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

DCobeen

DCobeen

Well-Known Member
ive never had any potent from cfl i suppose its possible. led seems to get the most potent and hps get the biggest buds. cfl can grow decent weed. jsut when you do the watt per gram i would do hps over cfl and you will get more yield per watt also.
 
MerryJizzRain

MerryJizzRain

Member
DCobeen said:
you want that short so keep the cfl 2-3 inches from plant. you know you will grow buds with cfl just not as dense or potent right? i use cfl for veg area and for side lighting in flower but i dont expect allot from them. you should also be on 12/12 for lights i would consider getting a kessil led red/magento or a 180 watt led ufo and laying/lst your plant on its side. like this
View attachment 3030363 this will give you more tops and keep it shorter.
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The potency debate has compelling arguments on both sides, which is why I'm trying to test it out myself. I still plan on begging my plant for a week or so, are you saying I should put it into flower now with 12/12? Also I wish I could turn my potter on its side, but the way I designed my box was so the planter would fit through a hole int the bottom. Originally it was propped up with books so that the planter was fully inside the box, but as it how's I take a book out from under it and at this stage the planter is about 60% through the bottom of the grow box. Another great idea to add to the next batch of micro grow designs!

thanks for your input!!!
 
MerryJizzRain

MerryJizzRain

Member
MerryJizzRain said:
The potency debate has compelling arguments on both sides, which is why I'm trying to test it out myself. I still plan on begging my plant for a week or so, are you saying I should put it into flower now with 12/12? Also I wish I could turn my potter on its side, but the way I designed my box was so the planter would fit through a hole int the bottom. Originally it was propped up with books so that the planter was fully inside the box, but as it how's I take a book out from under it and at this stage the planter is about 60% through the bottom of the grow box. Another great idea to add to the next batch of micro grow designs!

thanks for your input!!!
Click to expand...
ah shit, it's too early, sorry about all that blarg about my pot, didn't clue in that you where talking about LSTing not putting the actual pot on its side :P eeeeeeee-diot!
 
DCobeen

DCobeen

Well-Known Member
with limited space put that lady on 12/12 now. or you will out grow you area fast. most plants double in size when put into flower.

MerryJizzRain said:
The potency debate has compelling arguments on both sides, which is why I'm trying to test it out myself. I still plan on begging my plant for a week or so, are you saying I should put it into flower now with 12/12? Also I wish I could turn my potter on its side, but the way I designed my box was so the planter would fit through a hole int the bottom. Originally it was propped up with books so that the planter was fully inside the box, but as it how's I take a book out from under it and at this stage the planter is about 60% through the bottom of the grow box. Another great idea to add to the next batch of micro grow designs!

thanks for your input!!!
Click to expand...
 
Morbid Angel

Morbid Angel

Well-Known Member
Mashpotato Johnson said:
With CFL I would have 300 as a bare minimum, but yes, HID guys generally use the 50W/SF rule, so with cfl's I would follow that as a MINIMUM guideline and I would be hooding that mother like crazy!! But thats just me. I wanted to know if the rest of you where following that guide or what.




I like this. I am running higher than the 50W/SF myself (@ 66.5W/SF) I plan on adding more still. I would be higher but some of my cfl's died for some reason while I was changing the set up. They seem to be very sensitive and fickle things. POS bulbs.

In my sig grow you'll see my light current set up @ the bottom of the first page. It is a little different in that the 125W long bulb is standing vertically & centred w/ all the pots around it, which uses it's 360' light most efficiently and helps me lower the other lights much closer.... fuck it Im going to go take a picture and post it.

in the mean time here is the pic of the light set up and hood I made, which I think is boss. How it was made is also in my sig grow thread.

View attachment 2983945
Click to expand...

I think going over 400W w/ cfl's is a bad idea for a few reasons; way too much heat output, light intensity is not even close to HID/LED at this wattage, over heating and inefficiency is going to start becoming a problem that doesn't make sense. For a few plants in a small space CFL/LED is ideal, but when you start getting 500-1000W of cfl's?? That is fucking crazy! Spend the money and get HID or LED at this point or you start WASTING MONEY and have become extremely inefficient. Trust me. Do it for as little time as you can, and when it is a viable option for you, upgrade. Best decision I ever made.

Keep in mind I am not bashing CFL's. This is just a little advice on those guys, like myself, who got a little keen on the cfl dream and ended up wasting time and money by going cfl nuts. Don't go past 400w. draw the line for yourself there. When you get to the point where this isn't enough anymore don't go running to buy more cfl's or you are going to have serious problems with heat and inefficiency and you'll have to consider the same cooling and venting for heat methods that HID guys have to use, or something stupid like opening up your tents/ grow spaces for venting and adding more fans, or just real dumb shit.
 
DCobeen

DCobeen

Well-Known Member
i agree. i only use cfl to veg and for drop ins in my flower room and 50 watts cfl raises my temp 4 degrees in my closet. so i scraped the cfl's in there till i put my ac unit in there.

edit i mean 100 watt.
 
