend all the time it takes to grow weed (and the fucking RISK!) why not do it properly?

Same here. Brand new 250 with ballast and reflectors can be had for 100 bucks brand new. Whats it cost to setup a cfl grow with the same amount of lumens, can't be that much cheaper and the setups I see with cfls 9 out of 10 look like an electrical fire waiting to happen.

 

[spandy]

grown under nothing but the same (4) 43w cfl's from seedling to harvest
itrs all about the correct spectrum.

Measuring sticks don't tell the tale. I could pull on my dick and make it look bigger and a photo would fool you all. Girth is what counts.

What did it weigh dry?

 

[IAm5toned]

i think i got somewhere bout 2.25z's form that plant? hell it was ages ago.

 

[bunnyface]

yeah,,its not the lenght or width,,its density and wieght,,,wait till harvest and post wet wieght and then dry/cured wieght,,and an hps woulda made the whole branch likea cola.

 

[teflondummy]

Cfls run much cooler and are best suited to small spaces. My grow space is 3' feet tall. Not everyone has a whole room to work with.