Going from mh to cfl

Heterotextual

Well-Known Member
Right now I'm using a 1000w mh bulb for my vegging and cloning, I want to save power so the person at the store I go to said that I should use the 300w cfl. I need it for 50 little ones and she said that it won't be much of a difference, what do you guys think?
 

ataxia

Well-Known Member
is this a fucking joke? how would 300 watts of cfl compare to 1000 watt mh??
sure you can veg plants under cfls ..but 300 watts will be no match for your 1000
 

sickstoner

Well-Known Member
lowe's has a good deal on 65Watters there the size of footballs. i would go with a higher watt then a shit load of small ones.IMO and i vegg and keep my mother under these and they grow bushy
 

sickstoner

Well-Known Member
is this a fucking joke? how would 300 watts of cfl compare to 1000 watt mh??
sure you can veg plants under cfls ..but 300 watts will be no match for your 1000
I don't think that's what he was getting at. i think he just wanted to switch and use that amount not that it was equal.
 

Brick Top

New Member
The difference in light will be considerable. It would take, roughly, five 125-watt CFLs (actual wattage - and NOT the home lighting type and instead real CFL grow light bulbs) just to equal a 400-watt light, so again the difference in lighting would be considerable.

What the person might have meant was for your purposes the CFL would do what you ask of it. Frankly 1000-watts for clones is a tad bit more than would be needed unless someone's light was WAY, WAY away from the clones. For vegging unless you veg to a somewhat short height there is no way in the world that any CFL of any wattage will perform with a 1000-watt light with a MH bulb. Still for the difference in operational costs the CFLs might still give you enough.

You have to decide if you would rather drop all the way down to CFLs or just switch to a lower wattage HID light for clones and vegging or possibly consider LEDs, but IF you do DO NOT consider them unless you can afford to purchase high-quality LEDs and to purchase them in adequate sizes and numbers because if you purchase low-quality LEDs or do not purchase enough of them you will end up wishing you went CFL or stuck to your 1000-watter.
 

ataxia

Well-Known Member
sorry for the outburst. I was more upset that someone recommended you to only use a 300 cfl to make up for your 1000 mh. But if your looking to veg with cfls .... you can get great results with very little stretch... I'm a cfl grower. and they work fantastic in veg. I could put some of my vegging plants up against some with hids . flowering is a whole different ballpark though when it comes to cfls.
 

wbaphil

Member
sorry for the outburst. I was more upset that someone recommended you to only use a 300 cfl to make up for your 1000 mh. But if your looking to veg with cfls .... you can get great results with very little stretch... I'm a cfl grower. and they work fantastic in veg. I could put some of my vegging plants up against some with hids . flowering is a whole different ballpark though when it comes to cfls.
is it possible to flower with them tho, im running 2 250w 6400 k for 5 plants, im going to buy 2 250w 2700 bulbs for flowering, will this work or wat would you suggest? first time grower but seem to be doing quite well at the minute, all advice greatly appreciated
 

Heterotextual

Well-Known Member
I just need it to veg, to flower I got 1000w hids and don't plan on going any lower, and the cfl, its one of those huge ones, like the size of. A football
 

ataxia

Well-Known Member
is it possible to flower with them tho, im running 2 250w 6400 k for 5 plants, im going to buy 2 250w 2700 bulbs for flowering, will this work or wat would you suggest? first time grower but seem to be doing quite well at the minute, all advice greatly appreciated
hell yeah it'll work .. i think with the amount of cfl your using that you'd be better off with an HID. but cfls are great fucking lights .... i only have knowledge of growing with cfls . they are great. just make sure, if your growing for some kind of yield, that that light is as close as possible to every bud site without burning them. but either way, if it's your first grow... your gonna do well what your working with.. those lights will not disappoint you.
I will say that if you can use all four 250 wt cfls you have. DO IT!! as long as you can keep your room cool enough you'll get some dense buds out of that much light for sure.
 

wbaphil

Member
hell yeah it'll work .. i think with the amount of cfl your using that you'd be better off with an HID. but cfls are great fucking lights .... i only have knowledge of growing with cfls . they are great. just make sure, if your growing for some kind of yield, that that light is as close as possible to every bud site without burning them. but either way, if it's your first grow... your gonna do well what your working with.. those lights will not disappoint you.
I will say that if you can use all four 250 wt cfls you have. DO IT!! as long as you can keep your room cool enough you'll get some dense buds out of that much light for sure.
yea thx for all that advice, i was planning on just buying the 2 flowering bulbs and just swapping bulbs, so only running the 2 lights at once, keep reading and thinking and more i do, the more i decide on getting a hid for flowering, 600w-1000w, im wanting this crop to produce as much as i can, not that im greedy or anything, just like weed and of course wanna be succseful, thanks once again
 
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