Hi all new to the site so sorry if this has been answered before just wondering if what i'm thinking is right first off is there an advantage to veg with say a 300 watt duel light than just using say a 300 just blue spec would the 300 blue give faster growth also with duel dose this mean you have 150 watt red and 150wat blue if your using a 300 duel. also when it comes to flower would i be right in thinking if my 300 duel give 5 plants an average yield of 14g if i was to use a 300 red instead of the duel could i expect to double my yield any help would be cool
Cfl light help !
- Thread starter tuxxy132
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THE KONASSURE
Well-Known Member
A 300w cfl in reality could give you maybe 3 nice plants
Maybe even 4 if you go with auto`s
So go with 8 plants and 2 300w red end cfl`s aim for around 3000k
If you ran 8 autos under that in 15L pots you`d seed a fair bit more then 14g per plant if you grow it right even a small auto can put out an oz in a 15L pot in good soil just feeding bio bizz.
they finish in 70 to 80 days too so you aint growing them for ages
It`s the easy`st way to get something good cheap but the seeds add up as you can`t clone
Personally if you want to use cfl`s I always say buy 105w e27`s their dirt cheap and give off far less heat the 2700k ones give good light you might need to feed some extal cal/mag to your plants but apart from that gravy for a cheap light source if you don`t want the hassle of running hps
But you`ll still need extraction and or a fan because 3 to 6 of them will give off some heat you might be ok for the winter if your place gets cold but come summer you`ll need extract, plus the smell so you might want to filter.
Maybe even 4 if you go with auto`s
So go with 8 plants and 2 300w red end cfl`s aim for around 3000k
If you ran 8 autos under that in 15L pots you`d seed a fair bit more then 14g per plant if you grow it right even a small auto can put out an oz in a 15L pot in good soil just feeding bio bizz.
they finish in 70 to 80 days too so you aint growing them for ages
It`s the easy`st way to get something good cheap but the seeds add up as you can`t clone
Personally if you want to use cfl`s I always say buy 105w e27`s their dirt cheap and give off far less heat the 2700k ones give good light you might need to feed some extal cal/mag to your plants but apart from that gravy for a cheap light source if you don`t want the hassle of running hps
But you`ll still need extraction and or a fan because 3 to 6 of them will give off some heat you might be ok for the winter if your place gets cold but come summer you`ll need extract, plus the smell so you might want to filter.
Thanks for advise konassure, so with regards to the veg stange is there any point changing to a 300 6400k blue, will it speed things up compaired to the duel RED 2700K & BLUE 6400K duel or would you just keep that for veg and swop out to 300 red for flowering is 2700k okay as thats all i can find at local shop ?
SnotBoogie
Well-Known Member
I yielded 12g of good product under only 69 WATTS of CFL, in a 3 litre container.
Nirvana ak-48.
Nirvana ak-48.
Brother Numsi
Well-Known Member
Got any specs on those 150 watters? If they are true 150 watt bulbs I'd get 3-4 "Y" adaptors and fill them with those bulbs to get much more than some airy buds if you can only use CFL for that many plants start to finish...you'll need more light. How big of an area do you have? If you go with 2 you'll have little throw and penetration.
brother numsi http://www.basementlighting.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?page=1/prod/elc250 this is the light its not a small cfl like your thinking 8" long duel with hanger
Brother Numsi
Well-Known Member
Right bulbs...cool. Snot did fine with 1 plant, but the more plants the more space needed. konassure gave good advice on additional CFL and ventilation. Since the srea covered by the single bulb is limited I think maybe 2 plants and look out for stretch.
robert030188
Well-Known Member
They are right, if you want both spectrums you should keep em at a 3:1 ratio 3 6500k to 1 2700k for veg and vice versa for flower
robert030188
Well-Known Member
No prob any time bro
THE KONASSURE
Well-Known Member
You can veg under any cfl K rating but people seam to say 5700k gives you the best results
Personally I think 2700k or 3000k does a better job of vegging but you do get fatter stems and you will need to watch out for cal/mag deficiencies but I think "red" cfl`s give more Par light the only issue is sometimes you want to boost the red spectrum to induce flowering running more "cool" cfl`s during veg and upping the red when you want to flower makes triggering flowering much easier.
