CFL Flowering Question

Exo

Exo

Well-Known Member
i;m going to be flowering in about a month and a half and i am just wondering something. i am planning on flowering with 4 23w 2700k CFL's and 2 23w 6500k CFL's. here's the questions... should i only use the 2700k CFL's? or use 4 2700k and use 2 6500k? lemme know what will work best for CFL flowering if im planning on having a 3 foot tall plant. thank you.
 
greenzebra

greenzebra

Active Member
Yeah as lmn8r said you should use all of those lights. I wouldn't try to grow any others with that amount of light. If that's all you can afford, focus on one plant and keep your lights at bud sights and I think you'll be happier with those results as opposed to trying to grow multiple plants with that amount of lumens. It never hurts to add more lights if it won't be too hot for the plant.
 
greenzebra

greenzebra

Active Member
Nope, in fact it may help.. A lot of people have been saying that having a wider spectrum is better for the plant. I have 2700k and 6500k on my plants at all times. I've also read a lot of places that when using only a few CFL's that the bulb's spectrums don't matter quite as much. I don't know how true it is, but I read it on here somewhere..
 
Da Chef

Da Chef

Member
well could you just use 6500 k bulbs for the entire process and get good bud???
it seems like it dosnt really matter what kelvin it puts out cause the plant will grow no matter what and i would guess the more light the better. so use the 6500k the whole time
 
greenzebra

greenzebra

Active Member
I'm not exactly sure how they classify a "Small amount" of CFL's but supposedly with fewer cfl's the spectrum matters less. I think you could grow under one spectrum, but your results would probably be better utilizing both red/yellow and blue spectrums.. The 6500k (blue spectrum) light is good for vegetative growth because it mimics the early growing season with a lot of bright sun for long hours. The 2700k is good when you go to 12/12 for flowering because it is more similar to the fall months when the days get shorter and it's nearing harvest. The sun puts off both spectrums through the whole growth period though so it doesn't hurt to have a couple of the veg lights during flower and vice versa..

So, it's possible to grow under one spectrum, but I would guess you'd get better growth and yield using both spectrums.
 
shiz

shiz

Active Member
The 65k is better for veg and the 27k is better for flowering,it wont hurt the plant to use different kelvins,just worry about the lumens,remember ther is 10,000 lumens in a square foot,i use 3 different kelvin temps 27k 42k 65k, i have 6-65 watt,8-26 watt and 4-42watt in 4 foot squared space.
 
Greendude

Greendude

Well-Known Member
Well I have been growing with cfls for a while now . I use 12 43w 2700k and 6 23w 65ook in my flowering box and my buds turn out real nice. As far as a full grow with 6500k not sure , but I do know that you can do a complete grow with 2700k . Did my first cfl grow that way buds were big and they smoke real good .
 
Brick Top

Brick Top

New Member
Greendude said:
Well I have been growing with cfls for a while now . I use 12 43w 2700k and 6 23w 65ook in my flowering box and my buds turn out real nice. As far as a full grow with 6500k not sure , but I do know that you can do a complete grow with 2700k . Did my first cfl grow that way buds were big and they smoke real good .
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Just for curiosity I am wondering how much you spent total on CFL’s and any Y-sockets etc. that make up your lighting?

The reason I ask is it takes 5.3 125-watt CFL grow lights to equal one 400-watt HPS. You are running 654 watts of CFL’s which is only 8.5 watts less than the 5.3 125-watt lights but I was wondering how cost effective it is.

A 400-watt HPS/MH HID light can be purchased for $164.95 and I would think that you had to have spent close to that amount for your collection of CFL’s and possibly more when the price of cords and sockets and or Y-sockets and possible reflectors and possible light strips etc. are added. Then you are using 654-watts compared to 400-watts, an additional 254-watts of electricity, and you still are not getting as much light as a single 400-watt HID light that would give you both MH and HPS bulbs.

I am just trying to understand how paying roughly the same amount of money as HID lighting would cost and getting less light and using more watts for less light equates to a value.
 
Greendude

Greendude

Well-Known Member
I have one , Just like using my cfls right now. Temp becomes a real problem where I live this time of year
 
Exo

Exo

Well-Known Member
it cost me $30 for CFL's. 6500k. $6 for 4 keyless sockets. $4 for 2 y sockets. then soil was like $20 then seeds were $40 so yeahh $100
 
scratt

scratt

Active Member
I got 6 27k 85w cfl buld at 5700 lumens apiece and 6 65k 23w at 1600 apiece total of 43800 lumens for three plant. I think my 85w bulbs was $22 a bulb
 
CFLGREENTHUMB

CFLGREENTHUMB

Active Member
greenzebra said:
I'm not exactly sure how they classify a "Small amount" of CFL's but supposedly with fewer cfl's the spectrum matters less. I think you could grow under one spectrum, but your results would probably be better utilizing both red/yellow and blue spectrums.. The 6500k (blue spectrum) light is good for vegetative growth because it mimics the early growing season with a lot of bright sun for long hours. The 2700k is good when you go to 12/12 for flowering because it is more similar to the fall months when the days get shorter and it's nearing harvest. The sun puts off both spectrums through the whole growth period though so it doesn't hurt to have a couple of the veg lights during flower and vice versa..


So, it's possible to grow under one spectrum, but I would guess you'd get better growth and yield using both spectrums.
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Couldn't have said it better myself. perfectly stated.
 
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