I used a cfl ( 45 w)=220 w. reg bulb...and I had it about 2 inches from my week old seedlings, and it burnt the shit out of 'em...I started new seedlings and this time I put the cfl about 10 inches away from them and they REALLY look good now. I am a small grower (personal use)...using one of those all white styrofoam coolers, 18"x18" (cheap) $3...just growing 4 plants. I don't know if it's my imagination, but the plants seem to be doing better with the cfl than with the 150w halide that I was using. I had the halide about 15inches from my plants. Has anyone had a similar experience?
Cfl Proximity To Foliage
- Thread starter Garden Knowm
- Start date
davoswavos
Active Member
your cfl's can touch a fan yours just burnt out I have had like 2 brand new bulbs do that on me the fan shouldn't be the issue just cheap lights or a bad light. As for manfish seedlings are delicate and can't handle much heat the bigger the plant the stronger the plant and they can handle more heat/light/nutes. From my exp with cfl's I start out small like two 30 watt cfls per plant about 4-6 inches away as the plant grows I ad more lights and put them a bit closer like 2 inches 1 inch is usually to close especially with bigger cfls they are much hotter and will cook your plant. when flowering I'll have 10 or more cfl's on a 2' plant I use 42watt softs and have a couple 30 watt brights to mix it up.
davoswavos
Active Member
FaderHarley, your big spiral lights will do you much better sidways and maybe a home made reflecter you could probly lose half of those lights and make some adjustments to get the same results using half of the power. Those big lights are your most important ones and they are way to far away and your only getting half the light from them the sides are twice as big thus twice the light. I know cfls are a cheap light to use but I use them and can tell you with about 600 watts worth of cfls I'm still looking at $35-40/month 18/6 light cycle.
I some what agree with the original poster but I also dont lol...
There are sooooo many ways to make cfls work better than your set up. You can do a lot of things which I do myself RIGHT NOW that work perfectly -
1. Buy the correct CFL bulbs.
2. Make sure the walls of your grow room are the best reflective material you can find.
3. Mylar the FLOOR and sweep it daily if you are messy to keep reflective properties.
4. Buy a regular light housing, screw in 1 home depot Y adapter, and then screw in another 2 Y adapters. You should have a 4 bulb socket now. Put your TOP plant lights in this, and obviously put above your plant 1-3 inches away MAX depending on how you are trying to grow. - this quad adapter surrounds your plant as WELL as is above it for vertical growth.
5. Buy as many more cheap bulb houses (w cord obvi) as you have interproximals inbetween plants. (aka if u have 3 plants u need 4 bulbs, 2 outsides 2 insides) screw in a 300w's into the ballasts and hang them BELOW the plants - I choose to hang them 2 inches above the top of the planter and I raise them as needed. - You also can just get a lamp that hold the bulb upwards above the planter instead of hanging.
I agree with the "if you use cfls you need a lot of light and to control it daily" statement - but what I dont agree with is you trying to say you need 40 cfls to grow a nice plant - you are dumb if you believe that.
Your best bet is to run with 6 bulbs per plant - 4 100w CFL for the top, 2 300w hanging on each side - if you really want to get OD with it, you can get 4 300w bulbs and surround the plant but honestly if you do the first set up correctly you DONT NEED TO.
Also, the poster is right by saying "put the lights an inch away from your leaves" yeah - the large fan leaves. From what I have gathered the large fan leaves are what sucks in the most light for the plant - if you focus there out you will have healthy plants in no time. Jus to give you proof of what I am talking about:
Oh and for any trolls that may wanna try to pick apart this situation - I am mylaring my floor when my mylar gets here. I also raised the lights up a lot to take a clear photo of my healthy plants.
There are sooooo many ways to make cfls work better than your set up. You can do a lot of things which I do myself RIGHT NOW that work perfectly -
1. Buy the correct CFL bulbs.
2. Make sure the walls of your grow room are the best reflective material you can find.
3. Mylar the FLOOR and sweep it daily if you are messy to keep reflective properties.
4. Buy a regular light housing, screw in 1 home depot Y adapter, and then screw in another 2 Y adapters. You should have a 4 bulb socket now. Put your TOP plant lights in this, and obviously put above your plant 1-3 inches away MAX depending on how you are trying to grow. - this quad adapter surrounds your plant as WELL as is above it for vertical growth.
