this might have been answered already but i was just wondering if i could use full spectrum cfls for my entire grow, start to finish, for my northern light or white widow strains. i know ideally lower spectrum cfls should be used for flowering but just wondering what or how big a difference would that make to use the 5000-6500k for the enire grow in terms of yield and quality. At the same time/ on the other hand, could I use low spectrum cfls for my entire grow? What difference would that make?
Tutorial to Growing with Cfl's
- Thread starter Dr.Chronic
- Start date
Sk33tINnOObs
Active Member
Thx for the info...
crackerblack
Member
Greenhouse seedsHi everybody....Im totally new to this growing thing and after many weeks of research, ive decided that a cfl/dwc grow will be the way i start off. I will be using a 2x4 closet. Its been wrapped in mylar. I have 6 65w 6500k for seedlings/vegging and i have 4 85w 2700k for flowering. Im in the process of building a cheap tent (made of 1/2" pvc, panda film, and plexiglass for upper shelf) so i can have a separate room for blooming and vegging. I got homemade 5gal DWC buckets with site tubes on the side 6" net pot lids, hydroton, and a homemade seedling/cloning dome to get the ladies growing. Now all i need is the seeds...If anybody has any suggestions on where a reliable source is to buy please tell me. I dont wanna start with bag seed because the stuff around here aint worth it. Thanks in advance for any advice and tips from u guys.....
Oh yea, as for nutes, i decided to keep it simple the first go around and use GH's 3 part with the FloraGrow, FloraMicro, FloraBloom. I have read a lot about the Lucas Formula. I found a post on the "addback" formula. I thought that this would be ideal, but i dont know how the nutrients other than micro and bloom will factor in. And i want to have a good harvest so i want to use more than the base nutes. Any suggestions on this will also be greatly appreciated.
and Barney's Farm have won many High Times CC Awards. Must be decent!! Attitude Seedbank carries them and are great at stealth shipping!!!
crackerblack
Member
You can grow an entire crop with CFL’s if you chose the right spectrum of bulb’s. For Vegetation you will want to use 6500K or 5000K, and when you flower you will want to switch to 2700K or 3000K . The reason being, throughout the year the plant’s outside receive more 6500K light because the day’s in summer are long and hot and as Autumn/Winter get’s closer the day get’s shorter, and gradually receives less 6500K light and more 2700K light as the plant flower’s. Do what you can to avoid bulbs within that 3500K – 4000K because they emit very little light that Is useful to your plant.
skunkpunk13
Active Member
no im pretty sure u can use all urr bulbs for the full cycle and not have 6500 for ve and 2700 got flower as its not a photo period plant
Rottedroots
Well-Known Member
In the middle of my first cfl grow and NOW I read the tutorial. lol I thought I wanted my lights as close as possible without burning and now I read that stocky plants are not so great either. It does make sense that the right balance allows the most light to reach deeper into the growth. Mine are tighter together than than is probably best and I have plucked a few light blocking fan leaves. Don't like to do that, it just doesn't feel right. OH well I guess I will back the lights off a bit and let the stretch a little before I switch to 12/12.
I know live and learn... but what the hell, too squat and stocky!! That has been my goal for six weeks.
I know live and learn... but what the hell, too squat and stocky!! That has been my goal for six weeks.
bigbud2012
Active Member
by pluckin your fan leaves off u are ruining the growth of the bud sites when it comes to 12/12 they will become short and not very long because uve killed the bud sites energy by pluckin them fan leaves so u were right it is bad to do that no wonder it wasnt feelin right lol
MastaSmoker
Member
I will definitely start my first grow with CFL's 
I'ts gonna be sneaky as hell
I'ts gonna be sneaky as hell
Sk33tINnOObs
Active Member
AWSOME Thread... THX
Rottedroots
Well-Known Member
It never occured to me that I could make the plants too bushy but I think I may have. This thread warns of having overly dense plants at the first post but I missed it. The lsted plant seems to be about the right density but I don't think the pinched plant is getting any light under the canopy. I can't imagine they will stay this dense through flowering under CFL's not that it wouldn't be cool.
