Tutorial to Growing with Cfl's

natto said:

I've decided CFLs are the way to go at the moment, so am really grateful for this thread and all the helpful extra input

Complete newbie here, so sorry if these questions have already been answered, I've read about 20 pages but not everything yet. Please be patient with me!

I'm looking at visting a grow shop next week, and they advertise 125W blue and red lights, but don't list the lumens online. I'm guessing they should be in the right ballpark as it's a grow shop right? Of course I'll check when I get there, but it's quite a trek so want to be prepared, anything else I should bear in mind?

I'm considering a small cab stealth, so thinking about just the light with lampholder plus lead, which can be suspended. I'm also looking at this if it doesn't take up too much room (like I say it's a small stealth cab I'm thinking of, not much taller than a PC case):

http://www.growell.co.uk/g/445/CFL-Hobby-Reflector-including-complete-kits-

Cheers!

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It seems like the green CFL made in China(various brands, same product). You can read lumens from it's box but i don't recommend that bulb.

something you forgot in the original tutorial that would be helpful to know is the minimum wattage per plant or per square foot of growing space
thanks

I got my bulbs from these guys and they aint too shabby. enviro-grow-lights, they're on ebay.

hey there CFL growers im looking for a bit of help and advice. Im and outdoor grower outa ontario and im still new to this so i need some help with the lighting for sprouting and vegging my plants. I plan on sprouting 10 seeds in a stealth box, and it seems like cfls are the way to go. since i plan on using 23w 6500K cfls i was wondering if they will work in any old socket or whether i need a special one? people have said they use work lamps which sounds great to me because they are so easy. so my question is for the lamps that i buy how do i know they will work with the CFLs, do they have to be a 100w or greater lamp since the 23w cfls have an equivilent to 100 incandescent watts?

would this lamp work for the bulbs? or can you guys recomend somehting simple?

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Likewise Incandescent Clamp Utility Light, 8.5-in

• Utility light comes with a convenient 15' (4.5 m) cord
• Heavy duty clamp adjusts to any work surface
• 1690 Lumen output
• Requires one 150W medium base or CFL bulb (052-5140). (Bulb not included

i wanna veg some plant under cfls' how many cfl's would i need for 4 plants?

When growing with CFLs is it absolutely necessary to use 2700k for flowering and 5500k for vegging? How much will yield be affected if I just use 2700k thru both vegging and flowering? Basically what I'm asking is it worth doubling the cost of the lights for the vegging period (having to buy 8 of both 2700k/5500k).

poptcorn said:

When growing with CFLs is it absolutely necessary to use 2700k for flowering and 5500k for vegging? How much will yield be affected if I just use 2700k thru both vegging and flowering? Basically what I'm asking is it worth doubling the cost of the lights for the vegging period (having to buy 8 of both 2700k/5500k).

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Its not absolutely necessary but it is recommended to use 2700k during flowering and actually 6500k for vegging. (not 5500k) The reason being, is because during the summer time (when plants should be vegging naturally) the light spectrum is 6500k. With the sunlight being out for long periods of time during the summer, it is recommended to use a 20/4 or 18/6 for vegging (people will debate this all day its just those light periods are more natural then 24/0) 2700k is more of a red spectrum that would be found in fall/winter. Naturally the plant wants to flower in fall or winter months when the days are shorter and this is when it would change to a 12/12 hour period. If you need any more help just go ahead and PM me or message me on my grow thread.

edit: to answer your question fully though, I would go out and spend the extra $20 on different spectrum lights to optimize your grow.

omx1998 said:

I'm sitting here reading this thread and trying to figure out why everyone is growing in these small and smaller spaces? Are you kids trying to hide it form your parents?
My flower room alone is 10' X 16'
I'm reading this to see if I might add some CFL to supplement the 6-1000w in some of the light spots that are not getting as much light as I would like.

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not everyone has your kinda space bro.... be nice and respectful

gettheledout023 said:

Sorry to come out of nowhere but i have a question that i cant find the answer to anywhere...im growing a few different strands of autos in my new grow tent using cfl and my room is starting to get hot(not cause the cfl just the temp outside). would putting on my AC in my room kill my plants or does my tent keep the heat.???

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If you are using an AC in a tent.. All you have to do is set it for the correct temp, lol. Keep it around 72-78*F hotter if you plan to use co2..

Cannabis Krew 420 said:

hey there CFL growers im looking for a bit of help and advice. Im and outdoor grower outa ontario and im still new to this so i need some help with the lighting for sprouting and vegging my plants. I plan on sprouting 10 seeds in a stealth box, and it seems like cfls are the way to go. since i plan on using 23w 6500K cfls i was wondering if they will work in any old socket or whether i need a special one? people have said they use work lamps which sounds great to me because they are so easy. so my question is for the lamps that i buy how do i know they will work with the CFLs, do they have to be a 100w or greater lamp since the 23w cfls have an equivilent to 100 incandescent watts?

would this lamp work for the bulbs? or can you guys recomend somehting simple?

