Need Advice for CFL setup

MurderAlley

MurderAlley

Well-Known Member
Hey everyone im working on setting up a new growroom and i wanna use CFL's. The space im working with is pretty large, about 4ftx4ft with plent y of headroom. Iv'e got my ventalation worked out but i still need to know how many lights would be sufficient and how many plants i should attempt to grow in that space. I have loads of 26w cfl bulbs so thats the wattage i wanna use. Another thing i need to know is how many days of veg b4 i switch the light cycle to bud. Also i have a few outdoor harvests under my belt and was wondering how the yeild of an outdoor compares to an indoor plant.
 
4

420•24/7

Active Member
Plant 16, at 1 plant per sqft.
Try 3-4 cfls per plant.
Start flower between 1-2 months after spouting, or about 12-16 in. tall. Just remeber your plant will double in heighth and could even tripple during flowering.
And compared to outdoor grows your going to be disapponted on the bud ratios from indoor and outdoor. I've heard you can get as little as 1/16 indoors as you would out doors, which is a p to an o.
 
Sgt.Sly

Sgt.Sly

Well-Known Member
MurderAlley said:
Hey everyone im working on setting up a new growroom and i wanna use CFL's. The space im working with is pretty large, about 4ftx4ft with plent y of headroom. Iv'e got my ventalation worked out but i still need to know how many lights would be sufficient and how many plants i should attempt to grow in that space. I have loads of 26w cfl bulbs so thats the wattage i wanna use. Another thing i need to know is how many days of veg b4 i switch the light cycle to bud. Also i have a few outdoor harvests under my belt and was wondering how the yeild of an outdoor compares to an indoor plant.
Click to expand...
In that space i would recomend 4 to 6 42 Watt CFL's. the key here is to have two specific colour temps. 2700K (redder spectrum for flowering) and (6500K Bluer spectrum for Veg phase). You need roughly ONE of those bulbes in that wattage Per Square foot. And two is better. Check out my grow journal, I'm growing with CFL's and it's working great. Link in Sig.

It's good to veg your plants till their a foot and a half to 2 ft tall. But really you can start a 12/12 flower cycle when ever you want. Most say the longer you veg. the more potent and quality your buds will be. I think that's prolly true. not to mention you'll get more of em. However, I have been on a 12/12 cycle from seeds to keep plants manageable to maxmize my yeild under the cfl's.

Here's a quick pic of my progress thus far 31 days in.
 

Attachments

MurderAlley

MurderAlley

Well-Known Member
Thanks 420 im definitely gonna go with your advice of 3-4 per plant but i might have to go with a few less plants right now. Currently i have 12 babies about 8 inches tall from bagseed but there only under 2 4ft cool whites and 4 cfl's.i been adjusting the lights daily so they aren't too stretched but they should be alot happier after i build the new setup! Its gonna be a long night... Also since my ceeling is about 9 ft do u think i could put a full shelf halfway up and grow twice the crop? Thanks again
 
MurderAlley

MurderAlley

Well-Known Member
Hey sly thanks for your reply, i have plenty of bulbs so i might use more but im really interested in your light cycle, so you use 12/12 from seedling? And that pic was 31 days from sprouting?
 
Sgt.Sly

Sgt.Sly

Well-Known Member
MurderAlley said:
Hey sly thanks for your reply, i have plenty of bulbs so i might use more but im really interested in your light cycle, so you use 12/12 from seedling? And that pic was 31 days from sprouting?
Click to expand...
Yea exactly. And it's taking real well to the LSTraing. A great way to maximize yeild under CFL. As it becomes hard to keep good coverage of CFL lights when plants grow tall.
 
OregonMeds

OregonMeds

Well-Known Member
Sgt.Sly said:
In that space i would recomend 4 to 6 42 Watt CFL's. the key here is to have two specific colour temps. 2700K (redder spectrum for flowering) and (6500K Bluer spectrum for Veg phase). You need roughly ONE of those bulbes in that wattage Per Square foot. And two is better. Check out my grow journal, I'm growing with CFL's and it's working great. Link in Sig.

It's good to veg your plants till their a foot and a half to 2 ft tall. But really you can start a 12/12 flower cycle when ever you want. Most say the longer you veg. the more potent and quality your buds will be. I think that's prolly true. not to mention you'll get more of em. However, I have been on a 12/12 cycle from seeds to keep plants manageable to maxmize my yeild under the cfl's.

Here's a quick pic of my progress thus far 31 days in.
Click to expand...
Whoah this is totally wrong info here. One cfl per square foot is not nearly enough.

