LOW wattage CFL's VS HIGH wattage CFL's

HookdOnChronics said:

I can help you out a whole lot more if you tell me how many plants you plant on flowering in there. Then I can give you sort of estimates on veg time or whatever. Your going to want 100 ACTUAL watts per plant, bare minimum for good end product. Otherwise your getting a small yield and fluffy buds. If you can, I'd go to your local hardware store and get some Y splitters that go into light sockets. That will double your lighting wattage.

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I have a solution for this. I plan on growing no more than two plants at a time max. I have some more recent updates on my box regarding lighting and ventilation. My ventilation is now very good and it similar to what you suggested. Except I added a little twist as you will see from one of my recent posts.

Therefore, I plan on having at least 100W per plant in my box as they hit the full Veg state and through flowering using 6,500K, alternating to the 2,700K during flower.

I will have four top side outlets (two on each side) which I will likely use Y splitters to get 8 lights on top and I will have (after I install them) two light sockets on each side about midway down the side of my grow cab. I can Y split these and get another 8 lights in the box for a total of 16 outlets.

I like the side lighting because it allows me to distribute the light all over the plant as you mentioned is a huge advantage to growing with CFLs in small spaces. I hope this will maximize my CFL grow yield.

I would love to hear your thoughts on my strategy.

Peace brother and being medicated is a great place to be

Easy420forme said:

I have a solution for this. I plan on growing no more than two plants at a time max. I have some more recent updates on my box regarding lighting and ventilation. My ventilation is now very good and it similar to what you suggested. Except I added a little twist as you will see from one of my recent posts.

Therefore, I plan on having at least 100W per plant in my box as they hit the full Veg state and through flowering using 6,500K, alternating to the 2,700K during flower.

I will have four top side outlets (two on each side) which I will likely use Y splitters to get 8 lights on top and I will have (after I install them) two light sockets on each side about midway down the side of my grow cab. I can Y split these and get another 8 lights in the box for a total of 16 outlets.

I like the side lighting because it allows me to distribute the light all over the plant as you mentioned is a huge advantage to growing with CFLs in small spaces. I hope this will maximize my CFL grow yield.

I would love to hear your thoughts on my strategy.

Peace brother and being medicated is a great place to be

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Posting in your journal bro.

Thanks... see my plan within a few of the most recent posts. I am planning on 12 X 23 Watt blend of 6,500 and 2,700 with a 3:1 ratio favoring the appropriate grow period. I post a rough diagram

Easy420forme said:

Thanks... see my plan within a few of the most recent posts. I am planning on 12 X 23 Watt blend of 6,500 and 2,700 with a 3:1 ratio favoring the appropriate grow period. I post a rough diagram

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That will work great. That is exactly the type of set-up I have now and my plants are growing fast and tall, without stretching. They are very bushy also. I had removed my side lighting, but that was because of grow restraints. I have 6 plants vegging in a grow box, and they have completely taken over the box. I might put the lights back if I don't top or supercrop. But, I think you will be happy with the results that set-up will give you.

freethoughexchange said:

That will work great. That is exactly the type of set-up I have now and my plants are growing fast and tall, without stretching. They are very bushy also. I had removed my side lighting, but that was because of grow restraints. I have 6 plants vegging in a grow box, and they have completely taken over the box. I might put the lights back if I don't top or supercrop. But, I think you will be happy with the results that set-up will give you.

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Thanks brother... so far so good. I have not added the side lights, bu then again the two plants currently growing are only 7 days old. Thanks for the vote of confidence. It's definitely exciting.

Hey HookdOnChronics, Have you ever thought about or already space your cfl's out according to the area they can cover or do you drop them where you think they should go. I manipulate my lighting and grow room a lot and rearrange the cfl's as I see fit. I am thinking of a more "controlled" environment with less light manipulation by me on the next grow. Any thoughts?

One of the latest pics, and I just rearranged the lighting again, lol...

@freethoughexchange: I keep my CFL's at the same height, always in a fixed position. And used board games, ice coolers, ect to raise my plants closer to the lights. And as they streched during flower I would slowly lower the plants as needed, keeping them as close to the lights as possible. Within a couple inches. I find it alot easier to LST my plants to have an even canopy and just raise/lower the plants themselves than the actual lights...

