ghostgardener
New Member
Who knows really by a pic but it is bright to say the least.
CFL Light Tutorial
- Thread starter Roseman
- Start date
ghostgardener
New Member
Just started 2 clones (My huge White Widow that is in flower) under a 150w CFL. It is harder to clone a flowering plant but it is possible and takes longer.
ghostgardener
New Member
Nice
i come across news stories of folks growin that have pics, sometimes i post em
this is an OK 1 ... wadda ya think he is runnin?
But now how do you get these close enough to the plants to really make it work right? As we all know the lumens hitting a space are reduced according to the inverse square law, the object being lit only receives roughly half the lumens for every 1' of distance away from the object.
A 1000w hps puts out approx. 140,000 lumens at 1', but this falls off to 15,555 lumens at 3'.
A 400w hps puts out approx. 51,000 lumens at 1'.
So, placing a 400w 1' above the plant will put out more than 3 times the lumens that a 1000w will at 3'. The lights in this picture are a good distance away from the plants below, thus seriously reducing the effectiveness of those lights.
There is an efficiency to being a small time grower like myself!
Medifreddie
New Member
Thanks Neut & FyinPan- The small grow theory does seem more plausible with the CFLs. I thought I was going to have to re-learn my lighting principles/application all over again...LOL If is the case, why not, like you mentioned, just install a 400watter and be done with it? Why go to the trouble of construction a "chandelier" if at flower time, mo light is betta? What am I missing here?
MFThanks Neut & FyinPan- The small grow theory does seem more plausible with the CFLs. I thought I was going to have to re-learn my lighting principles/application all over again...LOL If is the case, why not, like you mentioned, just install a 400watter and be done with it? Why go to the trouble of construction a "chandelier" if at flower time, mo light is betta? What am I missing here?
When you've got multiple grow spaces. I use the hps for flower and the cfl's for veg. The space I have the hps in is better suited for ventilation, this summer will be a bitch for me, I'll have to be bringing outside air in at that time.
But the grow closet needs only minimal venting since I'm using cfl's, this gave me more options for placement of the closet. It's on an interior wall, a long way from the exterior which will be a cheap source of cool air for venting in the summer time, I'll do it at night.
Up here in the mountains it always gets below at a maximum 50 deg, most nights in the 40's, great sleeping weather! So I'll run the lights at night and pump in cool air from the outside, but again, the veg closet doesn't need it.
Lil Neutrino
New Member
Thanks Neut & FyinPan- The small grow theory does seem more plausible with the CFLs. I thought I was going to have to re-learn my lighting principles/application all over again...LOL If is the case, why not, like you mentioned, just install a 400watter and be done with it? Why go to the trouble of construction a "chandelier" if at flower time, mo light is betta? What am I missing here?
There are a few reasons I have not gone to HPS for flower:
1) My cabinet is only four feet tall so by the time I factor in the height taken up by the pot (the soil, not the good stuff lol) and the required clearance below the HPS plus the light itself it doesn't leave much room.
2) I would love to add a 250 or 400W HPS but I am unemployed (over a year now save for a three month stint) and still need to fix my cabinet up ASAP (redo the front door, block the light leaks from the exhaust fan, etc). I'm thinking this time I will need to build an odor scrubber too but not sure yet. Last time a little block of ONA in the cabinet worked great up until the last week or two of flower and my current plant (5 weeks in veg) is already as big as the last one was when it was finished.
3) I already have plenty of CFL's for one plant in flower so I can't really justify buying more lights at this point even if they are better
4) Temperature is an issue for me in the summer because I'm not drawing in fresh air from outside or even venting outside. Due to my living situation it's pretty much impossible for me to vent hot air outside. Just the ~250W of CFL's in the cabinet next to my bed last summer was enough to raise the ambient temp of the room a few degrees. I was battling temps of 85-90F+ (hit 99F once or twice even, I forget what happened to cause that) last summer because where my home is situated it is hard to keep it cool without running the A/C all the time and I was trying to keep my utility bill within reason. I have since added much higher CFM fans which seems to have helped but my indoor ambient air temps now are easily 10F less than what they are in the summer so I'm taking advantage of the cool weather!
So yeah, with all of the above combined HID's just really aren't an option any time soon.
you should add some cfl veg lights with ur hid for full-spec, i think a small investment would help ya ...
I would agree, when I added a couple of 26W CFL's to the side of even my little plant it perked up the lower foliage immensely.
Exactly what my problem was last summer...made me wish I was living just another few miles west in the foothills of the Front Range. That mountain air is beneficial on so many levels!
That just means you're not running enough CFL's lol
There are a few reasons I have not gone to HPS for flower:
1) My cabinet is only four feet tall so by the time I factor in the height taken up by the pot (the soil, not the good stuff lol) and the required clearance below the HPS plus the light itself it doesn't leave much room.
2) I would love to add a 250 or 400W HPS but I am unemployed (over a year now save for a three month stint) and still need to fix my cabinet up ASAP (redo the front door, block the light leaks from the exhaust fan, etc). I'm thinking this time I will need to build an odor scrubber too but not sure yet. Last time a little block of ONA in the cabinet worked great up until the last week or two of flower and my current plant (5 weeks in veg) is already as big as the last one was when it was finished.
