Your $0.02 on CFL Growing

Every cfl grow that i have seen only uses the little shop bought cfls.
I havent as yet seen a grow using proper cfls.
Does anyone actually have any pics of a grow that uses proper growing cfl bulbs in all 3 spectrums instead of the crappy little bulbs you get from the grocery store?
I dont hate cfls by the way in case it sounds like i do.
Ive never used them to grow pot as of yet.
I ams seriously considering buying some real growing cfls to add to my area and use to veg to save electric.

natmoon said:

Every cfl grow that i have seen only uses the little shop bought cfls.
I havent as yet seen a grow using proper cfls.
Does anyone actually have any pics of a grow that uses proper growing cfl bulbs in all 3 spectrums instead of the crappy little bulbs you get from the grocery store?
I dont hate cfls by the way in case it sounds like i do.
Ive never used them to grow pot as of yet.
I ams seriously considering buying some real growing cfls to add to my area and use to veg to save electric.

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I've thought of using them but cannot buy them anywhere locally and would have to use ebay. Ebay has these... FULL SPECTRUM DAYLIGHT GROW/CFL FLUORESCENT LIGHT BULB - eBay (item 270198692491 end time Jan-08-08 20:00:00 PST)
which are 6400K - 125 watts @ 6,200 Lumens and cost $25.00 + shipping.

I have one light using 4, 6500K - 26 watt/1600 Lumens bulbs from walmart, costing $15.00 = 104 watts @ 6,400 Lumens. So it uses 21 less watts but nets 200 more Lumens and saves $10+

Only upside to the 125 watt bulbs is space. 1 bulb vs 4 etc.

Dr G.Thumb said:

I've thought of using them but cannot buy them anywhere locally and would have to use ebay. Ebay has these... FULL SPECTRUM DAYLIGHT GROW/CFL FLUORESCENT LIGHT BULB - eBay (item 270198692491 end time Jan-08-08 20:00:00 PST)
which are 6400K - 125 watts @ 6,200 Lumens and cost $25.00 + shipping.

I have one light using 4, 6500K - 26 watt/1600 Lumens bulbs from walmart, costing $15.00 = 104 watts @ 6,400 Lumens. So it uses 21 less watts but nets 200 more Lumens and saves $10+

Only upside to the 125 watt bulbs is space. 1 bulb vs 4 etc.

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Hey thanks for replying dude but real decent watted grow cfls are not 25 dollars more like 200 dollars

natmoon said:

Hey thanks for replying dude but real decent watted grow cfls are not 25 dollars more like 200 dollars

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Would you happen to have a link by chance ? I'd be curious to check these out because as far as I was aware, those 125-250 watt bulbs on ebay were as good as it got.

I'm actually trying to find a decent 2ft T5 setup but so far I havent had much luck. Most stuff is all 4ft.

Dr G.Thumb said:

Would you happen to have a link by chance ? I'd be curious to check these out because as far as I was aware, those 125-250 watt bulbs on ebay were as good as it got.

I'm actually trying to find a decent 2ft T5 setup but so far I havent had much luck. Most stuff is all 4ft.

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Yeah man no worries i have them all checked out and stuff but if i cant see anyone else that has a succesfull grow using proper cfls i am going to buy a 400watt mh and ballast instead.
I am english so i dont know if this is any good to you.
These are the 2 sites i have looked at the most.
And i know for a fact that these cfls are a hundred times better than littel old corner shop cfls but what i want to know is if anyone was happy with them vs a 400 watt mh for vegging,obviously 200watt of cfl vs 400watt of mh saves me a lot of money on electric but i want to be sure that other real people are happy with them and not advertisers or what the specs say and then they dont do as well.
I was hoping someone here might have used these high output cfls and were happy with them as they put out less heat and use less electric.
I would probably continue to use it once i started to flower as well as a compliment to my hps as believe in red and blue at all stages of growth and the system i was looking at was the one that comes with a red bulb and a blue bulb.
Also of interest is the purple cfls from nlite.
Hope this helps you out dude
CFL Lights*>*CFL Grow Lights*>*High Output 200W CFL System

nlite cfl's

natmoon said:

And i know for a fact that these cfls are a hundred times better than littel old corner shop cfls but what i want to know is if anyone was happy with them vs a 400 watt mh for vegging
CFL Lights*>*CFL Grow Lights*>*High Output 200W CFL System

nlite cfl's

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Those Bulbs are the same ones listed on Ebay, just without the reflector etc... 6400 K CFL FLUORESCENT GROW LIGHT 250 WATT BULB LAMP - eBay (item 280189239824 end time Feb-02-08 13:03:12 PST)



$60.00 - 250 watts @ 16,000 Lumens.

Now saying their 100 times better then a normal CFL seems pretty strange to me. The only "real" difference is size, or watts per lumen. You can use 1 Bulb instead of multiple bulbs.

But if you want to compar those 250 watt CFL Bulbs to a 250 watt MH etc...
the MH will emit approx 22,000 Lumens. So 6,000 More via the same wattage. Now whether one would save electricity vs other would come down to a few things like if the MH has a magnetic or digial ballast "digital ones use less power" then theirs how many amps required to draw the actually wattage.

