Advantage V. disadvantage CFL's

SteadyTrippin said:

Just starting a grow, and these are what I'm using

Veg:
4x 23w CFL 3500k 1600 Lumens
2x 42w CFL 2700k 2800 Lumens
2x 30w CFL 3500k 2100 Lumens

Flower:
4x 23w CFL 2700k 2600 Lumens
2x 42w CFL 2700k 2800 Lumens
2x 30w CFL 3500k 2100 Lumens

I was hoping to be able to grow 4-6 plants (I like even numbers), but I was wondering if I'd need different lights for veg?
The 4x 23w and 2x 30w I have for veg said they were bright white, but say they have only 3500k which doesn't make sense (I thought bright white was 5000k and daylight was 6500k)

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KingDankBerry said:

Cannabis thrives in the vegetative cycle from the use of the 'cool' light produced by 6500k, usually called "Natural Daylight" bulbs. MJ also needs small amounts of this cool light while flowering. But, the most important part of the spectrum for flowering period is a 'warm' CFL around 2700k. Also, I would suggest using a crap ton more CFL for FLOWERING if you want to get heavy buds. You will still be paying way less for energy compared to HID lights. I use this method and have switched from my old 600w HPS. Hope this helps. Peace, all.

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stickyhits said:

why do people always try saying hps and mh are hot my aircooled 1000w is always at 78 F but that is amazing you claim to get 42oz's with 18 cfl's every 4 months cause i only get about 32 every 2 months but if you only use 420-680 watts you pull about 2.8 grams per watt hats off to you thats the highest i've ever heard of

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lastfrontier said:

you see it seem to me that people feel that if you give it the most intense light you can find and the best hydro setup that it equils dank fat buds and that is simpley not true.


CFL's do not have the danger or heat problems that HPS and MH have also it cost more all around to dissapate the heat and the smell with it also CFL's are self ballest in most cases and there are so many that if one goes out you dont have to shell up 150.00 or 250.00 or what if the ballast goes out what if either of them fail while you are out of town and you loose the crop if one or two fail then i loose a few lumens and keep on rockin again consider the fire danger while you are gone a fan can fail of trip the braker also they use less wattage and you are able to spread the light as you see fit in most cases instead of coming from a central location high above i will say in defence of the production grower large intense lights are a good and usefull thing because it cuts down on the doliers per OZ of production that in my opinion is the onley time you would need the extra lumens i my self will never grow more then 14 plants at a time i get around 3-5 OZ per plant with that light at 14 plants only geting 3 OZ per is still 42 OZ every 4 months what the hell will i do with all that and i am only using about 420-680 watts when you have MH and HPS you are stuck with on or two kelvin ratings and that is it with CFL's i can swap the kelvin rating as i see fit mabey i want to flower at 2100 kelvin mabey i like 6500 kelvin for veg or mabey i want to try 4500 kelvin for veg and see if i get a better sun leaf with CFL's there is room for discovery and creativity we know that all strands are not the same and come from diffrent parts of the world mabey you would like to plant all dark purple indiga and the next crop you want to plant a virgin sativa they have diffrent requirments for light and with CFL's you can provide that with half the cost just remember people that the higher you go in watts when buyin a single CFL bulb the lower you go in lumens per watt stay at 26-55 watts and that is the best spot to stay...................... here are the periods that belong up there disperse them as you please

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Arabian Buddah said:

Hi friend ,,,I am growing two plants (northern lights & blue cheesed) indoor
Am using cfl lights with 2700k 105 wat, was thinking of using MD or HPS, however I was worried about the heat which will be caused by these lights
Anyway my Q is, what is the best number of cfl's bulbs required (watts,quantity..etc)?
My aim is to reach the same yield or more like we do with
HD & HPS lights, but using cfl's

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lastfrontier said:

you see it seem to me that people feel that if you give it the most intense light you can find and the best hydro setup that it equils dank fat buds and that is simpley not true.


CFL's do not have the danger or heat problems that HPS and MH have also it cost more all around to dissapate the heat and the smell with it also CFL's are self ballest in most cases and there are so many that if one goes out you dont have to shell up 150.00 or 250.00 or what if the ballast goes out what if either of them fail while you are out of town and you loose the crop if one or two fail then i loose a few lumens and keep on rockin again consider the fire danger while you are gone a fan can fail of trip the braker also they use less wattage and you are able to spread the light as you see fit in most cases instead of coming from a central location high above i will say in defence of the production grower large intense lights are a good and usefull thing because it cuts down on the doliers per OZ of production that in my opinion is the onley time you would need the extra lumens i my self will never grow more then 14 plants at a time i get around 3-5 OZ per plant with that light at 14 plants only geting 3 OZ per is still 42 OZ every 4 months what the hell will i do with all that and i am only using about 420-680 watts when you have MH and HPS you are stuck with on or two kelvin ratings and that is it with CFL's i can swap the kelvin rating as i see fit mabey i want to flower at 2100 kelvin mabey i like 6500 kelvin for veg or mabey i want to try 4500 kelvin for veg and see if i get a better sun leaf with CFL's there is room for discovery and creativity we know that all strands are not the same and come from diffrent parts of the world mabey you would like to plant all dark purple indiga and the next crop you want to plant a virgin sativa they have diffrent requirments for light and with CFL's you can provide that with half the cost just remember people that the higher you go in watts when buyin a single CFL bulb the lower you go in lumens per watt stay at 26-55 watts and that is the best spot to stay...................... here are the periods that belong up there disperse them as you please

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Applepie/vanilla icecream said:

I am not sure about that statement "the higher you go in watts with/per cfl bulb, the lower you go in lumens" ...?....
Because I use 42 watt which is at 2800L and I use my 68 watt in veggie which has a 4200L rating.

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