CFL's are stupid. I took them down.

i had 3' shop lights. 4 at 30w. heard all the rave about CFL's. ok gave it 5 months. i just took them down. unless they are on top of the plant they really suck. i have to many plants in this area to proper light with CFL's. i put the shop lights back up.

did i mention the heat. yeah, for such a small bulb they put off stupid heat. i'm so much more confident now.

lol fdd you have found the truth and have returned to the world of great light use.Yeah cfls blow except for around the house lowering lamp costs

FilthyFletch said:

lol fdd you have found the truth and have returned to the world of great light use.Yeah cfls blow except for around the house lowering lamp costs

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hell yes that's what I did..I've always used HIDs but did a little experiment and ended up ditching the CFLs and using them to replace all the incandesent bulbs around the house to save on the electric bill and ordered a new 600 watt HPS......CFLs are good for lighting your home not growing weed..that's what I learned..LOL...

maybe for box growers........ but there is still all that heat.

I disagree, they are good for small grows where long flourescent lamps are too bulky. That and T5 lamps are a lot harder to find around here for me than CFLs are, even home depot doesn't carry any T5 lamps. I currently have a box grow and as long as ya have a good fan on them they work wonders for me.

kieahtoka said:

I disagree, they are good for small grows where long flourescent lamps are too bulky. That and T5 lamps are a lot harder to find around here for me than CFLs are, even home depot doesn't carry any T5 lamps.

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those aren't T5's. those are $1.39 shop lights.

i agree on the small grow thing. like i said they might be cool for box growers but they get way to hot for me.

nice, I prefer cfls mainly because of their lumen output per light, and I can fit a lot more lights/lumens in the same space compared to shop lights. I never gave ya a +rep on all your different strains so +rep.

kieahtoka said:

nice, I prefer cfls mainly because of their lumen output per light, and I can fit a lot more lights/lumens in the same space compared to shop lights. I never gave ya a +rep on all your different strains so +rep.

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thank you my friend. my electric bill is crazy so i knocked off 128w at 18 hours a day. should help a little.

haha love it. Iv never liked CFL's. I use shop lights for my seedlings but thats the only time il ever use fluoro's. I guess it all comes down to your grow. Oh and t5's are so expensive???

BBE

I believe that you are mistaken here, Home Depot does carry T-5's.
Finding a home depot employee with knowledge and who is willing to help you, is what you'll never find. Try looking at there under the counter lighting.
You'll find some T-5's there.
Peace

kieahtoka said:

That and T5 lamps are a lot harder to find around here for me than CFLs are, even home depot doesn't carry any T5 lamps.

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Thankyou fdd, this is a great thread, finally someone who has seen the comparison and also thinks household cfls are not for growing, maybe as said above if your growing in a box and not looking for a lot of potent bud.

HID is the best way to grow if you can handle the heat.

I even tried out a 250w cfl which i still use, but that still puts out a decent amount of heat, not as intense as a 600w hps but it still quite hot. In a closed space it still took temperatures upto 96

Has anyone tried the cfl flood lights? Saw them yesterday at the hardware store..think they were 23 watt 1600 lumen's.

Zeb

I'm looking forward to major tokes opinion at the end of his current grow, last time out he used 48 watt cfls, this time out he's using hps, so it will be good to get his opinion.

jesus3...

Streetlights with a blue spectrum are Metal halide...and the orange glow of every damn city in the US is hps lighting.

Not gonna knock CFL's but I know they aren't for me. I've used the larger units..125 watt and 200 watt...and they are FRAGILE lamps that break easily and burn out quickly. And heat? Yup...lotsa heat for the light you get from em. They work OK for lighting up a tray of seedlings..but beyond that...they don't put out enough light or penetrate the canopy deep enough to use for growing.

Vidman...check those t-5 lamps at Wally's CAREFULLY...I think you'll see that all t-5's are NOT THE SAME. The ones at WW are NOT "High Output" (they will have HO in the code of the lamp that is stamped on the tube somewhere if they are). Let me know if I'm wrong but I checked this out fully when I owned my grow store and I couldn't find HO lamps anywhere but the hydro suppliers and aquarium supply stores...

bt dt

LOL. Cfl are a dumb choice of lights when trying to grow that many plants. Cfl's are great if your only doing 2-3 plants. You didnt even have the lights positioned the right way (sideways to get the most light out of them). CFLs work great you just need to know how to grow w/ them.

check out this cfl grow View topic - second indoor grow with CFL's || Weed Farmer - Cannabis Culture Forum

Well this thread came just in time! I was just planning out a CFL setup for my
next endeavor- an inside grow, since I am about out of time outdoors. I was
just pricing CFLs and fixtures and stuff- I had been a big fan of the old-school
" take 2 4ft FL shop light fixtures and take em apart and mount on them on the board"
system, and had descent results. I just want something for seedlings and then I'll
throw up my 400w MH/HPS.

Vr6T said:

LOL. Cfl are a dumb choice of lights when trying to grow that many plants. Cfl's are great if your only doing 2-3 plants. You didnt even have the lights positioned the right way (sideways to get the most light out of them). CFLs work great you just need to know how to grow w/ them.

check out this cfl grow View topic - second indoor grow with CFL's || Weed Farmer - Cannabis Culture Forum

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I agree the CFL's will work in the right situation.

I believe they are great for beginers.
They help you learn about light penetration and keeping temps low.

cfl's are stupid. by the time you put out enough wattage with all 9 pointed directly at the plant you are up to the wattage of a small HPS. why not just do it right? yes sideways i understand. i had 20 plants i was VEGGING. i guess i needed 237 CFL's to do it right.