Hope this helps

Here's a couple pix of one of my old CFL grow rooms... Lights never moved...

HookdOnChronics said:

@freethoughexchange: I keep my CFL's at the same height, always in a fixed position. And used board games, ice coolers, ect to raise my plants closer to the lights. And as they streched during flower I would slowly lower the plants as needed, keeping them as close to the lights as possible. Within a couple inches. I find it alot easier to LST my plants to have an even canopy and just raise/lower the plants themselves than the actual lights...

Hope this helps

Here's a couple pix of one of my old CFL grow rooms... Lights never moved...

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The grow looks great and so does you CFL grow area. Wish I had that much area to play with. still vegging?

HookdOnChronics said:

@freethoughexchange: I keep my CFL's at the same height, always in a fixed position. And used board games, ice coolers, ect to raise my plants closer to the lights. And as they streched during flower I would slowly lower the plants as needed, keeping them as close to the lights as possible. Within a couple inches. I find it alot easier to LST my plants to have an even canopy and just raise/lower the plants themselves than the actual lights...

Hope this helps

Here's a couple pix of one of my old CFL grow rooms... Lights never moved...

Click to expand...

Thanks! Yeah, after this grow I am going to set-up my tent so I don't have to move lights. I wanna see just how well my low wattage cfl's are going to do without manipulation from me.

SmokesLikeBob said:

Yeah! Being a cfl grower myself, I prefer to top my plants at the 4th node, then LST the 2 tops in seperate directions...then give them some extreme coverage with cfl's, no dark spots! I read a thread on here that had a really useful DIY method, if you have stationary cfl's make a box around it with fine mesh, so that the plants can literally grow into the light w/o burning!!! Really useful, for unlit areas in the middle of your growspace!


SLB

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Do you know if this really works??? I have some burn, nothing to go crazy about, but enough to piss me off, lol. My cfl's tend to get pretty hot after prolonged use (12 hours on). I keep adjusting my lights and can't have the cfl's most times no more than 6 inches close. I have 12 - 23watt 2700's (and yes, I know I should not drop below 26watts, lol)

Oh, sorry SmokesLikeBob, I was referring to the mesh around the lights, not the method of growing. I didn't know if that came across clear.I LST, supercrop, and top and absolutely love the results!!! It's addictive, I can't stop "bending" branches, lol.

Awesome Thread guys, very informative stuff. You have all helped me decide to go the route of CFL's. I hope to have something started very soon. I may even start a little grow journal. Thank you again for all the resources and info.
Peace, and happy growing.

I use 520 real watts of 26 watters in a 30 inch by 20 inches place (4.1 square feet) 20 blubs in total



I will be starting a new grow journal on RIU this weekend

But I have 8 80mm pc fans cooling the blub area alone
4 blowing over the blubs from each side and 4 sucking and shooting the air to the 140mm fans on top of my cab to exit into the intake of my household heating and cooling system.



I just a took a temp over the fans that suck the air away from the blubs and it is 102 F but at plant level 2 inches down from the blub it remains at a steady 75-80 F

^^^^ keeping lights cool/ventilation go hand in hand. Happy growing everyone!

Yoll...some great calculations but for anyone reading this advice let me tell you something.... Hps bulbs deliver anything around 50000 lumens, that is why they penatrate so deep.... t5 tubes can do the job but there lumen wattage is low.... it is not about watts it is about lumens...

hps = 50.000 lumens...depndent on bulb/wattage

t5 starlight 54 w = 20000 lumens

maxibright 250 cfl = 19950 lumens

per watt electric used the t5 give s the best lumens, but a 54w tube does not cover much space, so using 4 together = 80.000 lumens RIGHT.....no Wrong... adding more tubes does not give you more lumens it just give you 20.000 lumens over a larger area.FACT

CFL bulb is the same as a t5 compact flo light but in bulb form.... so the t5 4 tube fixture = 216 watts for 20000 lumens .

so basically the hps penatrates better.... but the difference between the cfl or tubes is small, depends which light suits your room.... cfl / tubes hardly any heat, and the rest you know.... so a 60w incandescent bulb will probably produce around 1000-1200 lumens of light - depending on the type of filament. so 10 of these = 10000 lumens???? no 10 of these gives 1000-1200 lumens spread over more area

good luck peeps