How to get huge, dense, sticky buds using CFLs - ONLY!

johnkallaha said:

OH MY ..... Your plants are really porny.... so hot...

Please i beg you, provide me with some more information about these hotties Strain, Wattage for the big buds?, time flowering vegging... god, thats hot

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^like^
Awww man...i appreciate the kind words.....thanks a lot!


Strain-Mexibrick....schwag....dirtweed


Wattage-depends on what stage of growth I'm at.I have a veg box with 145w,my closet has two with 276w and one with 368w


I'm a 12/12 from seed grower but when I veg I usually veg long enough to top my plants down to 4-8 tops(6-10 weeks veg)

B166ER420 said:

^like^
Awww man...i appreciate the kind words.....thanks a lot!


Strain-Mexibrick....schwag....dirtweed


Wattage-depends on what stage of growth I'm at.I have a veg box with 145w,my closet has two with 276w and one with 368w


I'm a 12/12 from seed grower but when I veg I usually veg long enough to top my plants down to 4-8 tops(6-10 weeks veg)

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Thanks alot Amazing!!

I thought the entire plant would become the size of a lighter if you did 12/12 from seed but oviously this mexibrick bagseed was chosen to produce.

Nice, real nice buds.

B166ER420 said:

I was half joking,half being a dick...lol.....I'm cool man,I forgot what the argument was about.....i think it was the ol' you like hid,I like cfls argument?..blah blah blah.peace


In my opinion also its mainly genetics on how hard/dense buds are....I have been growing the same mexi-schwag seeds forever and some are dense...most are not.

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yup your right lol. i use bagseeds too so maybe thats why? cause with my 400w hid they were airy too..they were big fat and didnt weigh hardly anything lol.

I have a good environment too...I think...85 at the hottest,70 the lowest,humidity fluctuates between 30-50%,good airflow....I was lucky enough to grow out a og kush x n.y. diesel and the the buds were nice....I've had a few schwag seeds turn out dense rock hard buds,i even supplement with diy co2 generators..so I don't know.That's why I say it's genetics.What about you? any grow environment issues?

im gonna make my hood till i can afford the led i want. it will have my 4 led's and 8 23 watt cfl's putting out over 12k lumes for the cfl's. i have to measure it all so they hang even. i have Mylar to line my tin hood ill make. im excited i have 2-3 weeks to get it done. when im done ill post pics. I have 9 plants and God i hope only 4 are female. if more happens i dont have enough lights/space yet. then ill have to put the others in veg and work them or toss them. ill also make a side lite of 12k lumes and rotate plant 2 times daily.
Peace and love all

johnkallaha said:

OH MY ..... Your plants are really porny.... so hot...

Please i beg you, provide me with some more information about these hotties Strain, Wattage for the big buds?, time flowering vegging... god, thats hot


Also, to the threadstarter. I have a question!
If 100.000Lumens/Sqare feet is our goal... how come no one has ever used that? I mean.. it is close to impossible to achieve with todays bulbs. 100.000 lumens shining on a single plant would be 1. waste of energy 2. you would have to use liquid nitrogen to keep that plant and the whole house from burning down.

People are using about 4000 - 20 000 lumens per plant and they come out fine. 4000 was a guy i saw Scrogging in his servercase with 3 CFLs 23W.

Im just saying, i find it wierd because to me your numbers doesnt sound very realistic even though they might be correct. Also, the setup you say is correct seems really wrong. Im not a smartass and im a much newer grower then you but wouldnt the light be shining only onto the other bulbs and much would be lost? overheating the other bulbs instead of shining all of its light onto plant & Mylar.

Please, explain to me why that setup is best, as im currently trying to find a good setup to use

Also, i am going to use about 7000 lumes to flower my plant. People say that is enough, why do you say it isnt?
2x23w 2.500k and 3x23w 6.500k

I just want some additional reasoning as you're the first person claiming the lumens need to be this high. That i've seen atleast!


