CFL questions: 55 watt and 42 CFLs

So i discovered that a good bit of the local hardware stores and walmart/etc carry 42 and 55 watt 2700K CFL's. (I went ahead and grabbed one 55 watt 27k)

Does anyone have any opinions on these versus using the smaller 23 watt CFL's? Thinking about getting a 55 watt CFL for each plant when they start to flower, and have one sitting right above each plant, and then having 2 23watt 27ks on the side of each plant.

like this (from a top view.):
--CFL-CFL---CFL-CFL---CFL-CFL--
--...........---...........---...........--
---55watt----55watt----55watt--
--...........---...........---...........--
--CFL-CFL---CFL-CFL---CFL-CFL--

i like that idea. with cls, they don't penetrate as much so it is a good idea to supplement the top lighting with side lighting. get it as close to the plant as yo can without burning it. a simple test is to use the back of your hand....too hot for your hand means it is too hot for the plant.

if budget isn't an issue (also, heat concerns) then go with the 42 instead of the 23 watters. the more light the better. good luck!

you will probably need around 6 per plant and if possible get a mix of blue 6400k and red 2700k

have 4x6400k 2x2700k for vegging

have 4x2700k 2x 6400k for flowering.


J

jondamon said:

you will probably need around 6 per plant and if possible get a mix of blue 6400k and red 2700k

have 4x6400k 2x2700k for vegging

have 4x2700k 2x 6400k for flowering.


J

Click to expand...

Did you read my question? I know how CFL's work, this is my third time using them. I was asking about 42 and 55 watt cfl's. 6 55watt CFL's on one plant at 3300Lumens per bulb would be around 18,000 Lumens on one plant if they're positioned efficiently... that's more than needed although it would still produce good results.. you can produce a 25 to 40 gram harvest of good bud from one plant using between 6 and 8 23 watt cfl's if you know what you're doing... i can't imagine how having almost 3 times that amount of light could be better looking at it from an efficiency perspective... maybe i'm wrong though...

i have a question i have 2 55 watt soft white cfl's on the top of my plant with 4 26 watt soft white cfl's on the sides of my plant is that enough to budd my 1 plant i think the softwhite is for budding and the daylight is for veg.. do i need to mix some daylight with my soft whites?

I think it is. I have a set-up with 7 top down lights. Plus three side lights per plant. CFL ratings of ~60 and 100 watt on top, and 100watts on the side. My 1st grow was closer to your total lumen output, but the buds never got dense - they stayed somewhat loose. Now, with the added lights (over three females out of five) the buds are firmer, but not huge. Top colas are big on all the stems, but decrease as you go down each stem stalk. We will never get the good light penetration the high dollar lights do.

I LST'd this grow aqnd have been reall happy with it. All I did was draw the branches toward one of two sides for each plant. This has worked better then I could have guessed.

6k - 6.5k (daylight) for veg...flower almost all @2.7k with one 150W 6000 in the middle.

Go ahead w/ what you've got for this grow. If you get loose buds, add more light next time.

Efficiency? Well, that depends on how ya look at it....No, you won't get 3x the yield, by having 3x the light, BUT, you'll end up with an extra couple hundred bucks worth of smoke, for an extra $10 or $20 worth of electric. Seems a good trade-off to me, idk.

I agree with jawbrodt. Based on this grow I'm in, the more "side lighting" I added has definetly made a difference. Larger buds throughout. Tighter buds, thicker and longer.

I also have used one large 150watt cfl @ 6k for the flower with all the rest @ 2.7k. I read somewhere it is good to have a little of you flowering light in the "daylight" range.

I've been looking for the CFL's that produce both red and blue spectrum, but don't trust the lights I've found that "say" they are. I did a little research on color temps of CFL manufacturers, and found some DO NOT produce what they say on the label. Go here (http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/reviews/news/4215199) for a review of CFL lights. I'll look to see if this has been posted b4, if not, I'll post the link in the CFL grow forum.

Also, cool little "nugget" - go to Lowes to buy your lights, if you are a veteran. Bring your DD214, get 10% off. They give discounts to vets. They also have the largest wattage ratings that I've found around where I live.

yeah i agree, and the 150w (equivilent 40w actual) cfls put out about 2700 lumens and are not a whole lot bigger, i would try and find those