Why did CFL burn my babies?!?

I had 3 23w CFL for three seedlings (one bulb each) and I just checked on them and they were toast. The first set of leaves, not the round, ones were dried out and so brittle they cracked! Why did this happen? They weren't touching the light. They were a good inch, inch and a half away. Was it because they were so young? They were only about a week old. Everything I been reading says keep the light an inch away.

did your area have good ventilation? how high are the temps in your box? I'm betting thats the problem. while it is true that cfls put out quite a bit less heat than hps doesnt mean they dont still give off a good deal of heat on their own......

do you have proper ventilation, if not, thats what happened, most of the heat produced by the cfl's probably lingered long enough to dry up your babies!

I'm not sure of the temp in the closet I didn't have a thermometer. It's a pretty big closet so I can't imagine it being crazy hot. I'm not really much of an indoor grower I was just trying to get them started to go outside in a couple weeks. Good thing they were only my bagseeds. I have some good ones from attitude I wanna start now and don't wanna make the same mistake twice.

The ventilation thing can't be avoided, I can't really be drilling holes in my walls for an exhause fan or anything. Can I try moving the light away from them more next time or put a fan in the closet to blow on them. In all honestly it didn't really seem that hot. It's not like I get blasted with heat as soon as I opened the door.

just use 1 seed and put that in a sunny window, and the others under your cfls, but make sure to keep it 2 in away, and check the soil to see if its dry.

so you dont have a fan blowing on the plants and lights? stick the back of your hand between the bulb and top of the plants, it probally burns after a little bit is my guess, you need a fan to help blow that heat away........

darkdestruction420 said:

so you dont have a fan blowing on the plants and lights? stick the back of your hand between the bulb and top of the plants, it probally burns after a little bit is my guess, you need a fan to help blow that heat away........

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I just tried and in all honesty it wasn't that hot. Thats why I'm so surprised. I'm not gonna doubt you guys I'm pretty sure the light got to them I'm just shocked. It really doesn't seem that hot. Live and learn I guess

hmmm, I wouldnt be so sure it was the distance of the lights if you can hold your hand under it like you said you can and it doesnt feel hot. you dont have like a thermometer for when your sick or whatever? its not the best but it will at least give us a good idea of where the temps are.

nah I dont have one. I think I'm gonna pick one up tomorrow along with a little fan. I had them growing in a rubbermaid with an 18" regular flouro screwed to the lid for about a week. Yesterday I went and bought some cfl's and made a rig out of an extension cord and some of those Y's. Put those babies in the closet last night with my new CFL and everything looked good this morning when I got up. Went out fishing today and when I got home, disaster! The thing is I just finished college and moved back in with my parents so I really gotta keep things as small as possible. Like I said, my plan was for a guerilla grow this spring but I'd like to get them at least a few inches high before I take them outside. This was a trial run with some bagseeds but I just got some good seeds from the Attitude and don't wanna fuck this one up. Think I should just stick with the old school tube fluoro? It's in the closet in my bedroom so I dunno if a fan will be too much noise. I'm so pissed! My buddy has a 250w hps setup that he was gonna sell me for $50 I should have bought it with the amount I already spent of cfl and fixtures and whatnot. Then again, I def would have had heat issues with that no question.

What would be the best setup for what I want to do? I just wanna get them going for a few weeks until it is nice enough to move them outside.


Thanks for all the input guys. I appreciate it.

The closet is a good 3 1/2 feet tall, so plenty of room to rise, but it is only about 2 feet wide and only about 18 inches deep.

the tube will work fine, keep it 1 inch away, as long as you can pass the back of your hand under the light test, which im sure the tube will, but it never hurts to be safe and try the test anyway, especially if your using good seeds. the fan is very important, how often do your parents go in your room when your not their? if you had 2 fans you could run 1 in plain sight to cover for the noise of the one in the closet.

you guys think maybe the sudden change from my piece of wal mart shit 15w 18" shoplight to 69w cool white cfl might have been to much for them to handle?


I know this isn't the outdoor forum, but what do you guys think the minimum height they can before I move them outside?


Argh! those bagseed plants were looking so good, especially the one, I'm so pissed, haha. If this still doesn't work out I'm just gonna say fuck it and wait til I move out and get a real setup doing indoors.

darkdestruction420 said:

the tube will work fine, keep it 1 inch away, as long as you can pass the back of your hand under the light test, which im sure the tube will, but it never hurts to be safe and try the test anyway, especially if your using good seeds. the fan is very important, how often do your parents go in your room when your not their? if you had 2 fans you could run 1 in plain sight to cover for the noise of the one in the closet.

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They never come in really. The thing is I have a younger brother so I keep the door locked. I already feel like a scum bag starting pot plants with him in the house. I just meant noise with me trying to sleep, haha.

Why do you feel so bad about it? I think your being WAYYYYYYtoo harsh on yourself! I always have fans on when im sleeping, you get used to the noise. and no, the change in lighting like that would not do it.

with any kind of fluorescent, the hottest part of the bulb will be at the ends. really young seedlings should have a bit of space between them and the bulbs, and some air flow.

any light will burn a seedling if it is 1" away, give them about 8-10" until they start streching for the light and then move in on them.

I just checked the temp of the grow closet. It was only in the low 80's. An inch from the light it was a little more but not by much.

umm yeah I was turning into what I thought was a serial killer of clones. Keep the light at about 800 lumens max for about a week till she gets tougher. That is about 9 inch away from that bulb. It will be ok if she reaches a bit at the begining as the nodes wont get all spaced far apart that young. I would rather go slow at first then torch the little girls from too much light along with a rigorous light schedule that is not natural. Then I found that the Cfls get hot too. There is a guy on here wrapping his CFl's up in screen for the burn. But if you keep the light about 3 inch away you will get your 2000 Lumen at the Tops with no burns

76-78f for clones is good 86-88 for the roots on a heat mat. back off with the light till the tips are 78 and they will be happy.

sonar said:

The ventilation thing can't be avoided, I can't really be drilling holes in my walls for an exhause fan or anything. Can I try moving the light away from them more next time or put a fan in the closet to blow on them. In all honestly it didn't really seem that hot. It's not like I get blasted with heat as soon as I opened the door.

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AN oscilating fan works