The Official Ghetto Growers Group

ezmac

Member
Concord where did you learn that turning cfl's sideways gives more light? If you learned it from jorge or soma then please show me. If not then dont get your info from friends or word on the streets. Vertical is best unless you can personally prove that one to me.
 

teflondummy

Well-Known Member
Concord where did you learn that turning cfl's sideways gives more light? If you learned it from jorge or soma then please show me. If not then dont get your info from friends or word on the streets. Vertical is best unless you can personally prove that one to me.
I read the same thing in a growers book some where. It didn't say that it gave of more light. It just said that more of the surface area of the bulb is facing the plant. I don't think it will make much off a difference as long as you don't have them pointed at the ceiling. Let me also add this, my house smells like a fucking skunk massacre right now.
 

Concord Dawn

Well-Known Member
Concord where did you learn that turning cfl's sideways gives more light? If you learned it from jorge or soma then please show me. If not then dont get your info from friends or word on the streets. Vertical is best unless you can personally prove that one to me.
well ez, i have no way to "prove" it, but i think most will agree that a cfl emits more light from the side than out of just the tip of the bulb. i guess the grow light
manufacturers dont relize they've been mounting those bulbs the wrong way either??? i knew i shouldnt have trusted that bum on the corner for infomation on cfl's, dammit!