There`s 2 simple solutions to this, 1 is to use auto flowering plants but the down side is under all warm cfls they do start to flower a bit sooner so you get your bud quicker but you also lose a bit of yield but you get nicer more developed buds
2, use normal plants but when making the switch from veg to flower leave them in total darkness for 1 to 2 days before turning the lights on also a spray or feed of a blooming hormone feed will help set them into flowering mode.
It`s all very complex but very simple too more par light normally means better weed and more of it
one thing I noticed is that warm cfl`s emit more IR so they give off a bit more heat then cool ones but the name pretty much leads you to expect that anyway.
I`d always use 2700k 105w e27 bulbs as they cost almost nothing plus you can buy a lamp fitting for 50p so around £11 to £15 per 105w of 2700k that`s a fair bit of par light for your money.
I mean I used to be happy to pay £1 per 1w of light when buying leds now days I`d want to try to spend 50p per watt with 105w cfl`s you can do can get probably spend 10p per watt now @ 2700k you get a lot of par light
a 600w hps is about the best value for money light as it just seams to do more work and penetrate way better then cfl`s do so for value alone they are good but then heat and stealth are 2 things where hps do not score as well as cfl`s and leds do
Get some more 2700k cfl`s and if you want to splash out then for every 2 plants buy a 12% uvb bulb you can find them on ebay start using them about 2 to 3 weeks into flowering and you`ll notice they will help your buds frost up more.
I think they do the 12%`s in 30w size most people use them for 2 to 6 hours of their lighting times I use them for the full 11 or 12 hours but I move them around every day or 2 using them to target the least frosty buds so that I get a more consistent harvest.
Well I used to I have no need for them now days as I have a 200w induction lamp and I just use some 105w cfls for side lighting but that`s just me being really anal as I have about 600w of just red and blue led that go`s on during flowering.
It`s a ton of light considering I only finish between 6 and 10 plants under all that light but you really can`t argue with the buds I`ve been pulling out of my grow I mean there not better then the best stuff I`ve seen online but they are better then anything I see being sold in my area, bar maybe 1 grower who`s a friend of mine
But even he thinks I`m going to kick his weeds ass with my next crop luck for him I just grow for personal. lol
Personally I think 2700k or 3000k does a better job of vegging but you do get fatter stems and you will need to watch out for cal/mag deficiencies but I think "red" cfl`s give more Par light the only issue is sometimes you want to boost the red spectrum to induce flowering running more "cool" cfl`s during veg and upping the red when you want to flower makes triggering flowering much easier.
There`s 2 simple solutions to this, 1 is to use auto flowering plants but the down side is under all warm cfls they do start to flower a bit sooner so you get your bud quicker but you also lose a bit of yield but you get nicer more developed buds
2, use normal plants but when making the switch from veg to flower leave them in total darkness for 1 to 2 days before turning the lights on also a spray or feed of a blooming hormone feed will help set them into flowering mode.
It`s all very complex but very simple too more par light normally means better weed and more of it
one thing I noticed is that warm cfl`s emit more IR so they give off a bit more heat then cool ones but the name pretty much leads you to expect that anyway.
I`d always use 2700k 105w e27 bulbs as they cost almost nothing plus you can buy a lamp fitting for 50p so around £11 to £15 per 105w of 2700k that`s a fair bit of par light for your money.
I mean I used to be happy to pay £1 per 1w of light when buying leds now days I`d want to try to spend 50p per watt with 105w cfl`s you can do can get probably spend 10p per watt now @ 2700k you get a lot of par light
a 600w hps is about the best value for money light as it just seams to do more work and penetrate way better then cfl`s do so for value alone they are good but then heat and stealth are 2 things where hps do not score as well as cfl`s and leds do
Get some more 2700k cfl`s and if you want to splash out then for every 2 plants buy a 12% uvb bulb you can find them on ebay start using them about 2 to 3 weeks into flowering and you`ll notice they will help your buds frost up more.
I think they do the 12%`s in 30w size most people use them for 2 to 6 hours of their lighting times I use them for the full 11 or 12 hours but I move them around every day or 2 using them to target the least frosty buds so that I get a more consistent harvest.
Well I used to I have no need for them now days as I have a 200w induction lamp and I just use some 105w cfls for side lighting but that`s just me being really anal as I have about 600w of just red and blue led that go`s on during flowering.
