CFL vs FLORO vs HPS

mo201320

Active Member
yup i'm a tard thought that was tha first page was'nt it was on 8 anyway good job and thanx looks like you should youse CFL's to flower and add and HPS to bud, just my opinion and it propably sucks any way thanks and good job.........I <3 weed!
 

percussive_toke

Active Member
yeah i get your point on that, about the cfl's being a good matchup to the hps. i never really thought about how close it would probably be. im using both. but should i maybe just not use my hps until flower. like cfl's for veg, then both for flower? or just both the whole time? anybody let me know.

peace and unity-toke
 

th3bigbad

Well-Known Member
really when you get down to the nuts and bolts of it all the CFLs did really good. i dont sell but if i did hydro goes for about 200.00 an oz around here. i got
CFL= 5.25oz/wet
HPS= 9.5oz/wet
hopefuly
CFL= 1.25oz/dry=250.00 at a cost of about 7.00 a month 21.00 total for ele
250.00-21.00=229.00 profit
HPS= 2.25/dry=450.00 at a cost of about 75.00 a month 225.00 total for ele.
450.00-225.00=225.00 profit
i ballparked those numbers, but its closer than i wouldve thought
 

hearmenow

Well-Known Member
Excellent info, bigbad. I think once I have the privacy and space, I am getting a HPS. I want those bigger buds for my personal use.
 

paddy510

Well-Known Member
great thread, really interesting.
and thats with 13w CFLs? thats just cool
be good to see what 1kw of cfl can do
 

th3bigbad

Well-Known Member
hearmenow--- its hard to explain the difference in the CFL and the HPS plants. they looked alot alike. there never was a huge difference in the 2 lights, untill i cut them down. the HPS plants buds are like rocks. rocks covered in super glue. and the CFL plants buds where big and fluffy. like a waded up piece on tissue. all the plants for both the HPS and the CFL stayed about the same hieght, but the lower branches on the CFL plants all died off. the lower branches on the HPS plants grew bud and grew tall enough to get a fair amount of light.

paddy---- yup that was 6, 13watt cool white cfls i never changed over to warm when i flowered.
 

hearmenow

Well-Known Member
BB, you confirmed what's been said before that CFLs, if you don't have enough, can result in those airy, "popcorn" buds. I am doing a 80/20 ratio of natural sunlight to CFL, so I am hopeful I don't get those airy buds in my grow.

Even though you can still get some nice buds from CFLs, HPS is the way to go if you are 100% indoors and want those killer buds. Great job, BB!
 

vburton517

Active Member
I agree with the spectrum making the difference, u will need more of a wide spectrum for flowering and a daylight and or cool spectrum for vegetative growth, for the daylight/cool is in the blue spectrum/for vegin, and wide spectrum is more in the yellow/red which is needed for flowering...
 

skip

Well-Known Member
STICKY THIS THREAD!

Thanks th3bigbad for a really excellent, informative thread. I started a couple threads recently on CFL's cause I'm vegging with them and would really like to use them for flowering. The electricity saving benefit over HPS is clear, plus they are more flexible as you can move them around the plants. I guess want I want is real confirmation that they are a viable option for flowering and so your experiment has been very interesting.

Look at what you achieved: you got a reasonable return using ONLY 78 watts of CFL's. Imagine what could be achieved if that wattage was upped considerably. Some growers are already getting good results that way - look at Rosemans grow for one.

I'm looking forward to your 1000 watt CFL experiment...
 

Major_Nuggz

Well-Known Member
what are you looking at 20-40 differance in an electrical bill..I have a 600 watt hps on 220volt cost me about 30 a month more than when im vegging with cfls..Unless your going top of the line cfl then your just spinning in circles for very little money
 

skip

Well-Known Member
what are you looking at 20-40 differance in an electrical bill..I have a 600 watt hps on 220volt cost me about 30 a month more than when im vegging with cfls..Unless your going top of the line cfl then your just spinning in circles for very little money

Some of us live in Europe where electricity, like most things, is more expensive than in the US.
 

th3bigbad

Well-Known Member
CFL= 1.25oz/dry=250.00 at a cost of about 7.00 a month 21.00 total for ele
250.00-21.00=229.00 profit
HPS= 2.25/dry=450.00 at a cost of about 75.00 a month 225.00 total for ele.
450.00-225.00=225.00 profit

no im looking at about 68.00 difference per month. from the 1000w coil and core HPS ballast to the 6 13w CFLs
 

Roseman

Elite Rolling Society
To get the tight large buds with CFLs, you do have to put the bulbs very close to the buds.
 

olietrendkill

Active Member
or you could do a fair test and use 600w of fluro as well, and no they noyou wouldnt need endless plugs, becayse you could just use 3 200w enviro lights
 
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