Im growing in a Phototron unit that has 6 55 watt compact fluorescents. I had never paid much attention to the bulbs until finding this forum and getting an education about light spectrums and the plants needs during vegetative and flowering stages.
According to what I read I need 5000-6500K bulbs for vegetative, and 2500-3000K bulbs for flowering. When I checked the bulbs I had I discovered they were all 4000K bulbs. Middle of the road and not good for growing as I understand it.
I decided to get new bulbs and purchased some 3000K bulbs and some 6500K bulbs. I had plants in vegetative state in the unit that were about 4 weeks old. I decided to replace 3 of the existing 4000K bulbs with 6500K bulbs. Big mistake. Within 24 hours the plants, which had been thriving, started to collapse. The leaves shriveled and dropped. They looked like they were wilting from lack of water, but that was not the case. Since the only thing that had changed were those bulbs, I switched back to the original 4000K bulbs. The plants completely recovered, and are now starting week 3 of flowering, and are totally incredible.
So valuable lesson learned. Dont mess with success. If you want to experiment, be careful how you do it. I will finish this batch without any more changes. The reason for this post is to discuss the future.
I need some opinions please on a couple issues. First, are 6500K bulbs too strong for vegetative? Should I have gone to 5000K instead? Should I start the next batch using all 6500K bulbs? Based on this experience I would be afraid to use all 6500K bulbs and then switch to 3000K. Should I start the next batch with three 3000K bulbs and three 6500K bulbs? That way the lighting would never change but they would be getting the correct light spectrum regardless of plant stage?
Thanks. I've learned a ton here reading everyone's contributions.
According to what I read I need 5000-6500K bulbs for vegetative, and 2500-3000K bulbs for flowering. When I checked the bulbs I had I discovered they were all 4000K bulbs. Middle of the road and not good for growing as I understand it.
I decided to get new bulbs and purchased some 3000K bulbs and some 6500K bulbs. I had plants in vegetative state in the unit that were about 4 weeks old. I decided to replace 3 of the existing 4000K bulbs with 6500K bulbs. Big mistake. Within 24 hours the plants, which had been thriving, started to collapse. The leaves shriveled and dropped. They looked like they were wilting from lack of water, but that was not the case. Since the only thing that had changed were those bulbs, I switched back to the original 4000K bulbs. The plants completely recovered, and are now starting week 3 of flowering, and are totally incredible.
So valuable lesson learned. Dont mess with success. If you want to experiment, be careful how you do it. I will finish this batch without any more changes. The reason for this post is to discuss the future.
I need some opinions please on a couple issues. First, are 6500K bulbs too strong for vegetative? Should I have gone to 5000K instead? Should I start the next batch using all 6500K bulbs? Based on this experience I would be afraid to use all 6500K bulbs and then switch to 3000K. Should I start the next batch with three 3000K bulbs and three 6500K bulbs? That way the lighting would never change but they would be getting the correct light spectrum regardless of plant stage?
Thanks. I've learned a ton here reading everyone's contributions.
