HPS vs CFL ??? Which is TRULY better??

I am about to set up my 3rd different grow room and have some ?'s that need answers from some ppl that have first hand experience. My first grow was using the 26w CFL's, I had 9 plants with only 6 of those lil 26 watters. Needless to say that grow only gave me about a half O all together. My last grow I upgraded to a 1000w HPS, cool tube, big ac unit, carbon filter, 6in fan, the works. The room was 4'x5' and I had 2 bigger plants in seperate 5gal dwc and 3 clones in a dwc setup for them. I got about 6 oz all together which I am completely happy with for it being my 2nd grow but here's my ?. I seen a listinng on ebay when i was looking at dif stuff for my next grow and seen a listing for a "hps killer 2000w cfl". All it is is 20 of the 26w cfl's wired together. The listing said that it puts out more usable lumens than the 1000w hps. I know its a cooler and more energy efficient system ''if it works''!!!! Has anyone on here used cfl's to this magnitude before and had better results than with the hps? The setup im going for is a 5'x5' grow room with a 4'x4' flood table using 16 clones in 3gal grow bags with hydroton. I am going to use 24 of the 26w cfl's and my nutes will be sensi grow/bloom A/B with big bud bud candy and voodoo juice. I will be running Barneys Farm's Critical Kush which has a yield of 750+ per sq/mt and have my hopes set on 1 to 2 lbs out of every harvest. Is this even a remotely obtainable goal using the cfl's?

i've never grown with an HPS yet but i would suggest staying with the HPS. The problem with the cfls you found is that its on ebay, its probably not a legitamite reputable company, and more than likely just someone with the electronic know how to wire a few lightbulbs together to try and tap into the indoor gardening market. The listing will obviously say its better than HPS because they want your business. Id say stick with the norm around here unless you want to be a guinea pig.

This is seriously a topic?

umm hps is better hands down..... 400w of cfls wont even begin to give results like a 400w hps could... that is under optimal temperatures and a good environment..

What the add should read is bank account/yield killer...fuck cfl's! Using a 1000 watt hps will get you in and around 16 ozs dried when you perfect your craft and find the right strain...if it ain't broke don't fix it.

First thing you've gotta do is try not to focus so much on Lumens and think about what plants really need, PAR. Also take into account the different spectrums of light needed at different stages of growth; to that I say CFL and T5 lighting is excellent for vegging and is why I recommend using something like an 8 bulb t5 ballast to veg at all times while keeping a separate flower room, this allows you to have a mother and clones ready for flower after each harvest. I only flower under HPS or LED or a combo of the two, two 600 watt HPS is more efficient than a single 1000 watt, but if money isn't an issue I'd recommend at least doing led supplementation. I've never seen frostier, denser, more aromatic nugs than those produced under LED. I know their is a lot of sentiment in regards to the topic but at the end of the day I'm basing my position on science and personal experiences.

fir3dragon said:

umm hps is better hands down..... 400w of cfls wont even begin to give results like a 400w hps could... that is under optimal temperatures and a good environment..

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Is this a challenge????
400 equivalent watts of cfl will absolutely outdo a 400w hps,in the right hands.With that being said a 1000w hps has no equal,40 26w cfls or led's wont have the coverage or penetration.

smart pots, greenlite soil, Humboldt organics. did wonders for me...folks hate on Humboldt cuz of prices but I don't mind paying for something if I know it works. plus as a wheelchair dude could you see me with big drums brewing my own teas n such?

B166ER420 said:

Is this a challenge????
400 equivalent watts of cfl will absolutely outdo a 400w hps,in the right hands.With that being said a 1000w hps has no equal,40 26w cfls or led's wont have the coverage or penetration.

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So, step to it man, set up a side by side, and a thread, you already have the audience.

ProdigalSun said:

So, step to it man, set up a side by side, and a thread, you already have the audience.

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Theres no audience.I dont have a 400w hps/mh...........Do you???

plants could give a crap less about lumens, that is brightness to the human eye, plants can actually be grown in the dark as long as they are getting PAR photo synthetically active radiation...and while I agree the penetration may be a little less, my canopy is was so dense that the lower branches were nearly hopeless anyway.

The answer to you question "Which is truly better" has two parts, fluorescents in 6500k are truly better for vegging than HPS and HPS is truly better for flowering than fluorescents.

B166ER420 said:

Thers no audience.I dont have a 400w hps/mh...........Do you???

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yes i do, but im using a 600w now.. wont look back to the 400w... i can keep my 400w 5 inches from the tops of my plants... 600w is 10 inches just to be safe....

please explain how cfls will out do a 400w hps?? i want some pics you got to prove it

My plants coming out my cfl cab are always frostier and smell better.. my 2 cents

HPS for a myriad of reasons, a few of which i will list here:
Light Penetration- Cfls have SHIT penetration, requiring at least 1 cfl per 3 sq inches of plant. If my 4 ft girl where on cfl, shed need 200$ worth of them.
Also, because of this it makes your area a mess, having to clip cfls with reflectors everywhere to be withing a few inches of EVERY goddamn part of your girl.
Electricity/Cost- Though they are cheaper on a light to light basis than hps, 1x 150w hps unit will do what 3x that cost in Cfls couldnt. Not to mention the running cost, itll be far more expensive for those 30 cfls that I'd need that 1 hps.
Spectrum- High pressure sodium has more PAR per/watt and less heat per/watt than CFLS do. Plants use wavelengths between 400-700 nm to carry out photosynthesis, called photosynthetically active radiation (PAR).
Just my $.02.

qwizoking said:

My plants coming out my cfl cab are always frostier and smell better.. my 2 cents

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and im sure you yield ALOT less.... and if you use a mix of mh and hps you get that extra resin production anyways..... and smell better??? thats what a cure is for..

qwizoking said:

My plants coming out my cfl cab are always frostier and smell better.. my 2 cents

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Mine always smell better coming out of a mason jar...
Smell comes from Resin production, right?
So less effective light spectrum containing less PAR would produce less resin, E.G. less smell.
Perhaps this is a phenomena you experience because you're just apt at growing super dank buds, not the light itself.
Many things contribute to the sweetness of our favorite leaf, gentlemen. Skill *imo* being the largest factor.

I've erased all pics off my phone and computer......but I do have pics all over this site that speak for themselvesYou visited my page....Did you see my journal??That was like the 6th mj plant I ever grew....it was 138g under 16-23 watt cfls.You don't have to be offended,I wasn't trying to call you out or nothing.I just thought we could have a friendly little single plant grow off for these nice folks at Riu.

There is no question.. HPS..

B166ER420 said:

I've erased all pics off my phone and computer......but I do have pics all over this site that speak for themselvesYou visited my page....Did you see my journal??That was like the 6th mj plant I ever grew....it was 138g under 16-23 watt cfls.You don't have to be offended,I wasn't trying to call you out or nothing.I just thought we could have a friendly little single plant grow off for these nice folks at Riu.

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yeah figures u erased all pics... 138g wet??? them buds look tiny... i got 7 oz from my first grow using a 400w and 3 plants... im not offended lmao... it has been proven hps is better then CFL