Broken CFL - Is my Crop Ruined?

D

dcolem01

Active Member
Hi everyone. Is my crop ruined? I broke a compact fluorescent bulb into a million tiny little pieces in my grow room today. On the bulb and package it warns that the product contains elemental mercury... From my understanding, that's mercury gas.

So.... is my crop ruined if I broke a CFL in the grow closet while renegotiating the lighting setup? I'm sure plenty of you have had this curse-worthy problem in the past.

I vacuumed up the smaller pieces after picking up the hundreds of larger ones by hand.
 
Mentalchild

Mentalchild

Well-Known Member
idk i know it is harmful for humans but i would think so to plants to. If you broke it over your plants and whenever harvest is wouldnt you be also basically smoke mercury?
 
M4A1

M4A1

Well-Known Member
Your screwed. Throw everything out. You might as well start over. LOL. J/K'ing. Just clean everything up and you should be ok. Yeah the shits bad for ya, but what can you do now. You broke a bulb. Clean it up and continue.


ETA: if your flowering you might want to wash the buds with just some water to try and get anything you might have gotten on the buds off of them.
 
MR M3RKLEZz

MR M3RKLEZz

Active Member
im sure it will be fine as long as u got your fans going and u banged another light straight in there ive done it before but just cracked 1 but i have two 300watt cfls runnin at same time so i diddnt go dark but u should be fine just make sure all the glass is out of the pots
 
kevin

kevin

Well-Known Member
i think you will be fine, when i was young i use to break themoters open and collect the mercury and play with it at school. trade the stuff for marbles. my brother would eat the paint chips.
 
D

dcolem01

Active Member
LOL- Oh good, it's not all over for the plants. Thanks for the answers. Fortunately, the bulb did not directly shatter over the plants themselves so I'm feeling fairly safe about that. I was just wondering if any of the mercury would end up soaking into the plants, soil, etc.

In reply to kevin, Yeah, I guess we probably freak out a little -too- much about things like lead and mercury these days. :)
 
treduece

treduece

Well-Known Member
aww same thing happened to me bro
i broke a 42 watt 2700 lumen cfl and cleaned that shit up quick
i felt so bad I turned my light cycle off for 24+ hours
until I got two 23 watt cfls to replace it.

your crop is not ruined
just give it time to deal with the minor stress
 
DaveyDoom

DaveyDoom

Well-Known Member
kevin said:
i think you will be fine, when i was young i use to break themoters open and collect the mercury and play with it at school. trade the stuff for marbles. my brother would eat the paint chips.
Click to expand...
Hey! me too, and I turned out just fine.
 
That 5hit

That 5hit

Well-Known Member
dcolem01 said:
I vacuumed up the smaller pieces after picking up the hundreds of larger ones by hand.
Click to expand...
never vacume just get a damp sponge and tap it up it take a long time but your not blowing poison in the air via the vacume exhault also where a mask and gloves the weed will be just fine but dont make this a habit it will still have traces of the poison in it no matter how much you flush it but i would still smoke it if the plants are still living then it was not alot so it should not harm you

i had this thing happen but i grow in hydroponics and it was three 42w that broke ont me my plants lived for 2 wk then they died it was my 3rd grow1st hydro grow so i dont know if its was that or was it something i did or didnt do it also happened when i was changing my nute out so mabe my ph was off
so good luck
 
Mysticlown150

Mysticlown150

Well-Known Member
That 5hit said:
never vacume just get a damp sponge and tap it up it take a long time but your not blowing poison in the air via the vacume exhault also where a mask and gloves the weed will be just fine but dont make this a habit it will still have traces of the poison in it no matter how much you flush it but i would still smoke it if the plants are still living then it was not alot so it should not harm you

i had this thing happen but i grow in hydroponics and it was three 42w that broke ont me my plants lived for 2 wk then they died it was my 3rd grow1st hydro grow so i dont know if its was that or was it something i did or didnt do it also happened when i was changing my nute out so mabe my ph was off
so good luck
Click to expand...
Damn that must of sucked. I really didnt know that cfls were that dangerous if broken.
 
That 5hit

That 5hit

Well-Known Member
If a CFL Breaks - Warning:

How should I clean up a broken fluorescent bulb?
EPA recommends the following clean-up and disposal guidelines:

1. Open a window and leave the room (restrict access) for at least 15 minutes.
2. Remove all materials you can without using a vacuum cleaner.


  • Wear disposable rubber gloves, if available (do not use your bare hands)
  • Carefully scoop up the fragments and powder with stiff paper or cardboard.
  • Wipe the area clean with a damp paper towel or disposable wet wipe.
  • Sticky tape (such as duct tape) can be used to pick up small pieces and powder.
3. Place all cleanup materials in a plastic bag and seal it.


  • If your state permits you to put used or broken CFLs in the garbage, seal the CFL in two plastic bags and put into the outside trash (if no other disposal or recycling options are available).
  • Wash your hands after disposing of the bag.
4. More
  • The first time you vacuum the area where the bulb was broken, remove the vacuum bag once done cleaning the area (or empty and wipe the canister) and put the bag and/or vacuum debris, as well as the cleaning materials, in two sealed plastic bags in the outdoor trash or protected outdoor location for normal disposal.
 
Mysticlown150

Mysticlown150

Well-Known Member
That 5hit said:
If a CFL Breaks - Warning:

How should I clean up a broken fluorescent bulb?
EPA recommends the following clean-up and disposal guidelines:

1. Open a window and leave the room (restrict access) for at least 15 minutes.
2. Remove all materials you can without using a vacuum cleaner.


  • Wear disposable rubber gloves, if available (do not use your bare hands)
  • Carefully scoop up the fragments and powder with stiff paper or cardboard.
  • Wipe the area clean with a damp paper towel or disposable wet wipe.
  • Sticky tape (such as duct tape) can be used to pick up small pieces and powder.
3. Place all cleanup materials in a plastic bag and seal it.


  • If your state permits you to put used or broken CFLs in the garbage, seal the CFL in two plastic bags and put into the outside trash (if no other disposal or recycling options are available).
  • Wash your hands after disposing of the bag.
4. More
  • The first time you vacuum the area where the bulb was broken, remove the vacuum bag once done cleaning the area (or empty and wipe the canister) and put the bag and/or vacuum debris, as well as the cleaning materials, in two sealed plastic bags in the outdoor trash or protected outdoor location for normal disposal.
Click to expand...
I remember one broke in my hand. All i did was pick it up with my bare fingers and threw it in the garbage in my bedroom. It was there for days.
 
Fennimore

Fennimore

Well-Known Member
kevin said:
i think you will be fine, when i was young i use to break themoters open and collect the mercury and play with it at school. trade the stuff for marbles. my brother would eat the paint chips.
Click to expand...

HAHA! What's that all about?
 
darkdestruction420

darkdestruction420

Well-Known Member
Mysticlown150 said:
I remember one broke in my hand. All i did was pick it up with my bare fingers and threw it in the garbage in my bedroom. It was there for days.
Click to expand...
yeah, ive broken like 16 of em(literally) ranging from 13w-42w and never had no problems......paranoid, their is hardly any mercury in them now ive cut myself on fresh broken cfls covered in the white powder and it was in the cuts more than a few times......these guys are paramoid about mercury lol
 
Lennard

Lennard

Well-Known Member
Chances are by the time you have written this out that the gas is gone and most of the harm is already out of the way. Make sure to clean off the powder and dont freak out lol. Good luck buddy, it happens all the time. I did it with a 200 watt monster light and not one reprocussion came from it
 
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