The op said this is what? 4x4? You're in the range of needing a 400w - 600w HPS and to equal that in cfl's you would want a total of 60,000 to 90,000 lumens. Ea 42w is around 2600 lumens, and the 23w or whatever you mention are much less... You do the math.

You should really consider getting a couple of these if you are in the US it will be cheaper and create less heat than enuugh cfl's:
http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=1096767

Either that or you need to cut that space down to a 1'x2' floorpace box and then you can use 5 42w cfl's or equivalent of lower ones.
 
winkdogg420

winkdogg420

Well-Known Member
shrink the space down . i am a cfl grower but now that i have been using them for a while i realize my box is too big i am in the process of turning my 4x4 into 2-2x4 rooms for vegg and flower! you can see my grow so far im budding now . google"4x4 grow room clean slate" easiest way to find it . drop me a line so i know you saw it!

16 cfls over 5 girls and some small experimental plannnts!

check it out...
 
MurderAlley

MurderAlley

Well-Known Member
Thanks oregon i do plan to get an hid in the future but right now i have 0 dollars and alot of cfl's so we'll see how it goes. It does seem like a better idea to cut down my space for now tho , i really dont see me wiring up enough cfls to cover a 4x4
 
Sgt.Sly

Sgt.Sly

Well-Known Member
winkdogg420 said:
shrink the space down . i am a cfl grower but now that i have been using them for a while i realize my box is too big i am in the process of turning my 4x4 into 2-2x4 rooms for vegg and flower! you can see my grow so far im budding now . google"4x4 grow room clean slate" easiest way to find it . drop me a line so i know you saw it!

16 cfls over 5 girls and some small experimental plannnts!

check it out...
Click to expand...
Just checked you your CFL grow. Looks nice. Real nice. Check out my CFL grow Journal 5 Girls Under 5 lights. LST. Your First buds look so similar to mine. I'm wondering if it's a trait of CFL grown pot.
 
MurderAlley

MurderAlley

Well-Known Member
Whats up winkdogg i checked out your setup, those vanity fixtures are pretty sweet, have you had a harvest with that setup yet?
 
genfranco

genfranco

Well-Known Member
MurderAlley said:
Hey everyone im working on setting up a new growroom and i wanna use CFL's. The space im working with is pretty large, about 4ftx4ft with plent y of headroom. Iv'e got my ventalation worked out but i still need to know how many lights would be sufficient and how many plants i should attempt to grow in that space. I have loads of 26w cfl bulbs so thats the wattage i wanna use. Another thing i need to know is how many days of veg b4 i switch the light cycle to bud. Also i have a few outdoor harvests under my belt and was wondering how the yeild of an outdoor compares to an indoor plant.
Click to expand...

hey bro... sorry i got to this thread alittle late.

But hey... like the others mentioned... 4x4 of cfls..woah..lots of cfls and lots of heat.... beleave me those cfl do put out some heat.

As a fellow outdoor grower i will tell you right now that you will not be happy (youll be content and excited cause its weed) but not totally satisfied especially since being used to outdoor big buds... cfls buds are just not it.... I dont think you could sell cfl weed at the med store cause it wouldnt look like what you pay 50$ for ... I would really start looking into buying a 600 watt hps system. Good luck. it will give you the outdoor type buds that your looking for but without the bugs !!!
 
MurderAlley

MurderAlley

Well-Known Member
Hey man thanks for the feedback im definitely gonna cut down the space till i can get some better lighting. I hate having to go indoors but its cool to learn a new wayy to grow. Last year i grew like 8 plants outdoors and was loving it but my neighbors replaced their wooden fence with a see thru chain link so it seemed tooo risk this year. Ill do what i can with what i have for now and hope foor the best this site is awsome so ill definitely stick with it and keep ya posted thanks alot and happy smokin!
 
winkdogg420

winkdogg420

Well-Known Member
hi murder , nope i havent had a crop finish yet but i think things are going to be great! i know that hps is stronger but i keep my lights reallky close so i hope the buds stay tight! as far as heat is concerned i wouldnt worry like i said i have 16 bulbs burning and my room is too cold! but i am going to cut my room in half to get more reflective properties from the walls/lights! anything i can help with let me know! dont let the haters talk you out of cfls cfls are the right spectrum so ifyou use them right it should be fine.message me if you dont want to clog up your thread.. if you search google for "cfl bud pics" the first pic is a dude holding up a plant in a mountain dew container check out the story behind that pic!drbud has a sick cfl sog!


MurderAlley said:
Whats up winkdogg i checked out your setup, those vanity fixtures are pretty sweet, have you had a harvest with that setup yet?
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top