CFL Light Tutorial

Plants use mostly red and blue light. Yellow and green light is of little use to them, so light that is emitted in these spectrums is wasted energy. Most of the light emitted by HPS lamps is in the yellow spectrum. Only a small amount of the emitted light is is in the orange or red spectrums, which plants use efficiently. Warm white fluorescents (2700 Kelvin) emit a greater portion in the red and orange sectors. Although fluorescents produce only about 75% of the light per watt that the HPS does, the amount of light usable by the plant is equal or probably higher with the fluorescents. You may wish to experiment to see if adding a single cool white CFL to replace one warm white results in shorter, stouter stems and more vigorous growth. The reasoning is that warm whites don't emit much blue light, which the plants use for photosynthesis and to regulate their growth. The cool white bulb supplies the blue light.
My call for your unit would be to use several (three to five) CFLs with a total input of between 120-160 watts. Although the 150 watt HPS is a bit more efficient that the CFLs in total output, watt for watt the fluorescents provide as much useful light as the HPS lamp. Heat is another consideration. The HPS runs much hotter and emits more heat than the fluoescents.
Make sure to use reflective material around the garden so that any light escaping the garden is reflected back to the plants. Any light that doesn't get to the plant leaves is wasted.
42 watt average $ 9 to $10.00 each
65 watts, = $19.99 average price ($16.95 now at Lowes and Home Depot)
85 Watt, average $29.00 each, can be found for $24.95 on Internet
105 watt average $34.95 to $38.99 each 105s come in Tube type and Spiral
Or Look for Clamp Reflectors and Bulbs together:
CFLs come in 15, 26, 42, 65, 85 and 105 watts and recently last year, even larger wattages. The 26s and smaller are not as efficient to me. 26s to 85s do not put out any noticable heat unless you use a lot of them.. The 105s do put out some heat, but not as much as HID lights. I can touch and hold a burning 65 or 85 watt bulb. The 42's are about $9 each. 65 watts are abut $17 to $20 each, 85s are $30 each, 105s are $39 to $42 each, average is $40 each for 105s. A CFL needs a reflector, like a hood. I like the $10 heavy duty clamp reflectors at Lowes, Home Depot or Walmart. They also offer a cheaper $8 reflector but it is smaller and flimsey.
With CFLs, you need the DUAL SPECTRUM, red and blue spectrums. That does not refer to the color of the bulb that you see. It refers to the kind of rays, like UVA or UVB, or the color temp, called kevins. CFLS come in 2700 kevins, 3000, 4100, 5100, and 6500. 2700k is for BLOOM OR FLOWERING , 6500k is the VEG Spectrum. The others are "MID" spectrums or in between. IF you use the MID-range bulbs (4100) then also use the 6500 and 2700s. In outdoors, the sun produces different rays in the spring (VEG Rays called Blue) and late summer for Bloom spectrum, the RED spectrum. The sun also produces green, and orange rays, but plants do not use them. (see more below)
CFLs are new on the scene, in 2006 the biggest made was 65 watts. When we talk about CFL watts, we are talking about the actually electricity used, NOT the equivalant. For example, a 15 watt CFL bulb puts out 60 watts.
Spiral and Tube type CLFS emit LIGHT FROM THE SIDES, NOT THE ENDS OR TIPS.
YOU CAN GET SPIRAL CFLS (15, 26, 42, 65, 85) AND TUBE TYPE CFLS 105s.
How much light is needed for growing? Depends on the size of plant you are trying to grow. I'll try to answer this "in general" instead of being specific to one size plant. Light seen and perceived with the human eye is measured in Lumens. There is an ideal amount of lumens for growing and a minimum amount of required lumens. The very minimum amount of light required for smaller sized plants grown is around 3000 lumens per square foot. Let me put emphasis on "minimum amount" of light. However, that's not 100% exactly accurate, since although you may have a 10,000 lumen light, the amount of light that reaches the plant varies with the distance between the light and plants, and the reflectivity of the grow area. The ideal amount is somewhere around 7000-10,000 lumens per square foot for average sized plants. As long as the plants do not show burn, as much light can be used as you want to use. (Note, the sun produces about 10,000 lumens per square foot, on a sunny mid summer day). Contracy to "talk" you CAN have too much light.
Determining lumens for your grow area: First determine the square footage of your area (example in a 4 foot by 4 foot area, there is 16 square feet, 2 by 2 feet is 4 Sq ft. ) If you have a 1000 Watt High Pressure Sodium Light Bulb, that produces approximately 107,000 lumens. Divide this by 16 (your square footage) 107,000 divided by 16 = 6687 lumens per square foot. So just divide the total amount of Lumens, by the total amount of square feet, and that's your lumens per square foot.
How far away from my plants do the lights go? The lights in your grow room should be as close as possible to the plants without burning them. There is no such thing as too much light, unless there is overly sufficient heat to dry out and burn the leaves. A good rule is to put your hand under the light, if its too hot for your hand, chances are that the plants will be too hot too, so move the light up until your hand feels more comfortable. For seedlings or sprouts, I keep them a little further away from the light, because they are very susceptible to burning and drying out, at these young stages.
How do I decide which lights to use? Efficiency is very important when choosing a type of light. The wattage is not the most important thing, different types of light produce different amounts of lumens per watt. For example, a 300 watt incandescent will produce about 5100 lumens. (not that you can grow with incandescent bulbs) While a 300 watt Metal Halide (just an example, they do not come in 300 watts), will produce 27,000 lumens. Obviously far more efficient for growing, while still using the same amount of electricity.
Approximate light production: Incandescents: 17 lumens/watt Mercury vapor: 45-50 lumens/watt Fluorescents: 60-70 lumens/watt Metal halide: 90 lumens/watt High pressure sodium: 107 lumens/watt