• Photos

Previous

Next



Likewise Incandescent Clamp Utility Light, 8.5-in

• Utility light comes with a convenient 15' (4.5 m) cord
• Heavy duty clamp adjusts to any work surface
• 1690 Lumen output
• Requires one 150W medium base or CFL bulb (052-5140). (Bulb not included

Click to expand...

Most CFL's have built in ballasts and can plug into any regular socket that you can find around the house. 6500k are perfect for vegging, not so perfect for flowering, will wanna switch to 2700k. I can't see the photo of your lamp for whatever reason, so no comments there. g'luck

Edit: @jzs147 gen rule of thumb is 100W for one plant +50W for each additional plant. But the more light the better as long as temps are ok.

CFL's are great and the best part is the airy budds that you never have to worry about molding on you! This is my second grow with cfl's is finishing off as I write and it's a rig from a 4 ft 8 position over the medicine cabinet light for the bathroom. I put Y's into all eight and have mostly those GE eco bulbs somebody put me onto at 26watts the are1760 lumens I also have some desk lamps with flouros in em kinda hitting the sides a bit. I want so much to get an hid but for now cfl's are just fine. Have enough density to hit 8500lumens/sq ft and that's right between the 7k and 10k lumens that the sun is.

Only problem with airy buds is...less yield

Hey im new on here so sorry if this is posted in the wrong place.

Just wondered if someone can clear something up for me?

I have just bought 8x 30watt 6500k and 4x 65watt 2700k cfls to grow two plants. I was planning on using them all at once for 2 weeks of veg then all again for whatever the flowering takes, i thought i understood that i needed to provide the full spectrum of light for both veg and flower but now im wondering do i just use the veg kelvin frequency for veg only and no other and the opposite for flowering?
Hope that makes sense!

thanks in advance to anyone who can shed some light on the matter.

definitely a great post, very informative. Surely helped me out. ty

definitely a great post, very informative. Surely helped me out. ty

thanks a lot doc, that was some good info i just read,
i was thinking of getting a cfl for the sides of my grow opp,and thanks to your info thats the way to go for me.
thanks doc your a diamond.

coreywebster said:

Hey im new on here so sorry if this is posted in the wrong place.

Just wondered if someone can clear something up for me?

I have just bought 8x 30watt 6500k and 4x 65watt 2700k cfls to grow two plants. I was planning on using them all at once for 2 weeks of veg then all again for whatever the flowering takes, i thought i understood that i needed to provide the full spectrum of light for both veg and flower but now im wondering do i just use the veg kelvin frequency for veg only and no other and the opposite for flowering?
Hope that makes sense!

thanks in advance to anyone who can shed some light on the matter.

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hey dude, you'll want a full spectrum of light throughout the plants life. HOWEVER during veg, you'll want the ratio of 6500k lights to be higher because this will mimic the light spectrum the sun gives off when it's higher in the sky in the spring. when you switch to flower, you'll want the ratio of 2700k to be higher because it mimics the light spectrum of the sun in the fall when it is lower in the sky. so yes, use both temperatures of cfl's throughout the whole op but in different balances. The most successful growing indoors comes with mimicking the conditions outdoors.

Awesome post man, +rep. very good information, I'm building my first box, it'll have 4-6 hanging CFL's probably 65w's each, and I'll be using both 6500k and 2700k, more 6500k for veg and more 2700k for flowering, I'm thinking 70/30 then 30/70. Gotta get to work this dresser isn't going to convert itself!

omx1998 said:

Are you kids trying to hide it form your parents?

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Unfortunately, yes, I would say a rather significant percentage of of RIU growers live with their parents and are trying to hide their grows from their parents, hence why we see "pc grows" or mini box grows going on around here.

And like someone already said, not everyone has the space that you do, don't be so arrogant/ignorant and assume that everybody has the space, time, resources or goals to grow on the scale that you do.


Anyways, guys I am looking for something exactly like this.

http://www.amazon.com/Socket-Cord-Vertical-Hanging-Light/dp/B003FL3MBK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1306670266&sr=8-1

except not at a price that breaks my balls? Anybody seen anything? Also, how does this look for a grow light (veg only)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000W07Y5M/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=AQBB6KH9QOTVXits 5500k, but I cant find anything thats 6500 with free shipping (shipping to my state is outrageous, im talking $30 for one bulb)

I saw someone mentioned something about the size of the coil in the bulb, this looks rather big in coil size (which is bad, i think), do you think this bulb is not sufficient for growing?

Thanks in advance guys.