5. Buy as many more cheap bulb houses (w cord obvi) as you have interproximals inbetween plants. (aka if u have 3 plants u need 4 bulbs, 2 outsides 2 insides) screw in a 300w's into the ballasts and hang them BELOW the plants - I choose to hang them 2 inches above the top of the planter and I raise them as needed. - You also can just get a lamp that hold the bulb upwards above the planter instead of hanging.
I agree with the "if you use cfls you need a lot of light and to control it daily" statement - but what I dont agree with is you trying to say you need 40 cfls to grow a nice plant - you are dumb if you believe that.
Your best bet is to run with 6 bulbs per plant - 4 100w CFL for the top, 2 300w hanging on each side - if you really want to get OD with it, you can get 4 300w bulbs and surround the plant but honestly if you do the first set up correctly you DONT NEED TO.
Also, the poster is right by saying "put the lights an inch away from your leaves" yeah - the large fan leaves. From what I have gathered the large fan leaves are what sucks in the most light for the plant - if you focus there out you will have healthy plants in no time. Jus to give you proof of what I am talking about:
Oh and for any trolls that may wanna try to pick apart this situation - I am mylaring my floor when my mylar gets here. I also raised the lights up a lot to take a clear photo of my healthy plants.
50-60 bucks as apposed to 500+ with 1000w hps 24 hour setup? ill take it. lol
davoswavos
Active Member
You can't be talking about actual 300 watt cfl's right? if your screwing 400 watts into one socket your asking for trouble you must mean 26 and 65 watt cfl's. And the need to add more is for bigger plants yeah small plants might only need 6 lights but I have a plant right now with 16 lights on it and there's no way I would take any of it away it's eating all of it up. If a guy wanted to he could use one bulb but, why wait so long for a gram of weed right?
SpaaaceCowboy
Well-Known Member
Wow, I just read all 45 pages of this thread....2 Glasses of whiskey, 1 spilled glass of whiskey, and a few pipe hits later here I am.....Thanks to everyone here that has posted useful information...It's really going to help me out....
Basically so far from what I gather....Try to go with almost as many cfls as possible....6500k for veg 2700k for flowering.....However by going with a 2:1 ratio during flowering with 2 2700 and 1 6500k, not only will you get larger buds but the potency will greatly increase.....(hang on going for my third whiskey now)
OK, Back....It also helps out to move the bulbs around (I will also be rotating mine by hand), this helps to evenly distrubute the different light over time....Also try to focus those cfls at the buds during flowering to increase yield....
Wattage/lumens is also important...Basically the bigger the better....However one of the objectives is cost, and efficiency....I think I read somewhere else on this forum that a 23w cfl is most efficient cost wise ? Also, by going with a smallerish lol bulb over a large they are easy to replace (and you can use them in your house after the grow for regular bulbs as the bulb loses it's potency after a grow) -----------
------------Anyone know how many hours you can get out of a cfl before it has to retire to another part of the house ?
Basically so far from what I gather....Try to go with almost as many cfls as possible....6500k for veg 2700k for flowering.....However by going with a 2:1 ratio during flowering with 2 2700 and 1 6500k, not only will you get larger buds but the potency will greatly increase.....(hang on going for my third whiskey now)
OK, Back....It also helps out to move the bulbs around (I will also be rotating mine by hand), this helps to evenly distrubute the different light over time....Also try to focus those cfls at the buds during flowering to increase yield....
Wattage/lumens is also important...Basically the bigger the better....However one of the objectives is cost, and efficiency....I think I read somewhere else on this forum that a 23w cfl is most efficient cost wise ? Also, by going with a smallerish lol bulb over a large they are easy to replace (and you can use them in your house after the grow for regular bulbs as the bulb loses it's potency after a grow) -----------
------------Anyone know how many hours you can get out of a cfl before it has to retire to another part of the house ?
faderharley
Active Member
the regular 23watters and 42watter cfls don't last as long as the larger spiral 65watt to 105watt cfls. I have now completed 3 grows w/my cfls, they have like tons of useable hours on them yet, but they cost between $32-$44 dollars each.... with that said the smaller ones burn hotter than the large ones do and I know I'll never spend the money on 85watt, 6500k, 4750 lumens again at $37.00 each when you can get 65watt, 6500k, 4500 lumen at home depot for about $20 bucks.... your spot on when you say it's important to move them each day.... I have grown w/over 1200watts, 83,000 lumens of cfls and pulled in 19 pint glass jars of the best bud I have ever smoked in my life from just 4 plants on my last grow-see grow journal.....