It`s a ton of light considering I only finish between 6 and 10 plants under all that light but you really can`t argue with the buds I`ve been pulling out of my grow I mean there not better then the best stuff I`ve seen online but they are better then anything I see being sold in my area, bar maybe 1 grower who`s a friend of mine
But even he thinks I`m going to kick his weeds ass with my next crop luck for him I just grow for personal. lol
robert030188
Well-Known Member
Mine won't see 48 hours of darknees until right before harvest...you should be able to switch to 12/12 and have no prob goin into flower with 2700k
Indoor Sun King
Well-Known Member
That's really good for three 23W bulbs...can you elaborate on your setup and methods...cheers
bigbull52
Active Member
How long did you veg for?
whymedeisgns
Active Member
I would never use a y adapter for 2 x 150 bulbs. That's asking for a fire hazard. Those thigns are rated for like 60-80 watt max man. Unless you're getting some industrial grade variant.
I would put a 150 or highrr overhead and do side lighting. The issue with cfls and the reason the yield is so poor for so many people is because CFLs require close proximity. Get like 4-6 25w cfls on y splitters for side lighting and put a 150 overhead would be my advice. You won't ever get a strong potent yield with cfls that aren't close.
I would put a 150 or highrr overhead and do side lighting. The issue with cfls and the reason the yield is so poor for so many people is because CFLs require close proximity. Get like 4-6 25w cfls on y splitters for side lighting and put a 150 overhead would be my advice. You won't ever get a strong potent yield with cfls that aren't close.
THE KONASSURE
Well-Known Member
Yeah the cfl`s have to be pretty much touching the bud to get a decent yield
that`s why you need loads of them but the 2700k 105w ones that use a single tube emit more of the light from that tube they maybe less efficient then the ones that are made up of 4 U`s or 6 U`s or 9 U`s but having just 1 tube means the light source is more intense giving a bit more penetration, so you get more solid buds using the coiled type.
The U types are more efficient but as cfl`s seriously lack penetration anything that can penetrate more will help , OP should also consider buying a single led spot light with a 20w to 70w chip in either white or red flood that from above along with your cfl`s and you will get a much better yield these led spot lights are not too expensive.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10W-20W-30W-50W-Warm-Cool-White-Outdoor-Flood-Light-Waterproof-LED-Flood-Wash-/281022304193?pt=UK_Garden_Lighting&var=&hash=item416e3c0fc1
Something like that in warm white with the glass shield taken out would do a pretty good job, you can buy a kit and make your own or spend £20 to £100 on one a strong light source like that right above the plant then use your current cfl`s as side lights and you should see some good results
As I`ve seen a single 40w white led grow a pretty nice plant before.
that`s why you need loads of them but the 2700k 105w ones that use a single tube emit more of the light from that tube they maybe less efficient then the ones that are made up of 4 U`s or 6 U`s or 9 U`s but having just 1 tube means the light source is more intense giving a bit more penetration, so you get more solid buds using the coiled type.
The U types are more efficient but as cfl`s seriously lack penetration anything that can penetrate more will help , OP should also consider buying a single led spot light with a 20w to 70w chip in either white or red flood that from above along with your cfl`s and you will get a much better yield these led spot lights are not too expensive.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10W-20W-30W-50W-Warm-Cool-White-Outdoor-Flood-Light-Waterproof-LED-Flood-Wash-/281022304193?pt=UK_Garden_Lighting&var=&hash=item416e3c0fc1
Something like that in warm white with the glass shield taken out would do a pretty good job, you can buy a kit and make your own or spend £20 to £100 on one a strong light source like that right above the plant then use your current cfl`s as side lights and you should see some good results
As I`ve seen a single 40w white led grow a pretty nice plant before.
siq
Active Member
CFL growing is simple. Yes 3;1 ratio on veg and flower (blue to red, red to blue) if u want to go that way. If u want that many plants. Yes u will need way more lighting. CFL isnt really about the size considering they only reach to 250-400nm (nanometers) Which isnt far at all so closer the better . Why go with 150w true cfl lighting? that will put out more heat then 6 23 watts. i would stick to 42watts max and use multiple cfl lights. I got 8 23watt and 2 42watt for 1 plant 17" tall from soil. The more scattered lights u have the better off you are. But if u really want to use the red and blue lights. i would build a simple LED board. connecting LEDS are fairly simple read up on it for an hour. Yes it may cost more. but the red (660nm) and blue (740nm) have a way longer wave length then cfls.then add in a few true light 6400 led. don't buy the amazon led board those are fire hazards, do it right or don't do it at all. thats if u want good healthy looking nugs.