Cfl Proximity To Foliage

tre93543

tre93543

Active Member
NerdJr said:
Not true, get two 300 watt CFL's and be done with it ~ 6500k of course, simple
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I believe that you need to keep in mind that the lumens measure of a CFL is measured at 1 foot. So taking a 26 watt CFL rated at 1600 lumens, which is at 1 foot, would be approximately 4000 lumens getting to the plant at 8 inches. You can find charts and studies on this online. My thought is that even though CFLs do not run as hot as other bulbs, but a 300 watt bulb would have to be atleast 1 foot away, and loosing the energy (Lumens) that the plant needs before getting to the plant. so lower wattage bulbs, but more of them spread out to cover all areas. Just my opinion
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F

findme

Well-Known Member
tre93543 said:
I believe that you need to keep in mind that the lumens measure of a CFL is measured at 1 foot. So taking a 26 watt CFL rated at 1600 lumens, which is at 1 foot, would be approximately 4000 lumens getting to the plant at 8 inches. You can find charts and studies on this online. My thought is that even though CFLs do not run as hot as other bulbs, but a 300 watt bulb would have to be atleast 1 foot away, and loosing the energy (Lumens) that the plant needs before getting to the plant. so lower wattage bulbs, but more of them spread out to cover all areas. Just my opinion
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got me wondering if a person could get a higher yield with 600 watts of cfls vs 600 watts of hps.. I say this because one could place cfls on the sides of the plants while with a huge hps, you wouldn't be able to do that. Wish I had some cfl's and a 150watt hps to try it out. Although we all know that side lighting is a major key in getting more weight because even with a hps, it only penetrates so much.
 
tre93543

tre93543

Active Member
I do not have any "proof" to go by, as my previous grows were HPS, and cfl, and they were all crappy seed. The grow I have now is 100% cfl. I am now flowering a UK CHEESE.DSC01195.JPGDSC01196.JPGDSC01197.JPGDSC01200.JPGDSC01205.JPG
These pics are at day 26 of 70ish days flowering. I have my lights spread all around her. There is no stretching on her. 32 inches high, and 27 budding branches not counting the cola. Less than 1 inch between branches. It has very thick dense buds, and still have over 6 weeks left. I think CFLs kick ass
 
tre93543

tre93543

Active Member
Hey Nerd, What do you think about the chart I posted. does it make sense to you like it does me? I used to believe in 1 or 2 larger lights, but my current grow is going so well, I MAY NOT switch back to HPS
 
NerdJr

NerdJr

Member
You are right on the money for sure, but you need to get those lights a half a foot away, here is a Madshack strain from Sannie whom is the best breeder in the Galaxy, at a week and a half 24/7 light for 3 months and this will be 4-5 feet then time to flower, 12 shoots already on the Madshack and I would suggest to anyone to buy my pals light at whatever watt and lumen rating for the best plants you will ever see, the site is ht tp://cfl-growlight.com/store/ :twisted: View attachment 2436774View attachment 2436775
 
tre93543

tre93543

Active Member
NerdJr said:
You are right on the money for sure, but you need to get those lights a half a foot away, here is a Madshack strain from Sannie whom is the best breeder in the Galaxy, at a week and a half 24/7 light for 3 months and this will be 4-5 feet then time to flower, 12 shoots already on the Madshack and I would suggest to anyone to buy my pals light at whatever watt and lumen rating for the best plants you will ever see, the site is ht tp://cfl-growlight.com/store/ :twisted: View attachment 2436774View attachment 2436775
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My problem was that if I got any closer than 8 inches, the lights were burning my hairs. I do have a poor ventilation system, but even after blowing ice cooled air across the lights. the hairs were still burningDSC01088.JPG. I am sure that the lights you are talking about might run cooler, and I would expect that they would, but for my budget, I found 26 watt 2700k bulbs on sale 2 for $1 us at a local store. I bought 30 of them, and am currently using only 7 of them, plus a couple others with a 3000k spectrum.

after a little tweeking, this is what I have now at 26 days into flower.DSC01195.JPGDSC01196.JPGDSC01197.JPGDSC01198.JPGDSC01199.JPGView attachment 2436830View attachment 2436831View attachment 2436832DSC01205.JPG
 
NerdJr

NerdJr

Member
They look grand, another trick to remember is to cut all the fan leaves off, every single one that is not attached to the buds about 5 weeks in or so ! It will stress your plant to immune itself and the best time to stress a plant is during flowering, the plant goes into defense mode and throws they resin to protect, makes sense ? Be sure and foliage spray with warm water after you do so and Id wait till you need to water the soil etc as well ;) , you should use all the bulbs and then you can so you can put them further away, during flowering its about heat and high output light !
:fire:
 
tre93543

tre93543

Active Member
I am batteling some gnats right now, so I don't want to do any stressing. I have tried cinnamon, garlic, and cayenne pepper (not in the soil, but in a coffee filter set on the soil). This slowed them down, but not very effective. I have always had sticky paper, but am now stepping that up. I am also trying tobacco water. I did this today, and it looks like it may be hitting them pretty good.
 
M

method5

Member
CFL.vs HPs whatever. CFL vs. T5 fluorescent, a better question. I feel t5 have better penetration.Although CFL seem to.have higher lumens per watt.any opinions?
 
NerdJr

NerdJr

Member
Gnats like moist, Im sure you are aware, they wont hurt anything, find a spider and set it loose ! Im serious :fire:
 
trichmasta

trichmasta

Active Member
I added a Flourowing to my veg setup and ladies seem to love it!! Way cheaper than the t5 route; I can add 1 more of these units and be at 90 bucks and 250 watts!! Major win IMO!!
 
tre93543

tre93543

Active Member
tre93543 said:
I am batteling some gnats right now, so I don't want to do any stressing. I have tried cinnamon, garlic, and cayenne pepper (not in the soil, but in a coffee filter set on the soil). This slowed them down, but not very effective. I have always had sticky paper, but am now stepping that up. I am also trying tobacco water. I did this today, and it looks like it may be hitting them pretty good.
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Well, I knocked them down a bit, but they came back with a vengeance. I have caught maybe 1000 of them with sticky traps, but they are breading quicker than I can catch them. Today I went out and got some neem oil, mixed it up and drenched the soil with it. I hope it works. I have not seen much growth on her lately, just a lil fattening of the buds, and that tells me that the root gnats are winning. I will post in a few days and tell how it went.
 
D

Dragons

Member
can someone please clarify something for me.

All the research I have done suggests that you should always have your CFL lights within 1-2 inches of your plants. Is that the rule 100% of the time regardless of wattage or how they are placed - vertically or horizontally?

I use the large 130 watt CFLs and when my lights were placed Horizontally above the plants, they were fine except the lower branches were not getting enough light.

In order to get more light to the branches, i changed them to vertially and still maintained 1-2 inches, but they completely burnt my lower fan leaves.

 
dgthumb

dgthumb

Well-Known Member
I usually keep mine about two to three inches from the top, then every morning and night, rotate the plants around since they will 'lean' towards the light.
 

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dammajamma

dammajamma

Member
Yea i have mine within a half inch from the foliage...just make sure the bulbs aren't touching the leaves though. Also i have had my cfls touching each other 24/7 for weeks and no busting.
 
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