Btw TS, you got some fine ass budporn going on there aswell Happy tokes to u

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Gracias for the compliments!

Now to answer your questions....

I failing to understand how "I'm the only person claiming lumens need to be this high," or however you worded it. I never said anyone needs to have lumens at 100,000; what I did say was that is what the sun provides on a nice sunny day.

If you are growing outdoors, you HAVE that already--depending on the season, etc. If growing indoors, you need as much light as possible, and the sun's output is a good tool of reference, is it not?

A 1,000 Watt HPS could kick more than 100,000 INITIAL lumens. Depending on how hot your lamp is and how hot your room is/ventilation; in optimal conditions, you could have your plants damn near that bulb(s) and absorb nearly every lumen.

We are trying to get as close as we can to the sun's output -- in artificial format -- without burning or bleaching our plants and overheating our grow areas. Remember, you want to dial-in your lumens-per-square-foot. So your 7,000 lumens may be just fine if you aren't trying to light a large amount of square footage. That light diminishes quickly. If you're trying to get a good amount of weight at harvest, or more compact buds, 7,000 lumens won't be enough UNLESS you have a very contained reflector that is shining directly over a very small plant.

I don't understand what you mean by other bulbs overheating; my grow area stays cool at 75-78°F while running 650 total watts. The bulbs are grouped to shine and intense--focused--spectrum of light downward; any light that doesn't go down is reflected within/around the Mylar in the hood. The confides of my growspace (growtent) maximizes the light's reflection BACK to the plants to be absorbed, instead of getting lost outside of the grow area and wasted.

Roadog said:

I've used cfls on all my grows. A total of 5 grows. I have to say I've been very happy. I've gotten excellent buds, and the light bill only goes up about 10 to 15 bucks. Rodnarley you are on the mark about genetics. If you start with junk you get junk. I'm thankful for all the real breeders out there who put their life and souls into the plants so guys like me can grow great meds. If you are on a fix income like me, cfls and good genetics is the way to go.View attachment 2978437

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LIKE! Hey, where's that freakin' "like" button? Nice, frosty bud there.

B166ER420 said:

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Very, very nice! A perfect example of what CFLs can do. Love your hoods!

fir3dragon said:

ive always used hid.. except for clones and mothers i used cfl.. i never liked the idea of wires all over the place.. and also, big buds are nice.. but i like big dense buds... a big bud might be very airy and only weigh 15 grams i like big buds that are hard as a rock and weigh a ounce. regardless though, good luck and fantastic job to all those cfl users.. i use a 600 and the first page isnt correct.. i keep my bare bulb vert 600w 6 inches from some plants and up to 15 inches to others further away. no problems with anything.

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Thanks for givin us CFL freaks a shot out!

The info I gave on page 1 is just a rough approximation of what the "average" setup might consist of. Mostly every grow I've seen using high intensity lighting keep their plants a significant distance away; of course there are always exceptions--probably many! But I wanted people to know that lumens are lumens IF your plant is absorbing them. We're talkin' usable light vs. unusable.

Actually, speaking of dense buds, the buds I've gotten for a couple of my plants this last harvest are rock-hard dense; the Juicy Fruit and the Super Skunk. Not airy at all; breaking up a piece is a task, even when bone-dry.

Now here's my realization: bud size has a lot to do with the size of the pot used, since that ultimately determines the size of the plant. Now, If I use a 1-gallon pot, my fan leaves won't be as big as my hand, typically. But...using a 10-gallon, the SCALE of the plant will be bigger, so the leaves will be noticeably bigger. What I'm getting at is, typically, buds grow on a scale ratio of the plant's size; leaves, stem, etc, etc.

Here's the issue:
CFLs can't be used comparably, to efficiently light up a plant using such a large pot size, since that plant will grow quite large, all other factors being considered. So the odds are pretty much 100% against ANYONE using CFLs to achieve large, dense buds that can weigh up to an ounce. Since we have to grow lots of smaller plants, or several "big enough" plants to take advantage of CFL lighting, we aren't trying to break world's biggest cola records!

