stright cfl V's spiral cfls ?

a lot of websites (non-growing related) say that the stright style bulbs give of more light than the spiral ones yet every one seems to use them over the stright ones?

the glass is ment to be thicker to get them to curl in to tight spirals but as the stright ones are just stright they can be made of thinner glass

people say because the tube on a spiral is longer there more light but half of this is shining back on its self right?

which one is best for growing?

I think the reason for people using the spiral ones is that they are much cheaper than the long CFL's.
The long CFLS are like 60 bucks where the spirals are about 6 bucks

in england the strights are slighty cheeper. the stright ones go to higher watts as well


$60 for one light? what watt are they?

i would stick the cfl - the sprial ones, they are smaller, takes less space and are easier and cheaper to get going. Check out my journal to see my cfls

https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/64920-my-1st-grow-bagseeds-cfl.html

Are you talking about CFL - Compact Flourescent Tubes (the spirals)

Or.. The Flourescent Tubes that come in 2ft-4ft

I use both in my grow but the tubes take up a lot of room and i prop them straight up in 2 corners to provide 2ft of side lighting.

If you're talking about the straighter floodlight version of CFLs then... Use whatever you can get your hands on. The thicker glass argument means nothing since having more glass is really not going to affect the light's ability to pass through it.

The only thing robbing the light source of energy is the phosphor layer which turns the mercury vapor spectrum in to a much wider spectrum

the CFL bulbs the ones that fit in a normal BC lamp fitting

Do they screw in to normal sockets?

If they're those 'click in' type its totally not worth it

wth Higher wattage is good but getting full light coverage around your plant is more important in my experience with CFLS

i don't think the glass thickness argument holds water.

the spirals are made that way to have the same form factor as traditional light bulbs. when you get up above 42W or so, it's just not possible.

in terms of blocking light, i don't think there's that much of a difference, but it would be a complicated calculation. for the straight tubes, each tube of a cluster of four loses probably nearly a full half of the light it produces because of the other three. the sets of two would lose about 1/4, etc. the spacing of the spirals, however, may allow more light to pass from each tube. who knows ... i would say the difference is not great and to go with the lumen output.

what is sure, however, is that because they emit in all directions, reflectors and/or reflective walls are a must.

a point commonly missed is that while intensity does fall off as 1/d^2 from the light, that loss would be completely recovered if you were able to reflect 100% of the light until it struck a plant (and if air didn't slightly absorb light intensity). in other words, praise be to mylar!

THe spiral one also give a 360 degree light pattern like the tubes but the light reach is not as long as a tube. I use the spiral ones in the grow which are on theis site and they have never been trouble. Its actually easier to move them up and down, the tubes are very good but take up space.

the click in ones there BC and the screw ones are called ES and there both the same just 2 diffrent ways of doing it, and most of the CFL, you can get in both

Yes they are the same but a T5 tube puts off more lumens than a spiral CFL..So tubes are better if ya have the space. Goes like this T5-compact and gives good light T8-Bigger more glass but less light...T12 lil bigger than T8 puts out same amount of light. The T8,12 can be bought at Walmart of Homedepot. The T5 bulbs have to be ordered.

sorry i think i havent explained this propley i meen these bulbs

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h310/jamiewatling/2U_CFL.jpg

V's the spiral ones


not that actual bulb but that style

Ok, I see what you're talking about now

The simple answer is a spiral bulb and a longer one as the one you just showed will perform nearly the same (neglible differences)

I guess the only advantage of the longer ones would be more horizontal coverage? Though the 42W CFLs are like 5 inches long

I can get u a 65watt Equali. to 150 watt CFL at lowes for 20.00. Thats a big light

What if i was going to veg say about 15-20 plants for about 2-2 1/2 weeks before transplanting outside, would u all think the long tube flourescent lights, like T12 or T8 would be better than the spiral cfls? I think with that amount of plants u would almost have to use the long tubes, but tell me what u gusy think.

CFLs are better. you can more specifically place them for plants of varying heights. you also don't need a special fixture with built-in ballast like you do for t5s: the ballast is builit into the base of the bulb.

look up CFL growing on this forum. there is no T5 section that i know of. guess why!

OK cee u just keep thinking that. It all depends on the setup for the light setup. U grow with CFL of what I have and can prove all the nayayers wrong.

I'd love to see your results. I'm basing my opinion on personal results and those of others.

look at the grow journal on this site...2 o's off one plant grown with CFL's
https://www.rollitup.org/cfl-growing/53677-cfl-flowering-3-weeks.html

wait weren't you saying t5s are better than CFLs? all i see in your journal are CFLs