Question is should I back the light off and try to stretch them out or should I just enjoy the little bundles?
Question is should I back the light off and try to stretch them out or should I just enjoy the little bundles?
GunRunner
Active Member
- You need to totally ignore the Incandescent Equal and pay attention only to the Actual Wattage of the Bulb.
Why is that man? Actual l wattage is just the power consumption, but when they give the incandescent equal, they refer to the light output of a 100 watt inca.
When talking about HID, a 600 Watt lamp consumes 600 watts of power, but then we refer to the lamp's output using the 600 watts as a measure of light output.
Just wondering why it should be any different for CFLs?
This is something that I have been pondering a lot recently, hope somebody can come clear this bit up.
skunkpunk13
Active Member
its all about the lumans man
Catchin22
Well-Known Member
Looks like one of mine, very much so. I ended up using some ribbon and pulled all the outside branches down. Though I broke 2 main ones at the center by doing so, but they are recovering and doing fine. Then I cut the smaller branches out and cloned them so that all the light could reach through the center.It never occured to me that I could make the plants too bushy but I think I may have. This thread warns of having overly dense plants at the first post but I missed it. The lsted plant seems to be about the right density but I don't think the pinched plant is getting any light under the canopy. I can't imagine they will stay this dense through flowering under CFL's not that it wouldn't be cool.
Question is should I back the light off and try to stretch them out or should I just enjoy the little bundles?
Nander
Member
Great thread. I am utterly new to online forums regarding growing. But I have done enough research, enough reading, and enough surfing to know just how feasible growing with cfls can be. They are compact, easy to place, low heat, and inexpensive. For my first grow I just grabbed some seeds from all that I had stashed through the years, and grew them inside a cardboard box lined with tinfoil, complete with a homemade lid created from foil backed foam insulation and an old computer exhaust fan hooked up to an appropriate DC transformer. The yields were not all that great, probably close to a half for three plants. Since I go normal outdoor gardening, I had my own compost, a mix of leaves, grass clippings, seaweed, clam and snail shells, wood and bark. Just about any organic material I could find. I did see some pretty sweet cromes, but the yield was dismal. I saved the one plant that grew the best. Bushy with a single large Fat Cola. I re-vegged her to turn her into a mother for cloning. I was so happy to be able to get anything from standard household lighting.. so I grew ambitious.. and bought upgrades to my 2700k CFL bulbs. I changed from three 23w to six bulbs of varying wattage's. 23w 26w 26w 26w 42w and 68w for a grand total of 211 watts. I also moved from inside a cardboard box to inside my closet. 2.5"W x 2.5"L x 5.5"H
The problem so far is that I have taken notice that it seems like my plants want to hang onto the vegetative cycle longer than I had hoped. At first it I thought it was because I had a single wrong spectrum bulb in there, a 39W 4500k bulb, one of those bright whites that is between the blue and red spectrum. It took forever for them to begin flowering. And then when I finally switched spectrums, all my leaves turned yellow and fell off, and I got lots of bud almost immediately. Unfortunately I learned that the new bag of miracle gro I purchased and used in place of my organic soil tainted my results and burned my plants. Resulting in a batch of six plants with fluffy buds and horrible flavor. Glad it still works. ^.^
I had to remove -all- of the miracle grow soil. Rip out my three mothers, and replaced the soil with fox farm ocean forest. Thats where I am right now, waiting for my plants to take root in the new soil. I am afraid my White widow clone in the budder isn't going to make the transplant. Too much shock.. and she reeks of miracle grow. But no matter, I cloned it before putting it in.
Now comes the -really- interesting tidbit I gained from personal experience. In order to make my second grow bud, and the ruined white widow clone, I removed the nasty 39W 4500K bright white bulb and exchanged it for a 13w orange party bulb as a "Helper" Thinking that it would put out the correct spectrum. And I swear, within 5 days those plants snapped out of confusion and started to bud immediately. Most notable was the white widow clone. Went from veg to bud in what seemed like a week. But its just one tiny 13w bulb. How can it make such a huge difference? I Dug deeper.. I created my own spectroscope, and looked at various lights. CFL bulbs almost always create ultraviolet, violet, aquamarine, green, yellow, red, and infrared. Even the 2700k bulbs. Then I looked at the orange party bulb. No ultraviolet. Instead it boasts the -entire- red spectrum. Green, yellow, orange, red and infrared and all between. It nearly perfectly mimics the spectrum of HPS.
