A question about CFL heat

Since I can hold my hand against this CFL without discomfort, does that mean my plant could also touch it without suffering burns?

cfls will burn your plant. happened to me and im sure plenty others before.
EDIT: unless you have some small weak ass cfl.

Yea they burn. The leaves on the side of my plants by my clones are getting destroyed by some 26w cfls. I have to many leaves so i just let them get burnt. You can keep the cfls 1/4" away without burning np. Once they touch it, it will start burning them.

I figured, being plant material and all. But I kept getting told if you can hold your hand there it should be fine for your plants. Guess that old tidbit's not quite right either.

it will burn em if it touches them... but if u have it an inch or so with good circulation you are still pushing it, but its better to put like 3-4 inches so u dont have to hawk over your plant every hour to check for it touching

Yeah having your plants touching doesn't help in a lot of ways.
1. Even though it does not hurt you, it is still way to hot for the plant and will burn/stunt your plants growth.
2. It will block a lot of light from being used by all of the other leaves on your plant(s).

I have found that keeping them a good 2-3 inches works (depending on the wattage of your CFL. Also, if you are going to have the lights 2-3 inches from your plants, then you should have some type of fan blowing the heat away from the CFL's or the area on top of your plants will get to hot and burn/stunt your plants growth.

GL with you grow.

CFLs should be kept as close as possible without touching. To produce maximum results keep it within 1", keep an eye on your plant growth and re-adjust multiple times per day. It's really the only way to maximize your light usage. Putting them further away because you don't want to play with plants and lights 3-4 times a day.....Seems kinda lazy.

hey i know what your taking about i think you prb were touching them lke half hour after they turned on. wait like 5 hours and your hand deff will be uncomfortable when you touch it

Since I can hold my hand against this CFL without discomfort, does that mean my plant could also touch it without suffering burns?

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Well, think of it this way. that tiny part of the plant you have touching the bulb will get maximum light, but it's going to block any light from going to other parts of the plant.

Putting them further away because you don't want to play with plants and lights 3-4 times a day.....Seems kinda lazy.

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Some people don't have the luxury of being able to hang around and play with lights all day. You know, having jobs and whatnot.