Can a CFL EVER be too close?

Hey weird question I guess, but im wondering if light could be stressing out my friends plants or something..

I will post a few pics when I get a some from my friend
First thing to note, is they are all 3 only about a inch tall.. 2 of them are already on their 4-5th set of leaves..

He has have 4 -75w CFLs on them.. 2 2800k, and 2- 75w 6500k's.. Crossing eachother, and plants between the lights. They are pretty much directly under the lights, and just off to the side a bit.. Still lights are level with the tops..

He have a fan blowing directly on them, mostly for heat reasons so he can keep them as close as possible.. He have it on high because he think he have been overwatering them a bit..

First plant came up around xmas EVE. So thought that would be a nice name (if it turns out to be a female..hope hope!) Popped right up like a day after planting the rooted.. So He expected very fast growth..

Well didnt do much at all, then started turning yellow.. He found out this was from the medium I was using was totally wrong.. Was much to alkline..
Well anyways after a few days the green has returned..(thank god) he didnt totally kill it..
He has been having soo much trouble getting sprouts, now we know why..
We live over seas, and thought a soil mix with "organic" (only english on the label btw)would be good enough...
Wont make that mistake again..

Both others were also able to sprout in this bad "organic" mix.. All were transplanted right away.. "Eve" was in the soil atleast a week or so, maybe a little over a week.. Was totally yellowed..
The other 2 plants were not yellowing when he got them into new soil..
One is doing very very well.. Actually just as big as "Eve" and was planted a week or so later..

Back to the reason I wondering if the light is too close..
I know you keep it closer to keep it from streching.. So far they have NOT streched ONE bit...
I have never seen plants SOOO small with so many sets of leaves...
We always expected to see "some" streching abit..
Im only worried because I just havent seen anything like this before..
I mean a inch tall plant with 5 sets of leaves, is a new sight to my eyes..
The leaves are very tiny too..

When these first broke the ground, and opened, the first true leaves were already growing.. So is this normal, or could my lights be a bit too close?
Will get pics up here in a few..

honestly, i didnt read the post at all, but no, CFL's can never be too close, unless they are very high wattage. Even then, a couple inches is all you need.

ok, thx didnt think so.. Anyone else got anything to add after reading my first post?

i burnt the shit out of my plants(when they were about 3.5") while I went away for xmas...2 died and 2 shorter ones survived which I have now, they have recovered and are like 12"


Now I wasnt home, so I dont know EXACTLY what happened, but somehow it got 108ºF ...which was NOT a normal temp...it was cold (30s) when I left town and when I got back it was in the 70s (TX...Go figure) Dunno why my heater would have kept running...

DO make sure they are not hot at the canopy...I do notice when they get closer to the lights they seem to not grow as fast...maybe my CFLs put out more heat. GE brand 42w EQ 150w .

Anyways just mere anecdotes

Yes you can have cfls to close not sure what above post was thinking. Cfls add quite a bit of heat from them any thing obver a 13 watt cfls heats ups. Now if it was a simple florescent tube light like a T8 or T5 shop light those can touch a plant but a simple cfls can and will burn and over dry a plant.Watch those organics as those seem to be very touchy soils. Id reccomend a simple 2 bulb 4 foot florescent light and some simple miracle grow moisture control soil if you can grab it.Hers a few pictures of my plants started under a 4 tube T8 light at about 12 days and then at day 25 3 days under 1000 watt mh light.Using miracle grow soil nothing but plain ph water..

Well my friend has a fan blowing directly on them, and the blubs are cool to the touch..

Getting nutes, and proper soil was hard, since its all in a different language.. Not sure to know what you are getting, until after you try it out..

I got a few pics off him to post, and see what people think..
I have never seen plants so small, yet have so many sets of true leaf on them..

He included a ruler in a few of the pics as reference.. On that note its always 1 inch shown in the background..
So think about one inch, and then think about seeing tiny plant with 5 sets of leaves.. NO space between.. At only one inch Now is going on 3 weeks or so old..

The first set of pics is of the first sprout to come up.. Named "Eve" cause it came up on xmas eve..




The next pic, came up a week or so later, and is just about as big..
It was in the bad orgainc mix less time then "Eve".. So wasnt as harmed by the high pH of the first soil mix.. (2 weeks or so old)






This one is very very odd.. It is very small.. All are much smaller then anything I have seen before.. This one, is about half the size of the first 2..


It is however going on its 3 or 4th set of true leaves.. For somereason they soo small..




This one was only about 2 days old before it was put in pH friendly soil.. So I guess bad, pH and transplant shock really messed it up..
It is getting back on track..
Nice new growth, and greenage back in the leaves..

Any ideas or suggestions?
Has anyone ever seen plants an inch tall almost 2 weeks old, and 4-5 sets of leaves before

Where are these pics I'm enjoying reading the start of these projects

Regarding pics not showing, just use this forums upload feature to post pics from a harddrive folder. Photobucket sucks now. Photobucket asking you to upgrade your account means they now want money from you in order to use it.

CFL's not having enough light intensity might cause growth issues with plants, but not because they're too close. Just don't let water droplets sit on your leaves with lights on as they act like little magnifiers that will burn leaves. I found that out the hard way. I lost some top leaves.

Nvydvr81 said:

Where are these pics I'm enjoying reading the start of these projects

Click to expand...

Could be because it's Photobucket which has changed considerably in the 10 years since this thread was started.