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MstadabolinaMrBobDobalina
Active Member
The hours you get from a CFL will vary, depending on the bulb. Having said that--they last for a LONG time. A perfect, new CFL out of the box should definitely last you through a full grow; I'll even go as far to say that you will get 2 grows out of it.
I had so many issues with my first grow (still in early stages, check it out
), some of which I believe were contributed by the types of CFLs I used at this early stage. I got the runt of the litter from a buddy of mine. She stretched very early on while sitting in crap top soil under a single 42w 2700k cfl. Then she stopped growing (multiple reasons, including transplant shock). Then I added a 68watt 2700k and she started growing again. However, she really started to take off when I added a 27w 5500k about 2 inches away. IMO, the consensus that you want an accent on 5500-6500k bulbs for veg is SPOT ON. Tomorrow my 85watt 5500k arrives. I'm going to sub out the 42w 2700k for now (save some $ on utilities). Again, this is my first grow, so I have no experience to share with regards to flowering; but I plan to add the 42w 2700k back in for sure.
My veg will consist of the 68w 2700k and the 27w and 85w 5500k's.
Same setup for flowering, but I plan to sub out the 27w 5500k with 2X 42w 2700k.
himynameispaul
Member
great right up helped me out alot with lighting, where can I buy 2 to 1 lamp socket splitters?? any help? 
MstadabolinaMrBobDobalina
Active Member
Home Depot / Lowesgreat right up helped me out alot with lighting, where can I buy 2 to 1 lamp socket splitters?? any help?
SpaaaceCowboy
Well-Known Member
I'm in the 10th day of my grow...plants seems to be a little slow growing, or maybe I am impatient and look at it too much....Anyways i was probably about 2" away from the plant with my bulb....I just moved it to about 1".....the plant has 4 leaves on it....We'll see how she reacts....Maybe I was too far away at 2" but I was just a bit scared of burning her that's all 
EDIT: Wow, well I checked it about an hour later to make sure it was ok and it actually was standing up more and looked bigger...WOW !
EDIT: Wow, well I checked it about an hour later to make sure it was ok and it actually was standing up more and looked bigger...WOW !
Izoc666
Well-Known Member
yes, sir i understood, thanks for putting the great info for everyone ! as you can see in my avatar that i took a picture today...1 inch to the foilage...about one hour ago i checked to see if any burn on leave from that 1 inch...so it does a little three little spot of burnt...but you just helped me out...i ll try to your techinque soon.
I dont know why this post is a sticky, you are 100% wrong. I grow with cfls and off of one plant 12/12 from seed with 4 bulbs hanging at the same height above the plant I got an oz and a half. Unsticky this nonsense and tell people the truth.
On the other hand, if you want to have a high chance of damaging ur plant by heat stress/bulb contact - listen to the message thats been stuck to this forum.
On the other hand, if you want to have a high chance of damaging ur plant by heat stress/bulb contact - listen to the message thats been stuck to this forum.
No you are 100% correct in what youve done. Growing with CFLs is and will be nowhere near growing with a HPS or other serious lighting system - the growth is slower and takes time.I'm in the 10th day of my grow...plants seems to be a little slow growing, or maybe I am impatient and look at it too much....Anyways i was probably about 2" away from the plant with my bulb....I just moved it to about 1".....the plant has 4 leaves on it....We'll see how she reacts....Maybe I was too far away at 2" but I was just a bit scared of burning her that's all
EDIT: Wow, well I checked it about an hour later to make sure it was ok and it actually was standing up more and looked bigger...WOW !
CFL bulbs get HOT and unless you have a NICE setup where you have GREAT exhaust and fans blowing on EACH LIGHT you will burn your plants. Plants grow, they extend TOWARD light and dont stop when it gets too hot. Ive woken up to my 12/12 from seed plant literally intertwined in my cfl bulb (the fan leaf not the plant itself)
Im telling u, i understand this dudes concept but the way hes putting it is wrong and is a great way to burn your shit and or burn ur house down...
probo24
Well-Known Member
If you're using cfls to veg, they can be further away and still do the job.
I veg three to four plants in two gallon pots under 5 x 27w cfls for two months and end up with 15-18 inch tall bushes.
My plants get topped and pruned to keep the growth more even. I usually keep lights 2-3 inches from the plants.
I veg three to four plants in two gallon pots under 5 x 27w cfls for two months and end up with 15-18 inch tall bushes.
My plants get topped and pruned to keep the growth more even. I usually keep lights 2-3 inches from the plants.
. Thanks so much <3
skinitti666
Well-Known Member
shit i just got some 27w cfls on sale for a buck a piece