3) I already have plenty of CFL's for one plant in flower so I can't really justify buying more lights at this point even if they are better
4) Temperature is an issue for me in the summer because I'm not drawing in fresh air from outside or even venting outside. Due to my living situation it's pretty much impossible for me to vent hot air outside. Just the ~250W of CFL's in the cabinet next to my bed last summer was enough to raise the ambient temp of the room a few degrees. I was battling temps of 85-90F+ (hit 99F once or twice even, I forget what happened to cause that) last summer because where my home is situated it is hard to keep it cool without running the A/C all the time and I was trying to keep my utility bill within reason. I have since added much higher CFM fans which seems to have helped but my indoor ambient air temps now are easily 10F less than what they are in the summer so I'm taking advantage of the cool weather!
So yeah, with all of the above combined HID's just really aren't an option any time soon.
I would agree, when I added a couple of 26W CFL's to the side of even my little plant it perked up the lower foliage immensely.
Exactly what my problem was last summer...made me wish I was living just another few miles west in the foothills of the Front Range. That mountain air is beneficial on so many levels!
That just means you're not running enough CFL's lol
Funny!
But yes, you and I are in agreement, you do what your situation allows. I think it's great you do have the cfl option, that does open many more doors.
As to the odor problem, someone made a small bucket similar to Roseman's using a 1 lb. coffee can and a computer fan.. You might want to look into one of those for a small space, it is sweet!
Lil Neutrino
New Member
I had no idea you could use them for growing until a buddy of mine used them for a grow and then I found this forum. Quite versatile.
I started to read Roseman's thread on that but got sidetracked, I'll have to finish it. I do have some spare fans sitting around that I could use one for that, time will tell. Thanks for the heads up.
I started to read Roseman's thread on that but got sidetracked, I'll have to finish it. I do have some spare fans sitting around that I could use one for that, time will tell. Thanks for the heads up.
Again, he made an adjustment for the room he had. He used the small can and the small fan that were scaled to his space. I bet you could figure out how to do it yourself.
Lil Neutrino
New Member
This reminds me of an old Indian saying;
White man build big fire, sit far away.
Indian build small fire, sit close.
Medifreddie
New Member
LOL...Alrighty then. I run 30 plants thru flower at a time. Guess I wont be going to CFLs anytime soon although I do use the T-5s for veggin. It's alway good to do a learning check now n then for new discoveries. Thanks guys...
MF
hydronewbie
New Member
Roseman:
Thanks for the tutorial. I was just about to order a 400 watt hps because the dual spectrum CFL lamp I bought from stealthhydro broke and I was disappointed with its performance anyway. I'm between grows right now. I'll hang back and really study the great posts here and consider building my own CFL system because I'm a small time legal CA dude. I'm interested in growing up to 6 plants or less in a walk-in closet. I did 3 or 4 grows last year using both soil and hydro and was blown away by the superiority of DWC to soil. Many thanks to all of you and Happy Valentines Day (I'm withholding hugs and kisses).
Thanks for the tutorial. I was just about to order a 400 watt hps because the dual spectrum CFL lamp I bought from stealthhydro broke and I was disappointed with its performance anyway. I'm between grows right now. I'll hang back and really study the great posts here and consider building my own CFL system because I'm a small time legal CA dude. I'm interested in growing up to 6 plants or less in a walk-in closet. I did 3 or 4 grows last year using both soil and hydro and was blown away by the superiority of DWC to soil. Many thanks to all of you and Happy Valentines Day (I'm withholding hugs and kisses).
- Thread starter
- #117
Roseman:
Thanks for the tutorial. I was just about to order a 400 watt hps because the dual spectrum CFL lamp I bought from stealthhydro broke and I was disappointed with its performance anyway. I'm between grows right now. I'll hang back and really study the great posts here and consider building my own CFL system because I'm a small time legal CA dude. I'm interested in growing up to 6 plants or less in a walk-in closet. I did 3 or 4 grows last year using both soil and hydro and was blown away by the superiority of DWC to soil. Many thanks to all of you and Happy Valentines Day (I'm withholding hugs and kisses).
You're very welcomed friend.
It needs to be said, or repeated, HID lights give far superior grows, like a Cadillac rides much better than a Kia. But, if a man needs to ride from Florida to California, that Cadillac will cost much more, although both will get you there.
I saw a dude, a young college student on limited funds grow a plant in his closet with ONE 42 watt 2700 K bulb. He was so proud and got a little over a half ounce of dried bud from his plant.
I have seen many many growers use one bulb only, or two bulbs or just three bulbs and have all one kelvin, or all 6500K and no 2700K, or be 26 watt bulbs, and just did not have the dual spectrum. BUT, they got a harvest and were very grateful and proud to get it. I did my first grow with only two 65 watt bulbs in VEG and added two more in Flowering. I was so very proud of that grow too! Mostly I was proud I did not kill them and they lived.!!
You just have to go with what you got, or can get, sometimes!
hydronewbie
New Member
Roseman,
So what is your lighting configuration now? Are you still using only CFL's or have you moved on up to HID?
Thanks,
So what is your lighting configuration now? Are you still using only CFL's or have you moved on up to HID?
Thanks,
- Thread starter
- #119
I made up my mind a month ago, to go with HID on my next grow and I started preparing and shopping. I needed enough watts for my closet and I found some good prices BUT then I started looking at the cost of VENTING the heat, the carbon filters, the ducting and electrical work and what all was involved to get the heat out.
LOL
I am staying with CFLs for now.
crazy horse
New Member
i recently bought a 250w blue cfl, the site i bought it from claims it produces 24,000 lumens! do you think this is correct? the reason i ask is because im sure i read that a 200w produces 9,000 lumens.