new grower looking for help

I have just bought two daylight r40 flood cfl bulbs 1100 lumens 120 watt, wondering if these lights will be sufficient enough for two plants.

Probably not a very good spectrum for veg.

Would depend on how big you plan to grow them

what do you suggest? can i use those lights at all?

Crud, sorry, misread somehow and swore I saw red.

Daylight should do ok.

Usually recommended that more lower Watt lights than less bigger.

What size area are you growing in? What setup? Keep a fan blowing on them and keep them as close as possible to the plants.

Look into cfl micro cabs

Thats not really alot of light. How do you intend to grow? Several plants? SOG, LST? I'd get several more of them for sure.

I skimmed the first post looked good
https://www.rollitup.org/cfl-fluorescent-lighting/380156-4th-cfl-grow-jungle-growth.html

It is in the cfl fluorescent sub forum which has great info in stickies

Would 4 of those bulbs work for a 2 plant grow.

I was thinking of switching the lighting to soft white during the flowering stage.

This is my first grow, I have been researching for a while but there are so many different options.

welcome to RIU and i would suggest about at least 12 cfl bulbs rated at 23 watts each for 2 plants as the very minimal needed for halfway decent flower production... otherwise you will not get enough light to the plants...

but again that all depends are you lookin for 15g dry weight per plant or about an oz or more per plant???

for color temperatures use anywhere from 5500k to 6500k for veg and 2700k for flowering but no higher as it will be closer to yellow and green light which is much less useful for photosynthesis...

for both plants try to combo a Y shaped 2 bulb screw in/adapter plug that you can pick up for very cheap at any home improvement store where the set up...(presumably for you would be a confined area)... the best to get the max coverage for your plants would be 2 on top...2 on each side for the best coverage you can get for you situation... and you should be able to do ok...


just remember to have good airflow and cooling cause no matter if you are using cfls or any other lighting it will get toasty

okay, i already have those two cfl bulbs and plan to hang them over the plants

If I need more light (which I do) I will buy 6 23 watt cfls and put them on y adapters on the sides. Will that do?

Do i need to buy another set of lights, soft light cfls?, for the flowering then since what i have now is 5000k

and i would love to get a higher yield, an oz a plant would just not be worth it.

That should work. My pl-l are 4k for flower. How's an o a plant not worth it when that's a couple hundred dollars vs what you get supplies for

cheesehea said:

okay, i already have those two cfl bulbs and plan to hang them over the plants

If I need more light (which I do) I will buy 6 23 watt cfls and put them on y adapters on the sides. Will that do?

Do i need to buy another set of lights, soft light cfls?, for the flowering then since what i have now is 5000k

and i would love to get a higher yield, an oz a plant would just not be worth it.

Click to expand...

Then you're gonna need at a minimum 400w of HPS or MH. I'd go with the MH, because the light is easier on the eyes. You can flower under it just fine as well.

Did you mean 11,000 lumens? Thats enough for two small plants. The big limitation to CFLs is they don't penetrate well so no matter how bright the light is only good for like 6". I use CFLs for a bit in early veg and to keep my moms. I just kinda surrounded the moms with the little 23W ones and it works really well because they get light all over and get big and bushy.

It says 1100 light output in lumens.

Can I use those and the small 23w lights all the way through the grow process,

I am limited on funds and am still learning what lights I need but want to stick with the cfls all the way through the grow if I can. Do I need to switch to a lower k when i start flowering?

You can flower with what you have. You can use them like you said, just don't expect to corner the weed market come harvest time. You'll get some wonderful bud tho.........

haha definitely not trying to make a profit, just not trying to keep buying.

Thanks for all the help!