Incandescent lights: Incandescent bulbs are the most popular type of lights in the world. They may come advertised as incandescent, tungsten, quartz, halogen, or simply standard. The important thing about incandescent bulbs when it come to growing is simply this: they suck. Using incandescent bulbs to grow plants is like trying to flag down the Space Challenger with a burnt out match! You can do it, but it won't work. There are some incandescents which are sold as "grow lights." They usually have a blue coating and usually come in 60W and 120W sizes. While they may seem like a good choice to new growers, they are next to useless; they produce some light at a usable spectrum, but only have about a 5% efficiency and generate more heat than usable light. Most of us have these in our homes right now. Don't use them for growing, instead opt for a Compact Fluorescent, CFL, as a cheaper but more efficient alternative.
Fluorescent lights: Fluorescents are far more useful than incandescents. They are efficient enough, and much less expensive than HID (High Intensity Discharge) lights. Compact fluorescent tubes, (commonly called CFLs) are popular with growers because of their good output to size ratio. Compared to standard 4 foot tubes, CFLs are smaller, more easily moved, and more can fit into a given small area. CFLs are good for small grows on a tight budget, and for novice growers, since they do not require any special sort of wiring or understanding of the necessary bulbs for a given fixture, and the small wattage ones (23, 42 and 65) are very widely available. Fluorescent lights come in many different Kelvin (spectrum or color) ratings; often the spectrums are labeled on packaging as being 'cool white' or 'warm white.' Cool white is more blue, and is good for the vegetative stages of growth. The bulbs are ultra white. Warm white light is more reddish in spectrum, and is best for the flowering stage. The bulbs are almost cream colored.
Color rating - Measured in Kelvin (K). The higher the number, the more bluish the light. 4000K-7000K is mostly on the blue side of the spectrum for Vegging or GROWING, while 3000K and under goes from a white spectrum, to a redder spectrum and is best for BLOOMING or FLOWERING.
High Intensity Discharge (HID) Lighting Systems:
Mercury Vapor (MV) Mercury vapor lights are not the most efficient light for growing. They are very bright, and relatively cheap. They do emit light at the wavelengths necessary to support your plants growth, but not nearly as good as a MH or HPS light. Much of the light emitted by MV lights is bluish-white. Street lighting is what most MV lighting is used for.
Metal Halide (MH) Metal halide lighting systems are optimal for use in the vegetative phase of growing. They emit mostly blue light, which encourages vigorous growth of foliage. They are very efficient, but can get rather expensive to start with; fluorescents may seem more appealing because of their lower price, and they are not much different when compared on a lumen-to-lumen cost level. These lights can be used through-out the grow, but leave a lot to be desired in the BLOOM stage.
High Pressure Sodium (HPS) High pressure sodium lights emit mostly orange, yellow, and red spectrum light, which is perfect for the flowering stage of the plants growth. They are (in my opinion) the most efficient type of light available for any application if you are not on a budget and can vent the grow area for heat. HPS lights can be used through-out the entire grow. They produce more dense and usually larger flowers or fruit than any other light. HPS lights are generally a little more expensive than MH systems of similar wattage. They are more commonly used by experienced commercial growers because of their ability to produce tighter denser flowers, higher lumen-output-per-watt, and will produce from start to finish.
Just like everything else, available grow lights are evolving. Remember how the sun produces 10,000 lumens per square foot in the mid-summer. Well, today there are CFLs that can actually duplicate those lumens. If you can not grow under the sun, then bring the sun inside. Yes, you can have 20,000 lumens covering the entire grow space with the new 105 watt per bulb CFLs. Three of these bulbs in the proper reflector actually yields 20,000 lumens.
Low heat, energy efficient light bulbs . Available in blue (vegetative) and red (flowering) spectrums. I like being able to move the CFLS around, and lower them down in between the plants, the clamp- reflectors are just $ 8 to $10 each. Lowes, Walmart, Home Depot:
and get one of these extensions: and if you want to add two 42 watt lights to a reflector, you get a Y spliter.
This pic shows both COOL WHITE and WARM WHITE, or high and low kevin bulbs:
One of many mistakes I have made over the years, is I wish I had labeled or dated my bulbs.
I have some 65 and 85 watt bulbs, and they have seen 6 GROWS. I wish I knew how to distinguish them from the new ones.
I highly urge everyone to date-label your bulbs.
PurpDaddy added to this thread:
When given the choice of only one light, most marijuana growers will choose an hps grow light over mh, because hps lights are more efficient (larger harvest). You can't use a standard high pressure sodium bulb in a metal halide fixture, but you can use a metal halide bulb in a high pressure sodium fixture of the same wattage. There are special hps bulbs that can be used in a mh fixture and vice-versa. But these conversion bulbs cost about double the price of a standard bulb. A 250 watt fixture will supply enough light to cover a 2.5 foot by 2.5 foot grow area. (6 plants or less) A 400 watt fixture will supply enough light to cover a 4 foot by 4 foot grow area. (12 plants or less) A 600 watt fixture will supply enough light to cover a 5 foot by 5 foot grow area. (18 plants or less) A 1000 watt fixture will supply enough light to cover a 6.5 foot by 6.5 foot grow area. (30 plants or less)
IF you break a CFL
IF YOU BREAK A BULB... 1) Open a window before cleaning up, and turn off any forced-air heating or air conditioning.
2) Instead of sweeping or vacuuming, which can spread the mercury around, scoop up the glass fragments and powder. Use sticky tape to pick up remaining glass fragments or powder. Wipe the area clean with a damp paper towel or wet wipes.
3) Dispose of the broken bulb through your local household hazardous waste program or recycling program. If that service is unavailable in your area, place all clean-up materials in a trash container outside the building.
4) Wash your hands after cleaning up.
5) If vacuuming is needed afterwards, when all visible materials have been removed, vacuum the area and dispose of the vacuum bag in a sealed plastic bag. For the next few times you vacuum, turn off any forced-air heating or air conditioning and open a window before doing so.
 

