How to get huge, dense, sticky buds using CFLs - ONLY!

B166ER420 said:

I'm no expert .....but maybe try not to have such a big temp difference in temp swings from lights on to lights off and try to raise your humidity a little....hell even try some co2 during flower.Make sure you have fans blowing ,moving air around your plant.
Just trying to help...a peace offering of sorts.peace

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yeah i know, i need to get a environment controller cause eventually i wanna use the whole 8x10 room or at least half of it.. if i dont get good results from this vert grow im switch back to hort. i want a sentinel or even just a cooling controller i can hook up to my fan that brings air in so it doesnt get so cold and shuts off. ill do tweaks after this grow, i just started flowering

robnarley1111 said:

I don't have any experience with those, sorry. How many watts do they run? What plants did you grow with them?

Do you think the lack of a daylight spectrum or full spectrum lighting caused the buds to not be to your liking? I've come across several people/sources recommended a little blue light during flower to help with bud compactness. Not exactly sure if that's true or not but it sounds pretty logical.

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i agree what lumes do they put off? you need to start a thread with them so we can see you grow start to finish.
love and peace

I've just read and caught up on this thread.
Lot of cool stuff I saw.

Me, my cfl's are placed like this,
- top back left, top front left, top front right have 105w 2700k cfl's, 7500 lumens each.
- top middle, large 250w 2700k, at least 14,000 lumens
- front evenly placed at midpoint of each door is a light bar with four sockets. bar 1 has a lotus mini 125w 6500k, 9700 lumens, one 13w 2700k spiral, one 25w 2700k globe style bulb, and one 23w 2700k recessed at 1300 lumens. bar 2 has three 25w 2700k globe style bulbs and one 23w 2700k recessed.
- draped in back mid is a 36w 2700k
- top front right corner also has a 65w 6500k spiral
- top back right corner, way up in the corner, is the only LED, a 90w U.

At, or around 50,000 lumens of, mainly, cfl, the LED is about 3000 of those lumens.

870w of light plus outtake fan couple hundred watts. 1,200w cfl grow. 50,000 lumens, more concentrated light than HPS? But less lumens than the what the equivalent HPS ouput of 1000 watts is, by 100%

It's my first grow.


edit, I placed those light bars in hopes that the lower portions of some of the colas would go into flower as they were not receiving the best light.

not trying to knock any of the work that has gone into this, but didn't garden knowm put together a whole book on this? in like 2007? buds for less i think it was called...EDIT: YEAH, SORRY I'm AN IDIOT, ITS A STICKY...SORRY GUYS N GALS!

anywho--that hood looks pretty, well, gnarly, rob! nice work! Someone else asked and i didnt see a response, so whats the deal with the bulbs being placed so some are a bit behind the others in there? doesn't a some light get wasted, or bounced around a bunch before it hits the canopy?

did my first grows with cfls and a cheap chinese ufo off of ebay--like the first generation of those POS deals--and i gotta say, i think rob's got the cfl growing down to a science here. Word to the wise, i've heard a bit of buzz about black domina from Kannabia being a dense producer for those looking for genetics that might do well in this style. or rather, that kannabia did several different strains crossing with BD getting some nice dense buds. Karamela i think might be one name to check out.
Be easy!

robnarley1111 said:

I don't have any experience with those, sorry. How many watts do they run? What plants did you grow with them?

Do you think the lack of a daylight spectrum or full spectrum lighting caused the buds to not be to your liking? I've come across several people/sources recommended a little blue light during flower to help with bud compactness. Not exactly sure if that's true or not but it sounds pretty logical.

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Here's a link to the website of the bulb which I'm using...I use the 200W version...http://www.phytolite.com/CFL.html

I also have a link to my grow of a Royal Queen Diesel Auto...the previous grow I tried with this light. It ended up yielding about 60g dry which was okay but most of the buds were rather fluffy.
https://www.rollitup.org/auto-flowering-strains/731252-royal-diesel-automatic.html

I agree that something is missing during flowering, so I am looking to add another light to my current grow...I've almost (90%) convinced myself to go with LEDs but would like to keep to the CFL route seeing as how I have a 200W with very little hours on it.

fanofpanic said:

Here's a link to the website of the bulb which I'm using...I use the 200W version...http://www.phytolite.com/CFL.html

I also have a link to my grow of a Royal Queen Diesel Auto...the previous grow I tried with this light. It ended up yielding about 60g dry which was okay but most of the buds were rather fluffy.
https://www.rollitup.org/auto-flowering-strains/731252-royal-diesel-automatic.html

I agree that something is missing during flowering, so I am looking to add another light to my current grow...I've almost (90%) convinced myself to go with LEDs but would like to keep to the CFL route seeing as how I have a 200W with very little hours on it.

