CFL Lights, HOW MANY WATTS Do I Need?

[smileyman11]

I am about to start a new grow but this time is going to be indoor. I have read that for the VEG stage the CFL lights should have 6500K and during FLOWERING the lights should have 2700K.

My question is I have some 11 watt CFL's in my house and they have 2700K, Can I use them? or are the watts to low? Since the watts are so low i was planning on having 4-6 lights.

How much do the watts matter?

Help greatly appreciated.

 

[NuteGreenwitch]

It's the lumens you're going for. 11 watt cfls emit close to 400 lumens, so it would take too many 11 watt bulbs to effectively grow a plant. You could use the 11 watt lights as supplemental lighting for the lower part of your plant as long as you keep them as close as possible without touching the plant. I really wouldn't waste time with 11 watt bulbs.

I would go for a few 42 watt bulbs for the top of the plant and at LEAST 27 watt bulbs to encompass the sides. The size of your plant will dictate how much light it should get, along with the methods of reflectivity you choose to use. There are people on here who have vegged and flowered their plants entirely with the 2700k color spectrum with great success. However, there are a lot of cfl growers who choose to add 6500k and 2700k to their flowering stage so that the plants leaves will continue to develop, causing the flowers to enlarge with the other growth.

The great thing about CFL bulbs is that they can be placed VERY close to the plants without causing burns to the growth. You can keep the bulbs within an inch in most cases without any burns, HOWEVER, anything larger than 42 watts gets pretty damn hot, so you might want to consider 2-3 inches from the growth.

Something else to consider is making it easy to configure the CFL lighting so that it will be easy to adjust the light according to the growth spurts. Try not to rig up something quickly without planning on adjustments in the future.

 

[lmn8r]

11 watt CFL is more then 400 lumens, probably more around 600. Still, with 6 lights x 600 lumens = 3600 lumens. It would be cheaper to just go to walmart and buy a 4-pack of 26 watt bulbs for $8. You'll save money on the amount of light fixtures you need to buy.

26 watt bulbs put out around 1600 lumens, so 4x1600 = 6400 lumens. That would be enough for 2 plants.

 

[smileyman11]

It's the lumens you're going for. 11 watt cfls emit close to 400 lumens, so it would take too many 11 watt bulbs to effectively grow a plant. You could use the 11 watt lights as supplemental lighting for the lower part of your plant as long as you keep them as close as possible without touching the plant. I really wouldn't waste time with 11 watt bulbs.

I would go for a few 42 watt bulbs for the top of the plant and at LEAST 27 watt bulbs to encompass the sides. The size of your plant will dictate how much light it should get, along with the methods of reflectivity you choose to use. There are people on here who have vegged and flowered their plants entirely with the 2700k color spectrum with great success. However, there are a lot of cfl growers who choose to add 6500k and 2700k to their flowering stage so that the plants leaves will continue to develop, causing the flowers to enlarge with the other growth.

The great thing about CFL bulbs is that they can be placed VERY close to the plants without causing burns to the growth. You can keep the bulbs within an inch in most cases without any burns, HOWEVER, anything larger than 42 watts gets pretty damn hot, so you might want to consider 2-3 inches from the growth.

Something else to consider is making it easy to configure the CFL lighting so that it will be easy to adjust the light according to the growth spurts. Try not to rig up something quickly without planning on adjustments in the future.

ok thanks, also how much lumens am i aiming for?
Should i use 6500K for the whole process? because i was going to switch out the bulbs for veg. and flowering

also what could you or anyone else recommend to me so i could have a good grow but becase of stealth issues i dont have much room. I have about 16" of height but i could get up to 26" of height. How ever i do not have much width, about 12" wide is my grow cabinet.

Should i use LST? Also i am using bubbleponic for this grow.

 

[smileyman11]

11 watt CFL is more then 400 lumens, probably more around 600. Still, with 6 lights x 600 lumens = 3600 lumens. It would be cheaper to just go to walmart and buy a 4-pack of 26 watt bulbs for $8. You'll save money on the amount of light fixtures you need to buy.

26 watt bulbs put out around 1600 lumens, so 4x1600 = 6400 lumens. That would be enough for 2 plants.

ok i think i will be buying lights from walmart because at Home Depot, Lowes, and Ace Hardware ONE light bulb for 20+ watts would cost me $8. lol

 

[Thrasher645]

Hey whats up everybody

I was wondering what you guys thought of side lights during Veg, is it important to use them during Veg as it is during Flowering?

Im already gonna have (3) 105w lights above the plant and I was thinking of adding some 65,85, or 105w for the side lighting. What would you suggest?

peace!