Attachments

teflondummy

Well-Known Member
well ez, i have no way to "prove" it, but i think most will agree that a cfl emits more light from the side than out of just the tip of the bulb. i guess the grow light
manufacturers dont relize they've been mounting those bulbs the wrong way either??? i knew i shouldnt have trusted that bum on the corner for infomation on cfl's, dammit!

CFL Light Tutorial

Plants use mostly red and blue light. Yellow and green light is of little use to them, so light that is emitted in these spectrums is wasted energy. Most of the light emitted by HPS lamps is in the yellow spectrum. Only a small amount of the emitted light is is in the orange or red spectrums, which plants use efficiently. Warm white fluorescents (2700 Kelvin) emit a greater portion in the red and orange sectors. Although fluorescents produce only about 75% of the light per watt that the HPS does, the amount of light usable by the plant is equal or probably higher with the fluorescents. You may wish to experiment to see if adding a single cool white CFL to replace one warm white results in shorter, stouter stems and more vigorous growth. The reasoning is that warm whites don't emit much blue light, which the plants use for photosynthesis and to regulate their growth. The cool white bulb supplies the blue light.
My call for your unit would be to use several (three to five) CFLs with a total input of between 120-160 watts. Although the 150 watt HPS is a bit more efficient that the CFLs in total output, watt for watt the fluorescents provide as much useful light as the HPS lamp. Heat is another consideration. The HPS runs much hotter and emits more heat than the fluoescents.
Make sure to use reflective material around the garden so that any light escaping the garden is reflected back to the plants. Any light that doesn't get to the plant leaves is wasted.
42 watt average $ 9 to $10.00 each
65 watts, = $19.99 average price ($16.95 now at Lowes and Home Depot)
85 Watt, average $29.00 each, can be found for $24.95 on Internet
105 watt average $34.95 to $38.99 each 105s come in Tube type and Spiral
Or Look for Clamp Reflectors and Bulbs together:
CFLs come in 15, 26, 42, 65, 85 and 105 watts and recently last year, even larger wattages. The 26s and smaller are not as efficient to me. 26s to 85s do not put out any noticable heat unless you use a lot of them.. The 105s do put out some heat, but not as much as HID lights. I can touch and hold a burning 65 or 85 watt bulb. The 42's are about $9 each. 65 watts are abut $17 to $20 each, 85s are $30 each, 105s are $39 to $42 each, average is $40 each for 105s. A CFL needs a reflector, like a hood. I like the $10 heavy duty clamp reflectors at Lowes, Home Depot or Walmart. They also offer a cheaper $8 reflector but it is smaller and flimsey.
With CFLs, you need the DUAL SPECTRUM, red and blue spectrums. That does not refer to the color of the bulb that you see. It refers to the kind of rays, like UVA or UVB, or the color temp, called kevins. CFLS come in 2700 kevins, 3000, 4100, 5100, and 6500. 2700k is for BLOOM OR FLOWERING , 6500k is the VEG Spectrum. The others are "MID" spectrums or in between. IF you use the MID-range bulbs (4100) then also use the 6500 and 2700s. In outdoors, the sun produces different rays in the spring (VEG Rays called Blue) and late summer for Bloom spectrum, the RED spectrum. The sun also produces green, and orange rays, but plants do not use them. (see more below)
CFLs are new on the scene, in 2006 the biggest made was 65 watts. When we talk about CFL watts, we are talking about the actually electricity used, NOT the equivalant. For example, a 15 watt CFL bulb puts out 60 watts.
Spiral and Tube type CLFS emit LIGHT FROM THE SIDES, NOT THE ENDS OR TIPS.
YOU CAN GET SPIRAL CFLS (15, 26, 42, 65, 85) AND TUBE TYPE CFLS 105s.
How much light is needed for growing? Depends on the size of plant you are trying to grow. I'll try to answer this "in general" instead of being specific to one size plant. Light seen and perceived with the human eye is measured in Lumens. There is an ideal amount of lumens for growing and a minimum amount of required lumens. The very minimum amount of light required for smaller sized plants grown is around 3000 lumens per square foot. Let me put emphasis on "minimum amount" of light. However, that's not 100% exactly accurate, since although you may have a 10,000 lumen light, the amount of light that reaches the plant varies with the distance between the light and plants, and the reflectivity of the grow area. The ideal amount is somewhere around 7000-10,000 lumens per square foot for average sized plants. As long as the plants do not show burn, as much light can be used as you want to use. (Note, the sun produces about 10,000 lumens per square foot, on a sunny mid summer day). Contracy to "talk" you CAN have too much light.