But cost wise... $60.00 for a 250 watt CFL @ 16,000 lumens or approx $200 for a 250 watt MH rated @ 22,000 lumens. Personally, I'd probably save the $140.00 and deal with having 6,000 less lumens.

Dr G.Thumb said:

Those Bulbs are the same ones listed on Ebay, just without the reflector etc... 6400 K CFL FLUORESCENT GROW LIGHT 250 WATT BULB LAMP - eBay (item 280189239824 end time Feb-02-08 13:03:12 PST)

$60.00 - 250 watts @ 16,000 Lumens.

Now saying their 100 times better then a normal CFL seems pretty strange to me. The only "real" difference is size, or watts per lumen. You can use 1 Bulb instead of multiple bulbs.

But if you want to compar those 250 watt CFL Bulbs to a 250 watt MH etc...
the MH will emit approx 22,000 Lumens. So 6,000 More via the same wattage. Now whether one would save electricity vs other would come down to a few things like if the MH has a magnetic or digial ballast "digital ones use less power" then theirs how many amps required to draw the actually wattage.

But cost wise... $60.00 for a 250 watt CFL @ 16,000 lumens or approx $200 for a 250 watt MH rated @ 22,000 lumens. Personally, I'd probably save the $140.00 and deal with having 6,000 less lumens.

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Yeah see this is my dilemma i dont want to go by the lamps written specs or buy bulbs from ebay that may only last 4 weeks.
I wanted to find someone who was using proper professional cfls with pics and info on their grows so i could make up my own mind from looking at their plants.

I know that mh lamps are good but if i can achieve a similar result with a 200-250watt pro cfl then i will go with the cfl dual spectrum package and add a purple bulb to the mix as well.
I am so interested in the fact that i can continue to use the cfls as complimentary lighting with my hps as well as i continue to flower.

As for the price you stated on ebay,its a good price but when and if anything goes wrong i would be wary of being able to actually return stuff for a replacement or refund to ebay sellers.
I would rather pay a few more bux out and have total piece of mind should anything go wrong.

When is aid 100 times better than normal cfls i meant when compared to shop bought mini cfls that i see all the time.
I have yet to see anyone growing with large professional cfls.
If you know of anyone with a grow using pro cfls please let me know

natmoon said:

Yeah see this is my dilemma i dont want to go by the lamps written specs or buy bulbs from ebay that may only last 4 weeks.
I wanted to find someone who was using proper professional cfls with pics and info on their grows so i could make up my own mind from looking at their plants.

As for the price you stated on ebay,its a good price but when and if anything goes wrong i would be wary of being able to actually return stuff for a replacement or refund to ebay sellers.
I would rather pay a few more bux out and have total piece of mind should anything go wrong.

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I feel the same way since I cannot find those bulbs locally and also dont want to take the risk of using ebay. Mind you, I'd assume they would last alot longer then 4 weeks. I've been using the normally bulbs from walmart now for almost 3 months without any issues...

Here is a pic of my one mother (mind you its two weeks old or so)



Approx 2.5mths old... Started with 18/6 then switched to 12/12 after approx 1mth. Took a few days to sex it, then I switched it back to 18/6 + re-potted it so between switching it back to veg and letting it get pot bound, it had stunted growth but is back to normal now.

While i appreciate your efforts that kind of growth would not be acceptable to me.
Sorry to sound like an ass,but i cant lie.
Thanks for the chat though

natmoon said:

While i appreciate your efforts that kind of growth would not be acceptable to me.
Sorry to sound like an ass,but i cant lie.
Thanks for the chat though

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Hey no worries man... As stated before, I prefer growing outdoors and normally just start a few mothers over the winter in order to chop up for clones and that type of growth is all thats required.

And for the minimum cost/effort involved, its working out much better then I expected.

But as of last night I located some 2ft - 24 watt, T5 lights rated @ 2280 Lumens that only cost $39.00 each so I think I'm going to go pickup a few of those and ditch the CFL's.

Dr G.Thumb said:

Hey no worries man... As stated before, I prefer growing outdoors and normally just start a few mothers over the winter in order to chop up for clones and that type of growth is all thats required.

And for the minimum cost/effort involved, its working out much better then I expected.

But as of last night I located some 2ft - 24 watt, T5 lights rated @ 2280 Lumens that only cost $39.00 each so I think I'm going to go pickup a few of those and ditch the CFL's.

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Well i am still going to keep looking into the professional cfls especially for my veg cycle.
Ive heard good things about t5s but people complain of not being able to get them as close to their plants as cfls.
Best of luck with whatever you do

natmoon said:

Well i am still going to keep looking into the professional cfls especially for my veg cycle.
Ive heard good things about t5s but people complain of not being able to get them as close to their plants as cfls.
Best of luck with whatever you do

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Yea as I get time I'm going to try looking into as well because you've got me very curious now.

As far as T5's and how close you can get them to the plants, I was not aware of that so I thank you for bringing it to my attention because I will also have to look into that now.

Dr G.Thumb said:

Yea as I get time I'm going to try looking into as well because you've got me very curious now.

As far as T5's and how close you can get them to the plants, I was not aware of that so I thank you for bringing it to my attention because I will also have to look into that now.

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You can get the t5s close to the tops but obviously you cant add t5s to encourage side growth.
A good idea would be to keep the cfls you already have for side growth and use the t5s for the tops