Tutorial to Growing with Cfl's

ThaDonNacci

ThaDonNacci

Well-Known Member
Man, this is great Doc! I just started my first cfl grow last month, and this info u got here is exactly what I needed to know.

The one I'm doin now is just bagseed as a trial run to see what I can come up with before I drop money on seeds and more lights........

Thanx for this I'd give you rep, but I guess I already did!
 
Anotheroldephart

Anotheroldephart

Well-Known Member
naturallighting.com has 125w 2700 and 6500 bulbs for 42$ and they work great. I've been running about 4K watts and the results are amazing, along with the Hempy method. I'm in m,y second clone grow of WW and Durban Poison, 18WW and 24 DP in seperate totes. They grow about 14-18 in tall, and the tubs are solid grren...finally!! I've had a few gremlins in the grow as it were. Oh yeah..the fixtures for the bulbs..pigtails are ..umm.. 6 bucks from businesslighting.com. There is a special on 6500K bulbs and fixtures at Growwurks.com for $130.00 for 4 of them.

My question is..what are the best nutes..I'm using FF right now, but I'd like to get all the ferts to be organic.
 
sees in the dark

sees in the dark

Active Member
These type lights were great about 6 years ago. Now of upgrades we have the t-5 ho lights up to eight bulbs @ 4 ft. long each bulb puts out 54 watts @ 5, 500 lumens and they have up to 4 different light frecks on bulbs.bulbs last up to 100,00 hours.One ho-t-5 eight bulb unit 21lbs size is 27''x47''x2.5 inchs thick, this unit will cover a 6x8 ft. area. By puting 6 6500k bulbs in with 2 300k bulbs you have sunlight @ 40,000lumens perfect for all veg. cycle. take theses same units change the bulb count to 6 3000k, and two 6500k, and instead of one unit have two to cover a area of 8ft.x8ft. floor area for BLOOMING!! yes flowering five units on 22 plant hydro ebb and flow four strains brough in final dry weight of 4lbs, 2 oz. in an area of 12'x12'. So there is the final proof that this system works and the cost of power offset is 52.5 percent less than with H.I.D. type lighting.Also the NEW TYPE of cfl's called plamsa lighting no mercurty inside the bulb, just gases, in micro waves hit the bulb with a little cage around to protect from the microwaves total safe!! put this light inside a reflectoer tube and one 700watt bulb = to 15, 1000 watt H.I.D., h.p.s.lights!! So now that Iam back! time to upgrade the computer banks around here with up to date info. for our beloved brother and sisters out and about!!Question of the day who invented H.I.D. lighting???................answer N. Telsa! 1903 two months before the wright bros. flew? Oh the wright were NOT the first to fly!?! that goes to a Aussie he beat them by 9 months!! peace sees
 
Anotheroldephart

Anotheroldephart

Well-Known Member
sees in the dark said:
These type lights were great about 6 years ago. Now of upgrades we have the t-5 ho lights up to eight bulbs @ 4 ft. long each bulb puts out 54 watts @ 5, 500 lumens and they have up to 4 different light frecks on bulbs.bulbs last up to 100,00 hours.One ho-t-5 eight bulb unit 21lbs size is 27''x47''x2.5 inchs thick, this unit will cover a 6x8 ft. area. By puting 6 6500k bulbs in with 2 300k bulbs you have sunlight @ 40,000lumens perfect for all veg. cycle. take theses same units change the bulb count to 6 3000k, and two 6500k, and instead of one unit have two to cover a area of 8ft.x8ft. floor area for BLOOMING!! yes flowering five units on 22 plant hydro ebb and flow four strains brough in final dry weight of 4lbs, 2 oz. in an area of 12'x12'. So there is the final proof that this system works and the cost of power offset is 52.5 percent less than with H.I.D. type lighting.Also the NEW TYPE of cfl's called plamsa lighting no mercurty inside the bulb, just gases, in micro waves hit the bulb with a little cage around to protect from the microwaves total safe!! put this light inside a reflectoer tube and one 700watt bulb = to 15, 1000 watt H.I.D., h.p.s.lights!! So now that Iam back! time to upgrade the computer banks around here with up to date info. for our beloved brother and sisters out and about!!Question of the day who invented H.I.D. lighting???................answer N. Telsa! 1903 two months before the wright bros. flew? Oh the wright were NOT the first to fly!?! that goes to a Aussie he beat them by 9 months!! peace sees
Click to expand...
Yep..I forgot, 'Ive got 2 of those as well, but those are for a near future dwarf grow.
 
K

KOR

Active Member
Good info man. What are your thoughts on halogen lights? I got a set up with a 500W Halogen light and I'm wondering how well it'll do
 
kid cannabis

kid cannabis

Well-Known Member
i dont think the light spectrums usable.... but dont talk my word look at the lighting faq on the site....
but id go with cfls i have 5 plants under 150 watts of cfls and theyre doing great and cheap to run
 
K

KOR

Active Member
Ok so i checked the FAQ and yea halogen lights are pretty useless. I was using what i thought were 150W CFLs but aparrently they werent bright enough cause 150 was the incandescent equivalent and they were only like 40W. Any advice?
 
kid cannabis

kid cannabis

Well-Known Member
ok 40 watts is fine for cfls i use 5 27 w cfls and 3 13 w cfls for 5 plants and theyre doing fine but this is all inside a rubbermaid. i have 13,800 luminens inside a small space. your 40 w puts off 2,650 lmn. lumenen quickly decrease as you get farther away from the plant so put your cfls about 1 or 2 in away from the plant and youll make the most of you light also your better off surrounding plants with small cfls than putting one big one them over them . cfls are great for small grows but if your going big get a hps or combo of hps and mh.
*luminens are the amt of usefull light and the bigger bulb you get the luminen per watt decreases (bad)
 