 

[boiStone]

During veg, you can just use the 6500k bulbs on top of the plants. They will stay short and bushy as long as you keep them about 2-3 inches from the tops.

 

[Gastanker]

Hey whats up everybody

I was wondering what you guys thought of side lights during Veg, is it important to use them during Veg as it is during Flowering?

Im already gonna have (3) 105w lights above the plant and I was thinking of adding some 65,85, or 105w for the side lighting. What would you suggest?

peace!

As much lighting as possible is best durring all stages of growth. Durring veg your plants will just grow slower with less lighting and poorer coverage - not to mention growth patterns change depending on light placement. I noticed on my grow that bud size and trich formation is directly correlated to light coverage on the bud so I would definately suggest covering all bud sites durring flowering.

 

[Gastanker]

ok thanks, also how much lumens am i aiming for?
Should i use 6500K for the whole process? because i was going to switch out the bulbs for veg. and flowering

also what could you or anyone else recommend to me so i could have a good grow but becase of stealth issues i dont have much room. I have about 16" of height but i could get up to 26" of height. How ever i do not have much width, about 12" wide is my grow cabinet.

Should i use LST? Also i am using bubbleponic for this grow.

Might want to check out my grow - sounds very similar to what you're aiming at.

 

[armlengthbuds]

$15.85= 32 watt bulbless fixture "48
2pk cool white 6500 bulbs $9.89 2000 lumens Wal Mart

$15.85= 32 watt bulbless fixture 48"
2pk warm white 3000 bulbs $ 5.89 2000 lumens... Wal-Mart

If you use FLO for entire grow, mix n match for better results. "Daylight" are highest in the blue spectrum.... hence vegetative. so mix a 48" in 6500 daylight and a 48"' in a warm white light 3000 K Flowering set up. Plus it would only be another 6.oo to buy a new set of warm white 3000k flowering bulbs....... If you do the math, u could end up with 6 fixtures plus changing bulbs for around $ 150.00... That equals around 12 to 15,000 lumens of decent growing light. If u scrogg or fim on top of that you could come close to making up the difference of spendind $300 on MH/HPS light. AFC (google it) offers a T5/HO setup that has 4 bulbs 48" 20,000 lumens 6500k for 185.00... The only draw back is replacing the light for the flowering stage... They are expensive! Check out HPS on ebay or google HPS lighting cause thay have awesome deals and interchangeable HPS/MH with reflectors. It just depends on how much mony u want to spend!!!! But HPS has some kick ass deals!!! Good Luck

 

[smileyman11]

$15.85= 32 watt bulbless fixture "48
2pk cool white 6500 bulbs $9.89 2000 lumens Wal Mart

$15.85= 32 watt bulbless fixture 48"
2pk warm white 3000 bulbs $ 5.89 2000 lumens... Wal-Mart

If you use FLO for entire grow, mix n match for better results. "Daylight" are highest in the blue spectrum.... hence vegetative. so mix a 48" in 6500 daylight and a 48"' in a warm white light 3000 K Flowering set up. Plus it would only be another 6.oo to buy a new set of warm white 3000k flowering bulbs....... If you do the math, u could end up with 6 fixtures plus changing bulbs for around $ 150.00... That equals around 12 to 15,000 lumens of decent growing light. If u scrogg or fim on top of that you could come close to making up the difference of spendind $300 on MH/HPS light. AFC (google it) offers a T5/HO setup that has 4 bulbs 48" 20,000 lumens 6500k for 185.00... The only draw back is replacing the light for the flowering stage... They are expensive! Check out HPS on ebay or google HPS lighting cause thay have awesome deals and interchangeable HPS/MH with reflectors. It just depends on how much mony u want to spend!!!! But HPS has some kick ass deals!!! Good Luck

hey thanks for that info and i do want to use HPS lights later on but right now i have limit space and if i get some HPS lights it will burn the plants becaseu they would be too close.

 

[smileyman11]

Thanks for you help guys

but i was wondering if the lumen should be different for veg and flowering? or is 6000+ lumen enough for veg and flowering? of course i would have two kinds of bulbs but i would try to get enough lumen for each stage

 

[Gastanker]

Thanks for you help guys

but i was wondering if the lumen should be different for veg and flowering? or is 6000+ lumen enough for veg and flowering? of course i would have two kinds of bulbs but i would try to get enough lumen for each stage

Generally want more lumens durring flowering. I'm getting decent results with around 23,000 covering several plants but would prolly get even better results with more.

 

[NuteGreenwitch]

11 watt CFL is more then 400 lumens, probably more around 600. Still, with 6 lights x 600 lumens = 3600 lumens. It would be cheaper to just go to walmart and buy a 4-pack of 26 watt bulbs for $8. You'll save money on the amount of light fixtures you need to buy.