So I'll be sticking with my 2.5 - 3-gallon pots max so I can fit them under my lights. lol

DCobeen said:

im gonna make my hood till i can afford the led i want. it will have my 4 led's and 8 23 watt cfl's putting out over 12k lumes for the cfl's. i have to measure it all so they hang even. i have Mylar to line my tin hood ill make. im excited i have 2-3 weeks to get it done. when im done ill post pics. I have 9 plants and God i hope only 4 are female. if more happens i dont have enough lights/space yet. then ill have to put the others in veg and work them or toss them. ill also make a side lite of 12k lumes and rotate plant 2 times daily.
Peace and love all

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You may even realize you LIKE your hood, and may not even entertain the LED after all. When I built my hoods, I was thinking I'll just upgrade to a 400 or higher HPS after the first harvest. BUT...my Northern Lights harvest that's curing (un-weighed) is more than 2 ounces most likely, and I have two more plants going, and a Kush that yielded a bit over an ounce that's curing. What am I going to do with all of this herb? I only smoke about a gram or two a week!

So my point is, I will soon have enough to last me at LEAST a year, grown with CFLs and a negligible difference on my electricity bill! So if I do upgrade to an HPS, it will be because a collective or dispensary wants to take some of my "extra" harvest, on a regular basis. Then I'll say goodbye to CFLs (for flowering at least).

Until then, I'm a CFL-lifer.

Give some away i wish i was in your boat right now. im about out and i use weed as medicine, i have a 3rd degree burn on my left thigh i get shooting pains from it non stop daily, nothing else works for me. Ill be out by this time tomorrow and wont have anymore till i harvest in 2 months or more. i work 7-8 months out of the year i dont do unemployment for a few diff reasons. so winter for me means broke and poor. ill be using my cell phone sone for internet as my cable will get cut off till i pay them after i get working again/ lake opens up/ i fix boats.
Love and peace all

ryanbuckz99 said:

Hi mate could you give me some advise on my groom room any advice if good for me.
my set up:

plants are: 2 critical autos and 1 power Africa
tent size 4ft,4ft,5ft Mylar lined tent
lights: 1 300w duel spectrum cfl bulb 1 200w cfl blue spectrum (was duel but one half went)
nutrients: GHE Flora series using lucas formula i change nuts every week and a half
light cycle is 18/6
plants age: the criticals are into week 8 of flowering and the power africa has been veging for about 9 weeks
im using dwc set up for pots
to me the two auto dont look all that big but any advice would be great or is there anything you would change

here are some pics of the plants:
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thanks in advanced

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Your plants are looking good there! If you don't mind my suggestion, the leaves are a very dark-green color, indicative of "nitrogen overload." May help to ease the amounts of N down until they "say" they need more. Do you have any more pics of how your lighting is positioned on your plants so we can check it out?

B166ER420 said:

I have a good environment too...I think...85 at the hottest,70 the lowest,humidity fluctuates between 30-50%,good airflow....I was lucky enough to grow out a og kush x n.y. diesel and the the buds were nice....I've had a few schwag seeds turn out dense rock hard buds,i even supplement with diy co2 generators..so I don't know.That's why I say it's genetics.What about you? any grow environment issues?

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temps fluctuate alot and humidity is low due to no humidifier and using outside winter air to cool my vertical grow. higest is 80 lowest is 60 humidity is 15-20% no co2 gens or anything..

WDIK said:

Are you using Dyna-gro foliage pro through the entire grow?

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Yes, I use Foliage Pro from start to finish pretty much. A few times during flowering, and depending on the strain's tolerance, I mixed the Bloom (3-12-6) at 50%; 1/2 tea/gallon Foliage Pro & 1/4 tea/gallon Bloom. That was only a few times though; it's been mostly Foliage Pro the whole way.

I can't say enough positive things about Dyna-Gro! One small "sample-size" bottle lasted four months, five plants.