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Vn bulbs i would try and make a deflector and have 2-3 of them on top to focus the lumes down then i think your yield will increase allot.
Love and peace all

robnarley1111 said:

Your plants are looking good there! If you don't mind my suggestion, the leaves are a very dark-green color, indicative of "nitrogen overload." May help to ease the amounts of N down until they "say" they need more. Do you have any more pics of how your lighting is positioned on your plants so we can check it out?

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hi man sorry my lights are just a single 300w duel spectrum bulb in a standard hood about 5 inches from the tops i had to move them up because of burning issues. and as for the nutes i have them on half strength because of the nitrogen problem so im not sure how to go about fixing that i think it might just be the plant

ryanbuckz99 said:

hi man sorry my lights are just a single 300w duel spectrum bulb in a standard hood about 5 inches from the tops i had to move them up because of burning issues. and as for the nutes i have them on half strength because of the nitrogen problem so im not sure how to go about fixing that i think it might just be the plant

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i would vent your hood better to release heat. but 5 inches isnt too bad. i do like the bulb you are using.
Love and peace

ryanbuckz99 said:

im using the nuts to the t with the lucas formula i change then every 2 weeks now so im not sure if thats why my buds are so airy or is it because i didn't lst them or some thing and the lights are about 3 inches from the tops that burn was when the autos just blow up and started to touch the light when i went on holiday for 2 days

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IME, topping or FIM'ing has NOTHING to do with density of the buds.

B166ER420 said:

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B166ER420 said:

^like^
Awww man...i appreciate the kind words.....thanks a lot!


Strain-Mexibrick....schwag....dirtweed


Wattage-depends on what stage of growth I'm at.I have a veg box with 145w,my closet has two with 276w and one with 368w


I'm a 12/12 from seed grower but when I veg I usually veg long enough to top my plants down to 4-8 tops(6-10 weeks veg)

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robnarley1111 said:

LIKE! Hey, where's that freakin' "like" button? Nice, frosty bud there.

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robnarley1111 said:

Very, very nice! A perfect example of what CFLs can do. Love your hoods!

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Dr.J20 said:

not trying to knock any of the work that has gone into this, but didn't garden knowm put together a whole book on this? in like 2007? buds for less i think it was called...EDIT: YEAH, SORRY I'm AN IDIOT, ITS A STICKY...SORRY GUYS N GALS!

anywho--that hood looks pretty, well, gnarly, rob! nice work! Someone else asked and i didnt see a response, so whats the deal with the bulbs being placed so some are a bit behind the others in there? doesn't a some light get wasted, or bounced around a bunch before it hits the canopy?

did my first grows with cfls and a cheap chinese ufo off of ebay--like the first generation of those POS deals--and i gotta say, i think rob's got the cfl growing down to a science here. Word to the wise, i've heard a bit of buzz about black domina from Kannabia being a dense producer for those looking for genetics that might do well in this style. or rather, that kannabia did several different strains crossing with BD getting some nice dense buds. Karamela i think might be one name to check out.
Be easy!

Click to expand...

'like'...........

Question to you fellow CFLers, do you follow the 50W/SF rule?

Mashpotato Johnson said:

Question to you fellow CFLers, do you follow the 50W/SF rule?

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so you are saying in a 2' x 3' area you should have 300 watt cfl?

I have. 8 square foot area, and run over 1000w of cfl now.

wow that is allot of light.

The lights in your hood are overlapping and blocking each other. That light is trapped and never gets out.

The gull wing reflector you have pictured is much better than yours in efficiency. The lights are still a little too far away from the lights with it though, 1 inch max is the way to go.

The hood is better than nothing but not too efficient. Clamp reflectors or u shaped reflectors are much better. You want no more than 1 inch from the bulb to the reflector and you want the light funneled down to the plant. A baking pan type will not do that.

Individual 'beer can' reflectors or the clamp type that is large enough to extend to the ends of the bulbs really improve the lumens. I am sure you reflector is not giving you anywhere near the potential lumens of your bulbs.

Light comes out of the bulbs from the ends and out the sides radially like the spokes of a wheel. When the light come out the sides it only has a few inches of good intensity like 4 to 8 for the lower power cfls. If the reflector is is 4 inches from the the side of the bulb and then loses 10% on the bounce, goes and into the corner of the baking pan and finally comes out.... The light travels in a straight line from the sides and ends, keep that in mind.

If you have a flat reflector behind your cfl the light that is emitted directly behind from the bulb to the reflector is trapped there, never gets out.

I use a lux meter and verified all this info. Not knocking you but I know this stuff for fact. Nice of you to give a lot useful info on this subject.

Ok so I have 6 55w (200 watt equiv) with 3800 lumens each. my box is 3' w 3' d 5' h would this be too little? Hypothetically of course

yesum. so i shouldn't make a deflector panel since the bulbs will be several inches away from the reflector but make a shield for each bulb to reflect it down?

Well making a beer can reflector for each bulb would be perfect...but if you haven't seen my hoods,take a look back on the first page.My bulbs are angled and close to the sides to minimize the distance of reflected light.My small 5bulb hood is my favorite.