Determining lumens for your grow area: First determine the square footage of your area (example in a 4 foot by 4 foot area, there is 16 square feet, 2 by 2 feet is 4 Sq ft. ) If you have a 1000 Watt High Pressure Sodium Light Bulb, that produces approximately 107,000 lumens. Divide this by 16 (your square footage) 107,000 divided by 16 = 6687 lumens per square foot. So just divide the total amount of Lumens, by the total amount of square feet, and that's your lumens per square foot.
How far away from my plants do the lights go? The lights in your grow room should be as close as possible to the plants without burning them. There is no such thing as too much light, unless there is overly sufficient heat to dry out and burn the leaves. A good rule is to put your hand under the light, if its too hot for your hand, chances are that the plants will be too hot too, so move the light up until your hand feels more comfortable. For seedlings or sprouts, I keep them a little further away from the light, because they are very susceptible to burning and drying out, at these young stages.
How do I decide which lights to use? Efficiency is very important when choosing a type of light. The wattage is not the most important thing, different types of light produce different amounts of lumens per watt. For example, a 300 watt incandescent will produce about 5100 lumens. (not that you can grow with incandescent bulbs) While a 300 watt Metal Halide (just an example, they do not come in 300 watts), will produce 27,000 lumens. Obviously far more efficient for growing, while still using the same amount of electricity.
Approximate light production: Incandescents: 17 lumens/watt Mercury vapor: 45-50 lumens/watt Fluorescents: 60-70 lumens/watt Metal halide: 90 lumens/watt High pressure sodium: 107 lumens/watt
Incandescent lights: Incandescent bulbs are the most popular type of lights in the world. They may come advertised as incandescent, tungsten, quartz, halogen, or simply standard. The important thing about incandescent bulbs when it come to growing is simply this: they suck. Using incandescent bulbs to grow plants is like trying to flag down the Space Challenger with a burnt out match! You can do it, but it won't work. There are some incandescents which are sold as "grow lights." They usually have a blue coating and usually come in 60W and 120W sizes. While they may seem like a good choice to new growers, they are next to useless; they produce some light at a usable spectrum, but only have about a 5% efficiency and generate more heat than usable light. Most of us have these in our homes right now. Don't use them for growing, instead opt for a Compact Fluorescent, CFL, as a cheaper but more efficient alternative.
Fluorescent lights: Fluorescents are far more useful than incandescents. They are efficient enough, and much less expensive than HID (High Intensity Discharge) lights. Compact fluorescent tubes, (commonly called CFLs) are popular with growers because of their good output to size ratio. Compared to standard 4 foot tubes, CFLs are smaller, more easily moved, and more can fit into a given small area. CFLs are good for small grows on a tight budget, and for novice growers, since they do not require any special sort of wiring or understanding of the necessary bulbs for a given fixture, and the small wattage ones (23, 42 and 65) are very widely available. Fluorescent lights come in many different Kelvin (spectrum or color) ratings; often the spectrums are labeled on packaging as being 'cool white' or 'warm white.' Cool white is more blue, and is good for the vegetative stages of growth. The bulbs are ultra white. Warm white light is more reddish in spectrum, and is best for the flowering stage. The bulbs are almost cream colored.
Color rating - Measured in Kelvin (K). The higher the number, the more bluish the light. 4000K-7000K is mostly on the blue side of the spectrum for Vegging or GROWING, while 3000K and under goes from a white spectrum, to a redder spectrum and is best for BLOOMING or FLOWERING.
High Intensity Discharge (HID) Lighting Systems:
Mercury Vapor (MV) Mercury vapor lights are not the most efficient light for growing. They are very bright, and relatively cheap. They do emit light at the wavelengths necessary to support your plants growth, but not nearly as good as a MH or HPS light. Much of the light emitted by MV lights is bluish-white. Street lighting is what most MV lighting is used for.