26 watt bulbs put out around 1600 lumens, so 4x1600 = 6400 lumens. That would be enough for 2 plants.

I apologize - when I said 400 lumens, I was talking about the half-life expectancy for average lumens. Yes, initial lumens are around 600-660, but generally after 3-6 months, the average lumens output is 400 lumens, which will very slowly decrease with the life of the bulb. The quickest decrease in lumens of most CFL bulbs is after 3-6 months, and then they very slowly taper off.

 

[boiStone]

The Wal-Mart suggestion is a good one esp if you're trying to go cheap. Those GE Daylight 6500K work well for veg and the Great Value brand for bloom. Just get the 25W bulbs (100 equivalent). The Great Value ones are actually about $7-8 for a 4 pack.

In a 30 gallon Rubbermaid, you can start with 6 small plants in veg, using 1 of those daylight bulbs for each plant (for 6 total). When you switch to flower, use a couple Y-connectors for a total of 8 bulbs. This will support 2 medium size or 3 small females. Yield will be around 2-2.5 O's with this many bulbs.

 

[smileyman11]

thanks boi that is really helpful, but i was wondering what is the difference between soft white, warm white, and bright white? and can i use any of them or only soft white because they all have 2700k

 

[armlengthbuds]

Thanks for you help guys

but i was wondering if the lumen should be different for veg and flowering? or is 6000+ lumen enough for veg and flowering? of course i would have two kinds of bulbs but i would try to get enough lumen for each stage

The thing here is that kelvin scale is the magic number in flourescents. 3000K is the red scale (flowering only) 6500K is the blue for vegetating... The added bonus is extra lumens or a.k.a brightness to human eyes, because thats basically what it means. Kelvins are the most important though. I would not reccomend the whole growth stage in 6000 lumen. Unless u want even shittier buds... Stick with the scale!!! replacement bulbs are soooo cheap. Good luck!

 

[smileyman11]

The thing here is that kelvin scale is the magic number in flourescents. 3000K is the red scale (flowering only) 6500K is the blue for vegetating... The added bonus is extra lumens or a.k.a brightness to human eyes, because thats basically what it means. Kelvins are the most important though. I would not reccomend the whole growth stage in 6000 lumen. Unless u want even shittier buds... Stick with the scale!!! replacement bulbs are soooo cheap. Good luck!

Thanks for the info ARM, think i will have 20000+ lumens for flowering and 6000+ for veg.

but is having warm white light bulbs any different than soft white? i mean i have some warm white which have more lumen then soft white bulbs and have the same Kalvin. So whats the difference?

 

[armlengthbuds]

Thanks for the info ARM, think i will have 20000+ lumens for flowering and 6000+ for veg.

but is having warm white light bulbs any different than soft white? i mean i have some warm white which have more lumen then soft white bulbs and have the same Kalvin. So whats the difference?

Ok smiley, soft and warm are going to get you in that 2700-3000k range. which again is the important reds needed for flowering/buds. as i dont know how many watts ur running??? stick with warm whites. At 32 watts, a warm white bulb will give you 2000 lumens.... Cool whites are a full spectrum bulb 4100K. Fulls have the entire light spectrum (used for depression) 4100K and would work for growing, but no good for our lil projects!! I just dont think they have enough reds! If u can stick with warm for the reds, and daylights for the blues you'll be fine...... Hope this helps..... p.s. ask anything, and i'll do my best to answer quickly!! laters hempy bucket, FIM. vs. standard topping will get you more yield, especially since fluoro..

 

[RandyRocket]

I only read the first post.

my thougt on cfl's for yor question. I wood stop buying at 3-4 26watt or 2 42watt.

if you want or need more than 4 it maybe time to think small hps 150watt or less.

After 4 cfls @ 26 watts you get some heat. 42watt one are hotter yet. Now the heat is not bad and a few fans will deal with it.

It come down to $in/production. At somepoint hps will give more light fror less $.

But wit up front $, I use what I have first and cfl's and t-12's grow dope just fine.

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A t-12 set up is cheap and works.

I have this set up I use from time to time.



They can grow into it for a few hours to a day they stay cool.

My set up is (4) 24" T-12's 20 watts each at 6500k it's a light blanket.

I also have some 2600ish k's (don't use but may add to my hps room for some side lights).
These thing may be old school but you can not f--- it up.

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this pic is my first plants funny to look at now.

But also look at the lights it's 10 cfl's I was just learning, I've gutted for the set up for parts. (could be over kill, the t-12 is way better my stain grow 2-3x fast under it, Yes I did a race t-12's won hands down).



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The 11 watt one will do very little for you. You 26watt as the smallest size.