DCobeen

DCobeen

Well-Known Member
skinny when you do change light source you will be blown away. im still so impressed with your cfl grows. you will after your frist grow with led say man i should have done this a long time ago the quality diff is huge. and with 180 watt ufo you can put that sucker 6-8 inches away and with 2 of them wow.
 
jaredbroders

jaredbroders

New Member
i have 4 cfl bulbs above 4 plants. i put them into flowering 3 weeks ago today and there looking great. just wish i had a phone to take pics with :( i have 3 speed haze which have grown tall over 2 feet now and 1 pineapple gum, that one is smaller but so far has the most pistils lol
 
jaredbroders

jaredbroders

New Member
only problem i get is that i have 4 big plants in my wardrobe and the leaves are that big they get squashed against the door when i close it. so far ive counted about 70 bud sites. obviously the sites near the bottom of the plants will be little one. this is my first grow and for personal use. excited to smoke my own creation :)
 
DankTankerous

DankTankerous

Well-Known Member
where did you buy your... 4 female light connection adapter, that goes into the mount? I'm trying to get the most out of my pc grow and i'd love to follow your methods I just can't seem to find any like that
 
HazednConfused

HazednConfused

Well-Known Member
Antgotaclue said:
Hiya everyone this is my grow room and in flower but not goin to well hope you can see my pic
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Looks like you definitely need more lighting. See all of the shady, lower areas? Those cfls may be "grow" cfls, but they still need to be very close to be effective; within a few inches(at all angles on plant). How many watts are they a piece? You should think about adding more supplemental side lighting, possibly some 2700k cfls on y splitters, because by the looks of it you'll need to regularly rotate your plants so the other side gets that side lighting from the inverted gull wing.
 
Antgotaclue

Antgotaclue

Well-Known Member
HazednConfused said:
Looks like you definitely need more lighting. See all of the shady, lower areas? Those cfls may be "grow" cfls, but they still need to be very close to be effective; within a few inches(at all angles on plant). How many watts are they a piece? You should think about adding more supplemental side lighting, possibly some 2700k cfls on y splitters, because by the looks of it you'll need to regularly rotate your plants so the other side gets that side lighting from the inverted gull wing.
Click to expand...
There 300 watts each
 
Freddie Millergogo

Freddie Millergogo

Well-Known Member
robnarley1111 said:
Hi everyone,

Rob Narley is the name and CFLs is my game! I am a huge CFL user, and I don't think I want to ever use anything else, at this point at least .


And PLEASE don't get caught doing THIS:

View attachment 2977657

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5. Don't let HID the bandwagon jumpers deter you.

Laugh at anyone who suggests you stop using CFLs and buy a MH or HPS, when you simply ask for advice using CFLS.




Get my drift!!! Good put your plant(s) in THIS room:

View attachment 2977649
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9. Cool your lights

Lack of cooling is one HUGE reason to get airy fluff, even if you have everything else dialed in to the tee. Don't be a moron and assume that CFLs are too cool to produce heat that NEEDS be managed accordingly; they can and will throw your grow area well into the 100 degree F's if you aren't careful and attentive.

Have a fan built into your reflector or grow cab to pull light AWAY from your bulbs, otherwise you are creating hotspots under the lights that will seriously affect your flowers. Pull the heat up and out--through your exhaust
fan, and out of the cab/room.

Here's a picture of how you want to equip your hood or reflector with exhaust, if at all possible:

View attachment 2977539


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10. Train your plants for "even" light exposure!

LST, SCROG, and other methods can be used to train your plants. If you want huge, dense buds using CFLs
but don't train your plants, you're wasting time without establishing the fundamentals. Most CFL setups are using numerous single bulbs, not one big bulb spewing several hundred or even thousands of watts. That being said, CFLs are in use to save energy, thus they don't give off the extreme wattage to create light which can penetrate deeper into your canopy. So, you must "bend" your plants so the fan leaves and flowering sites (nodes) are exposed to intense light.

With your canopy resembling a wide, flat bush, instead of a Christmas tree shape, light hits a wider surface
area of your plant's leaves and bud sites, thus giving your plant more energy to make large, compact flowers. If you don't train your plants, you may get a nice, dense "cola" closest to the light, but the lower portion of the plant will have stringy crap-for-buds. Train your plant! This site has some great tutorials for learning LST, etc.

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A few bud and plant pics from my CFL grow:


Northern Lights 1/2 of harvest:
View attachment 2977546

View attachment 2977563

Northern Lights, 8 weeks flower:
View attachment 2977550


Northern Lights, 9 weeks flower:
View attachment 2977558

View attachment 2977561

View attachment 2977568

View attachment 2977571


Super Skunk at 6 weeks:
View attachment 2977547

View attachment 2977549



LSD at 6 weeks flowering:

View attachment 2977562

View attachment 2977564
Smallest bud on the plant--lighter comparison

View attachment 2977565

View attachment 2977566



(Fake) OG Kush at 7 weeks flowering:

View attachment 2977578

View attachment 2977580 View attachment 2977582
Pulled at week 7 due to hermie-ing and not being
authentic OG Kush (Royal Queen Seeds)

Those were just a few pics I've taken since my grow starting in September. More pics to come as I can gather them!


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Hopefully this information helps some of you looking to get the best bang for your buck using CFL lighting, or those interested in finding others who've achieved great results using strictly CFLs.


Please don't hesitate to comment with your thoughts and ideas.... and happy growing!
Click to expand...

Yo bro. Can you pull a pound (dry) of Northern Lights with CFLs?
 
Freddie Millergogo

Freddie Millergogo

Well-Known Member
HazednConfused

HazednConfused

Well-Known Member
Do
Antgotaclue said:
There 300 watts each
Click to expand...
Do you feel as if you have gotten 600 watts worth of growth from those bulbs? By the looks of it, I don't think so. I would try to keep your canopies as flush as possible and place both bulbs above your plants, within 2-3" of the plants. Then place some 2700k's on splitters on the 4 sides of your plants. I don't think that inverted bulb is doing you much of good. Good luck man
 
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