Possible way to get the spectrum you need using less electricity? Or perhaps best to use alongside the regular 2700's as a "Helper" In order to shift the light in your growing area more towards the correct spectrum? Also I noticed the leaves on my plants turned yellow and started to dry up almost as soon as that single party bulb was introduced in along with the others. Again, damn miracle grow messing up the results. I am afraid to put the party bulb back in, fearing the reduced yield I might get from suddenly killing off all those leaves. I have a 9 month old super-cropped, LST Mother I call hairy Mary. Hairy because that's how things get when you smoke her. I am budding her out in my improved grow space, and want to see those fat buds now, she only has a few small white pistils showing now, otherwise seems to be just growing more leaves. Nice dark, very fragrant sweet ones. I would sure Hate to lose a whole 9 months of growing by stunting her with a weird spectrum. But seeing those buds start to pop on my other white widow and the Hairy Mary is starting to become to hard to resist. Any input would be appreciated.
The problem so far is that I have taken notice that it seems like my plants want to hang onto the vegetative cycle longer than I had hoped. At first it I thought it was because I had a single wrong spectrum bulb in there, a 39W 4500k bulb, one of those bright whites that is between the blue and red spectrum. It took forever for them to begin flowering. And then when I finally switched spectrums, all my leaves turned yellow and fell off, and I got lots of bud almost immediately. Unfortunately I learned that the new bag of miracle gro I purchased and used in place of my organic soil tainted my results and burned my plants. Resulting in a batch of six plants with fluffy buds and horrible flavor. Glad it still works. ^.^
I had to remove -all- of the miracle grow soil. Rip out my three mothers, and replaced the soil with fox farm ocean forest. Thats where I am right now, waiting for my plants to take root in the new soil. I am afraid my White widow clone in the budder isn't going to make the transplant. Too much shock.. and she reeks of miracle grow. But no matter, I cloned it before putting it in.
Now comes the -really- interesting tidbit I gained from personal experience. In order to make my second grow bud, and the ruined white widow clone, I removed the nasty 39W 4500K bright white bulb and exchanged it for a 13w orange party bulb as a "Helper" Thinking that it would put out the correct spectrum. And I swear, within 5 days those plants snapped out of confusion and started to bud immediately. Most notable was the white widow clone. Went from veg to bud in what seemed like a week. But its just one tiny 13w bulb. How can it make such a huge difference? I Dug deeper.. I created my own spectroscope, and looked at various lights. CFL bulbs almost always create ultraviolet, violet, aquamarine, green, yellow, red, and infrared. Even the 2700k bulbs. Then I looked at the orange party bulb. No ultraviolet. Instead it boasts the -entire- red spectrum. Green, yellow, orange, red and infrared and all between. It nearly perfectly mimics the spectrum of HPS.
Possible way to get the spectrum you need using less electricity? Or perhaps best to use alongside the regular 2700's as a "Helper" In order to shift the light in your growing area more towards the correct spectrum? Also I noticed the leaves on my plants turned yellow and started to dry up almost as soon as that single party bulb was introduced in along with the others. Again, damn miracle grow messing up the results. I am afraid to put the party bulb back in, fearing the reduced yield I might get from suddenly killing off all those leaves. I have a 9 month old super-cropped, LST Mother I call hairy Mary. Hairy because that's how things get when you smoke her.
I am budding her out in my improved grow space, and want to see those fat buds now, she only has a few small white pistils showing now, otherwise seems to be just growing more leaves. Nice dark, very fragrant sweet ones. I would sure Hate to lose a whole 9 months of growing by stunting her with a weird spectrum. But seeing those buds start to pop on my other white widow and the Hairy Mary is starting to become to hard to resist. Any input would be appreciated.