CFL lighting question

I was looking into getting the following setup for a little grow closet. Didn't want to go HPS cause of heat so just wanted some feedback if this would grow some decent for a 3 plant setup. How would it compare to using a 400W HPS. Got some Lowryder 2 seeds and some white widow, figure if I plant 6 I should hopefully get 3 females.

Oh, and I was going to add some side lighting with some CFLs on the side, about 70W per side. Probably going to try to get a set of warm and a set of cold bulbs.

Oops, totally spaced on the specs:

Includes a total of five 105 watt light bulbs; two 30K Spirals, two 65K Spirals and one 50K Tube style bulb. Can be set up to be used for both the pure vegetative and the pure flowering configurations. Uses 3 bulbs at once.

this is what my cfl grow turned out like and I only had a 68watt(2700k)and 42watt(2700k)only vegged two weeks and then went into flower early

I grow 2 plants under a bunch of 42watt CFLs fairly well. SeeMoreBudds is famous for using 42watts for growing and wrote about about getting almost 9 oz off of 3 plants under 6 lights for 100 bucks worth of materials. HPS will be much better. How much better? I don't know, you won't get an exact answer from anyone. When I was considering, I browsed through pictures and pretty much saw that HPS plants grow twice the size. So if your really going all out on it, go buy one. If its your first grow, I think its better trying to go cheap and grow it right, then invest in it when you learn from noobie mistakes. I'm not a very experienced grower, but I'm glad I started with bagseed so I didn't have to have a heart attack over browning leaves on a seedling white widow.

tone702 said:

this is what my cfl grow turned out like and I only had a 68watt(2700k)and 42watt(2700k)only vegged two weeks and then went into flower early

Click to expand...

Very nice!

You will need about 8 30 watt cfls for three plants. Make sure you mix the spectrum. PM me for more info

Thanks for the help guys, good to know I am on the right track.

that is freaking alot of big CFLs i wish i had those 2 extra side lightings

There is nothing wrong with cfl's you can get a decent crop using em and extremely good for beginners, the likes of me n you!! lol!!!
they have there advantages as they don't produce too much heat, there alot cheaper, self ballast, but the main disadvantage is that lumens from cfl's do not travel that far so you must place them alot closer to plants to be most effective whereas HPS lights offer a much higher lumen to watt ratio also HPS lights will penetrate more giving you them big fluffy buds!! but you will have to focas a hell of alot more to keep the heat down and stable.

220w red cfl + 19w Blue for side lighting
This picture was taken on the forth week of 12/12.

Don't let the CFL's fool you... they still throw off heat. Touch the base (ballast) and its HOT. You will still need good venting / air movement.

skoooooot said:

Don't let the CFL's fool you... they still throw off heat. Touch the base (ballast) and its HOT. You will still need good venting / air movement.

Click to expand...

I totally agree with you, but I'm just saying that in tight spaces the heat from cfl's are much more controllable then a HPS.