Metal Halide (MH) Metal halide lighting systems are optimal for use in the vegetative phase of growing. They emit mostly blue light, which encourages vigorous growth of foliage. They are very efficient, but can get rather expensive to start with; fluorescents may seem more appealing because of their lower price, and they are not much different when compared on a lumen-to-lumen cost level. These lights can be used through-out the grow, but leave a lot to be desired in the BLOOM stage.
High Pressure Sodium (HPS) High pressure sodium lights emit mostly orange, yellow, and red spectrum light, which is perfect for the flowering stage of the plants growth. They are (in my opinion) the most efficient type of light available for any application if you are not on a budget and can vent the grow area for heat. HPS lights can be used through-out the entire grow. They produce more dense and usually larger flowers or fruit than any other light. HPS lights are generally a little more expensive than MH systems of similar wattage. They are more commonly used by experienced commercial growers because of their ability to produce tighter denser flowers, higher lumen-output-per-watt, and will produce from start to finish.
Just like everything else, available grow lights are evolving. Remember how the sun produces 10,000 lumens per square foot in the mid-summer. Well, today there are CFLs that can actually duplicate those lumens. If you can not grow under the sun, then bring the sun inside. Yes, you can have 20,000 lumens covering the entire grow space with the new 105 watt per bulb CFLs. Three of these bulbs in the proper reflector actually yields 20,000 lumens.
Low heat, energy efficient light bulbs . Available in blue (vegetative) and red (flowering) spectrums. I like being able to move the CFLS around, and lower them down in between the plants, the clamp- reflectors are just $ 8 to $10 each. Lowes, Walmart, Home Depot:
and get one of these extensions: and if you want to add two 42 watt lights to a reflector, you get a Y spliter.
This pic shows both COOL WHITE and WARM WHITE, or high and low kevin bulbs:
One of many mistakes I have made over the years, is I wish I had labeled or dated my bulbs.
I have some 65 and 85 watt bulbs, and they have seen 6 GROWS. I wish I knew how to distinguish them from the new ones.
I highly urge everyone to date-label your bulbs.
PurpDaddy added to this thread:
When given the choice of only one light, most marijuana growers will choose an hps grow light over mh, because hps lights are more efficient (larger harvest). You can't use a standard high pressure sodium bulb in a metal halide fixture, but you can use a metal halide bulb in a high pressure sodium fixture of the same wattage. There are special hps bulbs that can be used in a mh fixture and vice-versa. But these conversion bulbs cost about double the price of a standard bulb. A 250 watt fixture will supply enough light to cover a 2.5 foot by 2.5 foot grow area. (6 plants or less) A 400 watt fixture will supply enough light to cover a 4 foot by 4 foot grow area. (12 plants or less) A 600 watt fixture will supply enough light to cover a 5 foot by 5 foot grow area. (18 plants or less) A 1000 watt fixture will supply enough light to cover a 6.5 foot by 6.5 foot grow area. (30 plants or less)
IF you break a CFL
IF YOU BREAK A BULB... 1) Open a window before cleaning up, and turn off any forced-air heating or air conditioning.
2) Instead of sweeping or vacuuming, which can spread the mercury around, scoop up the glass fragments and powder. Use sticky tape to pick up remaining glass fragments or powder. Wipe the area clean with a damp paper towel or wet wipes.
3) Dispose of the broken bulb through your local household hazardous waste program or recycling program. If that service is unavailable in your area, place all clean-up materials in a trash container outside the building.
4) Wash your hands after cleaning up.
5) If vacuuming is needed afterwards, when all visible materials have been removed, vacuum the area and dispose of the vacuum bag in a sealed plastic bag. For the next few times you vacuum, turn off any forced-air heating or air conditioning and open a window before doing so.
Well since you put it that way CD I guess it does help. I try to keep the sides of my bulbs facing the plants just because it is more surface area of the bulb facing the plant. Simply put a florescent bulb puts out light evenly over it entire surface unlike a bulb with a glowing filament. So if given the choice between the tip of a cfl 2 inches in circular diameter or so or the side of the same bulb 2 inches wide and 3 inces long it is probably better to have the larger side shining on you plants. I want to say that the book I read about it in was by jorge.
 

