CFL Light Tutorial

Lights do fade out very very very quickly. It is the nature of the game. We simply do not notice it until we put in a new bulb. The suggestion made to replace the bulb every grow is actually smarter than realized after reading y'all solve a few peeps problems.

1. You are paying for the electricity to power up that bulb. (assuming you are not getting voltage drop from using some crappy ass 24 gag wire POS cord that you "borrowed" from the shrinky dink oven your offspring broke. "Might need that someday" moment. AND SPEAKER WIRE IS JUST AS BAD.

1a. Sidethought..Skrinky Dinks...Searing hot molten plastic...for children age six and older....those of us older than say 25.....had some rather dangerous toys. And the older you are the more dangerous and toxic they were. Easy bake ovens, hot plastic molding wax...lawn darts..I'm sure before my time there were the lead candy makers and HASBRO asbestos wrap mummy dolls....and the real Tonka Trucks....the ones that doubled for demolition derby warriors. I am a thrasher...always have been...always will....when i have a hammer in my hand the entire world looks like one big ass nail.....so my Tonka Trucks were abused....and even the effen windows on them never cracked..yes a little faded..but never cracked...still got em...somewhere.

Sorry one of the squirrels in my head got on the intercom when I was out.

2. We all calculate the light intensity for the plants based on the box number. (which is really really important as I found out here in this forum because of nutrient amounts being based on full sunlight. Which was prime at 10,000 L. at the plant.

But as the number we calculate starts to fade....our plants begin to strike.


3. And what is your time worth trying to figure out WTF is wrong with the Nutes? Oh...and calc more nutes because anyone of us is going to flush the plant with a mild solution....then change the resvr. And this will, of course, happen when we have zero time and/or zero money.

I thought the above when I decided to go with the lights I did in my grow room. (actually I am full of crap as I have not picked them up yet...but I am going to roll with three HPS at 600 watts per...

Pick one up as I move a tray of plants into the room...that way...I am not wasting light....or juice.

Why....because the math worked out for that set up to be the most efficient to reach the goal....and I can pick up 600 bulbs all day long for cheaper as they are used in industrial lighting more often than 1000 w.

With cheaper lights....I am more willing to swap them out when they fade.

And the worst part for all of you CFL brothers (I am a huge fan of CFL's and I have a feeling that in the next two to three years they are going to explode in use and become really cheap.) is that CFL fade faster and harder. And when you change out the bulbs you need to change out any/all bulbs running to that ballast....meaning one ballast with three or four lamps....should change em all. I am looking up the info on that currently.

I have been trying to look up something I read about Los Angeles City Hall not turning off the Fluorescent lights because a study was done that it was actually cheaper to leave them on.

I'll find it....

Anyway. Almost done with the grow room....and here is the math information I rediscovered today.

for a flood setup...to calculate the volume of water.....and then the size of the resvr....

(length * width * height) / 231

but remember that the height is not the height of the container....it is the height that the water needs to rise to....meaning the middle of the net pot.

Anyway....the number you 'pute is the number of gal of water you will need.

(if you are smart....add at least 5 to 10 % to the resvr. water amount for prudence.)

I am figuring out if I am that smart currently....My intelligence will depend much on the container size and the amount of money it might take to purchase or make.

Good luck brothers.
 
OH and today was my first experience with NEEM OIL.

All I have too say is that crap smells like it does indeed come from India. It works....fast and hard...but don't play with it if you have a date that night...then again you COULD date an Indian that might go apeshit for your new Neem scent.....She would be thinking "I love the smell of my Neem Oil Man...."

As for me....I was releived that some Dr. Bronner's got it off. The single greatest soap on the face of the planet thank you.
 
eebytocs said:
Im selling my 2 250w CFL's and reflectors (1blue 1red) for about £100 asking price would you say thats ok? only been used for 1 auto grow.
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Well presently I am able to get a Bright wing reflector and 200w 6500k Cfl for around $99 Canadian brand new So I would do the conversion if the price is over $200 canadian I would Drop your price by 25-30% so I would say 150-175$ canadian would be more appropriate
 
FryingPanFlyer said:
One comment about leaving fluoro's on. I believe that was a long time ago when the ballasts were not as efficient and it did take additional energy to start it up. But it's my understanding that is no longer the case.

Thanks for all your input man!
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You are 100% correct.....the old mag. ballast. Yes this has changed with the elect. ballast. Thank you.
 
Quick question, after germinating, how many cfl's should I use? I plan on using about 20 42W cfls for vegging but not sure how many i should start out with?
 
Myzz617 said:
Quick question, after germinating, how many cfl's should I use? I plan on using about 20 42W cfls for vegging but not sure how many i should start out with?
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On the first page of this Tutorial is a HOW MUCH LIGHT DO I NEED SECTION.

Calculate the square footage of the grow area that will be full of plants. Then calculate a bare minimum of needed 50 watts per sq ft and you got it. 50 watts per sq ft is bare minimum.

OR calculate the sq footage, and mutiply it by 6000 lumens per sq ft. 3000 is rock bottom bare minimum needed and 10,000 equals the sun's lumens on a sun shiney day. 6000 lumens per sq ft will do great. A CFL will give you 70 lumens per watt, so a 42 watt = 2940 lumens. You need one 42 watt bulb rock bottom bare minimum per sq ft. 2 bulbs would be super great!

