CFL bulbs watts????

Hi all, I was advised to buy 6 42 watt cfl bulbs for my grow box. But why do most cfl bulbs say they are equivalent to such and such. Can I just go to home depot and say I want cfls that are 42watt direct output? Also what if I changed to only 1-3 more powerfull bulbs? like 3 cfls that are 60-150 watt? I will be growing 2 indica clones.This is my first time grow thanks CW.

keep searching around the site for info on cfl growing.

As i understand it: When you look at cfl s you want 5000-6500 k for veg and then when you switch to 12/12 (flower) you want to be using a lower (about 2500k) watt bulb. Look on the packaging and you can see what it is I am talking about.

Light is key, with cfl s you want them close, 2 inches or so to help them grow as they are not powerful bulbs

boofin said:

when you switch to 12/12 (flower) you want to be using a lower (about 2500k) watt bulb.

Click to expand...

Some confusion here - the colour temperature (in Kelvin) is totally unrelated to the power output (in watts).

cwest was asking, I think, about labelling. CFLs are labelled with their power consumption, and also with the power of incandescent bulbs that they are equivqlent to. ie in a domestic situation, a 20 watt CFL is about as bright as a 100 watt incandescent bulb.

When growing, use the lower value, the actual power consumption.

For 2 plants, i'd go for either 1x 250w or 2x 125w. For Vegging use a 6500K bulb (blue light / daylight) on 18hrs, then switch to a 2500k bulb for flowering (yellow/orange light) for 12/12.

Personally, i veg with CFL, then switch to HPS for flowering. A 250w hps is far superior to 250w CFL (imho).

Good luck with it