Concord Dawn

Well-Known Member
if you have a bulb pointing straight down at the plant and its just getting the light from the tip of the bulb, that means all your side light from the bulb is just hitting the side of you grow room, especially the bigger ones like that, 125, 200, 300 watts, thats a lot of light going nowhere. now if its hanging down for side lighting right next to the plant, then yeah, hang it up and down.
 

student

Well-Known Member
Right now i have my one plant under one desk fluorescent light lol the bulb looks like this


its not the best but its the only blue fluorescent in my home, soon im going to be looking for more Blue lights

im actualy going to do my whole grow CFL , I Do have 6 of the More Red CFL's in my home so once i start the flower stage ill switch too thoughs

if i cant find ill be forced to use the red kind.

ALSO ! : im going to do the rest of my GHETTO GROW OP in a cardbord box ROFL, it was used to package a trampoline so its good quality cardbord, iv already started lining it with tin foil as not to waste one drop of light from the CFL's

ill hopefully be done with it before it gets to big for the dog house haha

who else is doing a box stealth grow with CFl's Lol ?????
 

KushXOJ

Well-Known Member
These are my two plants i have growing now you can see what they looked like 4 days ago on the previous page (174). Transplanted to their final homes yesterday. Im starting to see a little yellowing on the first true set of leaves of the bigger plant so im thinking its time to start giving it some nutes hopefully it takes off even more . Ive been able to keep the nodes close by keeping the cfls about 2 inches away. i guess these are the only two plants im going to have growing for the moment out of the 12 seeds my friend gave me none of them popped :sad:, the next seeds i get are going to be from the TUDE for sure. I want to do some Lst but im not sure if i can i think im just going to top them and let them go. I figured id show you some pics of my set up pretty ghetto but its getting the job done lol those are exhaust fans in the pic btw
 

Attachments

Concord Dawn

Well-Known Member
Right now i have my one plant under one desk fluorescent light lol the bulb looks like this

its not the best but its the only blue fluorescent in my home, soon im going to be looking for more Blue lights

im actualy going to do my whole grow CFL , I Do have 6 of the More Red CFL's in my home so once i start the flower stage ill switch too thoughs

if i cant find ill be forced to use the red kind.