T

tbeezy

Active Member
how many lumens do i really need? i used a calculation on another site that said i need 36,000 lumens for a 3x4 ft. closet grow. im only trying to grow 2-4 plants for personal use..
thanks
 
kid cannabis

kid cannabis

Well-Known Member
well it depends on how large you want it with all the space you have you could go HID.... a 400 w hps = 47,000lm and a metal halide= 42,000lm each will run you about here is a site http://www.littlegreenhouse.com/accessory/lights2.shtml
MH has more blue light-better for veg
HPS has more orange light- better for flower.
you could use cfl to add to the spectrum 2700k to go with a MH or
6500ks to go with your HPS your choice read up on HID it might be a good choice if your willing to pay if not just use a lot of cfls
 
sees in the dark

sees in the dark

Active Member
So if you have a area of 3 feet x 4 feet and need 36,000 lumens to light that grow. well 1one ho-t5 eight bulb unit. Weights 21 lbs runs about 400.00 to 500. 00 compltete, worth the cost. For veg, and clones or mothers get the model that can pigtail, and were the unit has two switchs to run only half of the bulb for veg, and mothers, lumens are at 20,000 lumens with 4 of these bulbs good for anyfour to six plant set up.Have six bulbs at 6500k and two at 3000k for veg., the guys at the hydro store were you but theses can help you also.For bloom use ( have to buy these extra)six 3000k, and two 6500k bulbs for bloom, you canhave theses down to 1/2 inch from the tops but you must check every 6 hrs.they grow fast into the lights. Hope this helps ya with the area you have. peace see.:weed:
 
UniX

UniX

Active Member
Can someone throw a link to a ~3 light holding fixture here? I'm having trouble finding it
 
kid cannabis

kid cannabis

Well-Known Member
sees in the dark said:
So if you have a area of 3 feet x 4 feet and need 36,000 lumens to light that grow. well 1one ho-t5 eight bulb unit. Weights 21 lbs runs about 400.00 to 500. 00 compltete, worth the cost. For veg, and clones or mothers get the model that can pigtail, and were the unit has two switchs to run only half of the bulb for veg, and mothers, lumens are at 20,000 lumens with 4 of these bulbs good for anyfour to six plant set up.Have six bulbs at 6500k and two at 3000k for veg., the guys at the hydro store were you but theses can help you also.For bloom use ( have to buy these extra)six 3000k, and two 6500k bulbs for bloom, you canhave theses down to 1/2 inch from the tops but you must check every 6 hrs.they grow fast into the lights. Hope this helps ya with the area you have. peace see.:weed:
Click to expand...
thats if hes filling that area if not he only needs 1 400 watt hps or maybe 2 150 watt hps and suplementary cflstheres a sight selling 150 watt hps fixtures + ballasts for $20
http://www.e-conolight.com/Product/EProductDetail.asp?ProductFamilyID=7&FGNumber=E-MT6H151G
 
Anotheroldephart

Anotheroldephart

Well-Known Member
sees in the dark said:
These type lights were great about 6 years ago. Now of upgrades we have the t-5 ho lights up to eight bulbs @ 4 ft. long each bulb puts out 54 watts @ 5, 500 lumens and they have up to 4 different light frecks on bulbs.bulbs last up to 100,00 hours.One ho-t-5 eight bulb unit 21lbs size is 27''x47''x2.5 inchs thick, this unit will cover a 6x8 ft. area. By puting 6 6500k bulbs in with 2 300k bulbs you have sunlight @ 40,000lumens perfect for all veg. cycle. take theses same units change the bulb count to 6 3000k, and two 6500k, and instead of one unit have two to cover a area of 8ft.x8ft. floor area for BLOOMING!! yes flowering five units on 22 plant hydro ebb and flow four strains brough in final dry weight of 4lbs, 2 oz. in an area of 12'x12'. So there is the final proof that this system works and the cost of power offset is 52.5 percent less than with H.I.D. type lighting.Also the NEW TYPE of cfl's called plamsa lighting no mercurty inside the bulb, just gases, in micro waves hit the bulb with a little cage around to protect from the microwaves total safe!! put this light inside a reflectoer tube and one 700watt bulb = to 15, 1000 watt H.I.D., h.p.s.lights!! So now that Iam back! time to upgrade the computer banks around here with up to date info. for our beloved brother and sisters out and about!!Question of the day who invented H.I.D. lighting???................answer N. Telsa! 1903 two months before the wright bros. flew? Oh the wright were NOT the first to fly!?! that goes to a Aussie he beat them by 9 months!! peace sees
Click to expand...
Since CFL's need to be almost on top of the plants, how effective were the lights at that distance? I have 2 of those fixtures and yes i like them but they're beastly expensive, and ,for me, they gave no more coverage than my hoods at less than half the price of the others. Do these lights have a larger area of coverage similar to HPS if so it wold be great, but all of what
I've read indicate that CFL's need to be VERYclose to the plant.
 
Anotheroldephart

Anotheroldephart

Well-Known Member
Before i started the tub method and had single plants, the reg. bulbs where great because they could be hung down between the plants so the bottom branches got as much light as the top. That wasn't possible with the 8 bulb fixtures. don't worry though.. I'm using them in my new GR for dwarfs..Which I just put in the order in the mail. i can see a new double decker coming!!! *eye roll*One of these days the wife's going to get pissed as I take over the closets..at least temporarily till i desculch more of ther basement. Ya know..growing this shit is addictive..Say. I wonder if there's a growers anon?
 
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