Remember to get 2700k and 6500k bulbs, for the Dual Spectrum of light. (or a 50-50 warm white and cool white mix)
 
I am using 2 125w Tube type cfl grow bulbs in a closet I have made into my veg closet and found that 125w in a good reflector is decent for a 4 sq' space my closet is cordened off into 2 4 square foot spaces and find it works just fine to get all my clones going and give them 3 weeks of veg before moving to the flower room where I move them into 3 gallon pots and then give them another 10 days of 18/6 under a 1k mh before switching to 12/12 to give them a little time to get over the transplant shock and I am able to harvest around 40 ounces from 25 plants every 10-11 weeks.

I am wondering though if anyone has seen the 300w cfl tube bulbs in the dual spectrum half 6500k half 2700k I have only been able to find them in 200w variety.
 
Green007 said:
There's a 250w of both 3000K & 6500K at Hydroponic Supplies - Growing Lights : Grow Light Supply LLC
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Those should be close enough thanks very much I kept getting results for 300w bulbs but they are all from the uk and use a screw type I dont recognize.
But these should rock going to move the 2 125w 6500k bulbs into my flower room as I have read that the increased blue spectrum will speed up ripening and increase resin production. But never experimented with it myself so need some opinions on if the extra 250w of 6500k mixed with my 1000w hps will show noticeable results or if you were in my place would you consider rigging the 125w bulbs in with a 250w bulbs .
 
I bought 4 200 watt CFLs, (one didn;t work out of the new box) and gave the 3 away.

My experience is any bulb over 105 watts gives out too much heat....but that is just for me. I'd rather have two 65s or two 85s than a 105 or 200 watt bulb....again, just me and my preference.
 
Hello Roseman! Another terrific thread. Your post #6 (copied below) has peaked my interest enough that I went ahead and changed my lighting today. I just posted some pics showing my application of this in my grow and opened it up for comments. You'd be very welcome to visit and check it out. Thanks and Reps for another great tutorial!

Roseman said:
The Importance Of Mixed Lighting (Dual Spectrum with CFLs)

It is common knowledge that plants absorb warm and cool spectrum of light throughout its life. But I find that the importance of mixed lighting is understressed throughout the growing community.
During the flowering phase of a plants life, Warm light is better utilized to increase the size of a plant's buds. As CFL growers we tend to pile up on 2700k bulbs to increase our yield. In most cases, growers assume that warm light not only grants us larger buds, but insures that those buds are of connoisseur quality as well. This is not to say that one can not achieve a very successful crop off of pure warm spectrum 2700k lighting. We see it all the time as members of the Grow Forum Internet community. But as CFL growers, almost all of us demand a higher efficiency for our dollar.
So what does this mean? Clearly I'm trying to emphasize the necessity of cool lighting during the flowering phase of a plants life. But why? Well thats simple. As many of you may have heard or read before, Cool lighting (6500k) introduces a UVB spectrum that benefits the potency of the buds our plants are producing.
" The writer's own experience allow for a more specific conclusion: If the UVB photon is missing from the light stream(a), or the intensity as expressed in µW/cm2 falls below a certain level(b), the phytochemical process will not be completely energized with only UVA photons which are more penetrating but less energetic, and the harvested resin spheres will have mostly precursor compounds and not fully realized THC(c).

Now it would be completely unreasonable to ask a grower using a 1000watt HPS to switch out for MH lighting even though it produces quality of the weed. Sticking with blue spectrum lighting in a plants flowering phase would greatly decrease the size of the buds and the yield of the plant. People using high wattage systems tend to grow for cash crop. No single person really needs a pound of buds.
" "Metal halide produce the best potent buds with less lumens for the money but better smoke. After years of testing with some friends who did want to keep THEIR recipe (more hps) I found their buds to be harsh, full of CBD, make me eat and sleep. The blue spectrum will give you a final product that have everything included:taste without curing, potency and yield.
For lower wattage growers who grow for self use, and are not on a low budget, it would be beneficial to replace their HPS with an MH for the last week or two of budding. This is because the last weeks of a plants life before harvesting is dedicated to the ripening of the buds, and not the growth of the bud itself. It would not greatly impact the yield of the plant, but have a great effect on the quality. Interesting, but this only applies to a few amount of growers that fit this category.
As CFL growers, we would be fools to ignore such information. It is astonishing that so many fantastic growers to not utilize cool lighting even to a small supplemental degree. We owe it to our selves to scrounge up a few bucks in change and take a drive to Home Depot. Buy a pack of 6500k bulbs (26watts tend to be popular, 42s are better) and set them somewhere not far off from your buds. Don't let your hard work return with unsatisfaction. Added quality with increased quantity(more light). Mixed lighting should be standard knowledge, not found in the advanced cultivation section.

Side Note: Reptile lighting found at pet stores is not ideal for UVB lighting. Yes they do emit a high % of UVB than regular CFLs but they output less light and emit over 12x more UVA light than UVB light which can harm your plant.
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