ALSO ! : im going to do the rest of my GHETTO GROW OP in a cardbord box ROFL, it was used to package a trampoline so its good quality cardbord, iv already started lining it with tin foil as not to waste one drop of light from the CFL's

ill hopefully be done with it before it gets to big for the dog house haha

who else is doing a box stealth grow with CFl's Lol ?????
hey student, i like those bulbs, how many watts are they? a few of those would be the shits. heres a pic of the 2 ghetto u-haul boxes im growing in. the small one for veg and drying, the one for flowering.
These are my two plants i have growing now you can see what they looked like 4 days ago on the previous page (174). Transplanted to their final homes yesterday. Im starting to see a little yellowing on the first true set of leaves of the bigger plant so im thinking its time to start giving it some nutes hopefully it takes off even more . Ive been able to keep the nodes close by keeping the cfls about 2 inches away. i guess these are the only two plants im going to have growing for the moment out of the 12 seeds my friend gave me none of them popped :sad:, the next seeds i get are going to be from the TUDE for sure. I want to do some Lst but im not sure if i can i think im just going to top them and let them go. I figured id show you some pics of my set up pretty ghetto but its getting the job done lol those are exhaust fans in the pic btw
that sucks about the seeds kush, but that plant there is killer looking, heres a pic of my first grow i did, i top it and got 6 main shoots but broke one off and ended up with 5, i pulled right at 2 oz's off her.
 

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KushXOJ

Well-Known Member
that sucks about the seeds kush, but that plant there is killer looking, heres a pic of my first grow i did, i top it and got 6 main shoots but broke one off and ended up with 5, i pulled right at 2 oz's off her.
thanks and yea those seeds suck but they were black so i figured they were old. I would be more than happy with 2 ozs that would keep me happy for a while lol .. did you only top it once ? i have them in 3,4 and 4 gallon pots so im hoping that will help with the yield too. My theory "MORE ROOTS, MORE BUD" ..did you flower with the blue spectrum ? your pics dont look orange like mine
 

Concord Dawn

Well-Known Member
thanks and yea those seeds suck but they were black so i figured they were old. I would be more than happy with 2 ozs that would keep me happy for a while lol .. did you only top it once ? i have them in 3,4 and 4 gallon pots so im hoping that will help with the yield too. My theory "MORE ROOTS, MORE BUD" ..did you flower with the blue spectrum ? your pics dont look orange like mine
yeah i was more than happy with 2 oz's believe me, LoL. i used the fim style topping, 1 time, i did it just like in these pics. ive used this on all my grows now and ive only missed on 1 plant, did it 3 times and that bitch did like it, just made a midget plant and only got 7 grams off it, LoL. and the other is molly, she had 6 main colas. those bulbs are 5 2700k and 1 6500k all 23 watts each and thats a 10" pot. heres what i have in my notes.

#1 Locate the very top of the new growth. #2 With a clean, sterilized scissors, Fold the fan leafs over and cut approximately 80% of the new growth off the plant. #3 This is what it should look like after the cut has been made. #4 View of the Cut section after 2 days growth, showing the 4 new growth shoots (branches).
 

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KushXOJ

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ok i think i mite try it that way this time 6 main colas would be nice ive got (3)24w 2700k (1)42w 2700k (1)24w 5000k and those two 40w T5s 5000k im gonna be adding more lights as they get bigger to hopefully grow some monsters
 

Concord Dawn

Well-Known Member
yeah im happy with more than 2, LoL. but it really does work good. sounds like a great light setup, ive been thinking about some of those T5's for some side lighting, just gotta watch the heat in my box.
 

KushXOJ

Well-Known Member
the good thing about t5s is they dont really give off ANY heat at all but they are bright as ever so if your temps are already ideal the t5s wont bring them up at all but it will add bunch more lumens
 

Concord Dawn

Well-Known Member
nice filter man.
the good thing about t5s is they dont really give off ANY heat at all but they are bright as ever so if your temps are already ideal the t5s wont bring them up at all but it will add bunch more lumens
hey thats cool, im thinking about trying a couple.
 

PurpleRhinoceros

Active Member
nice filter man.

hey thats cool, im thinking about trying a couple.
Thanks man, I hope it's good enough that RIU makes it a sticky. If they do, i'm making more DIY threads. If they don't.... I'm going to take time to try even harder and come up with an even better DIY thread. And that one better become a sticky... or else i'm going to be forced to give up.
 
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