Wow, 7 months growing and you could, or have, written a book on growing tremendous herb with CFLs. Nice.

robnarley1111 said:

Thanks for givin us CFL freaks a shot out!

The info I gave on page 1 is just a rough approximation of what the "average" setup might consist of. Mostly every grow I've seen using high intensity lighting keep their plants a significant distance away; of course there are always exceptions--probably many! But I wanted people to know that lumens are lumens IF your plant is absorbing them. We're talkin' usable light vs. unusable.

Actually, speaking of dense buds, the buds I've gotten for a couple of my plants this last harvest are rock-hard dense; the Juicy Fruit and the Super Skunk. Not airy at all; breaking up a piece is a task, even when bone-dry.

Now here's my realization: bud size has a lot to do with the size of the pot used, since that ultimately determines the size of the plant. Now, If I use a 1-gallon pot, my fan leaves won't be as big as my hand, typically. But...using a 10-gallon, the SCALE of the plant will be bigger, so the leaves will be noticeably bigger. What I'm getting at is, typically, buds grow on a scale ratio of the plant's size; leaves, stem, etc, etc.

Here's the issue:
CFLs can't be used comparably, to efficiently light up a plant using such a large pot size, since that plant will grow quite large, all other factors being considered. So the odds are pretty much 100% against ANYONE using CFLs to achieve large, dense buds that can weigh up to an ounce. Since we have to grow lots of smaller plants, or several "big enough" plants to take advantage of CFL lighting, we aren't trying to break world's biggest cola records!

So I'll be sticking with my 2.5 - 3-gallon pots max so I can fit them under my lights. lol

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so you say bud density has to do with plant size and pot size? thats possible..that would explain why my first grow was big buds cause they were in 5 gallons and every other grow were in less... now that you mentioned it.. ill see cause i got 10 plants total this round under my 600w hid 3 are in 3 gallon coco hempys, 2 are in 3 gallon soil 1 is in 1 gallon soil and 4 are in 2 liter coco hempy soda bottles so ill see what size the buds are per container....

robnarley1111 said:

Your plants are looking good there! If you don't mind my suggestion, the leaves are a very dark-green color, indicative of "nitrogen overload." May help to ease the amounts of N down until they "say" they need more. Do you have any more pics of how your lighting is positioned on your plants so we can check it out?

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they are so dark from his lights. he is good on N. led's do that.

fanofpanic said:

So, what's your opinion on the CFL AGRO dual bulbs that run 2100K and are good for both growth and bloom? I've used once for two grows and the buds came out so-so...not exactly fluffy but not exactly dense either...

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I don't have any experience with those, sorry. How many watts do they run? What plants did you grow with them?

Do you think the lack of a daylight spectrum or full spectrum lighting caused the buds to not be to your liking? I've come across several people/sources recommended a little blue light during flower to help with bud compactness. Not exactly sure if that's true or not but it sounds pretty logical.

JTB16 said:

I never had a problem using my cfl lights and i get colas the size of my forearm. Funny thing is one of the photos of the fixtures you say not to do it how my fixture is(don't have a photo of my fixture as of right now).
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Well, I tried to give examples of the kind of mistakes I see growers make using CFLs, as far as placement of bulbs and lights around the plant. In no way is my opinion all-inclusive; it's just meant as a rough guide for newbies (like myself) and others who may need more ideas to get the results they want.


Obviously you have your fixture dialed-in, so don't change a thing. Nice, large cola you got there too. You should post a pic if you can find it so maybe we can get some ideas from you to get huge-er flowers!

fir3dragon said:

temps fluctuate alot and humidity is low due to no humidifier and using outside winter air to cool my vertical grow. higest is 80 lowest is 60 humidity is 15-20% no co2 gens or anything..

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I'm no expert .....but maybe try not to have such a big temp difference in temp swings from lights on to lights off and try to raise your humidity a little....hell even try some co2 during flower.Make sure you have fans blowing ,moving air around your plant.
Just trying to help...a peace offering of sorts.peace