CFL lumens

[kandysman]

I was wondering if anyone could give me a fairly straight answer,lol. I have heard a lot of things.But anyways the question is how many lumen's do each plant need to produce good yield. Not square footage or anything just each plant. Thanks a lot. There are so many different answers online it can be pretty overwhelming,lol.

 

[Hosebomber]

There is no single answer for that question. A single plant can grow to 14 foot tall and 8 foot wide. That plant will need completely different lighting than a plant you are growing in a computer case or a cabinet. Square footage is the best measurement to go off of when talking about growing indoors. You are lighting an area to grow in. The sun doesn't give out it's light to each plant, neither should you.

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

Lumens has very little to do with growing plants !

As it is a measurement of light visable to the human eye only... basically the green & yellow spectrum.

 

[whitewidowr]

I agree with Hosebomber and Fuzzy Duck, except for lumens is measurement of brightness per sqare foot of space. It has nothing to do with visability to the human eye. Not trying to discredit anyone in any way, its just that I have been an electrician for 20 years working with my dad who was a master electrician for 35 years before he passed away a little over a year ago in family contracting business. I dern sure dont know much about growing but I do Know electricity.

 

[Hosebomber]

It has nothing to do with visability to the human eye. Not trying to discredit anyone in any way, its just that I have been an electrician for 20 years working with my dad who was a master electrician for 35 years before he passed away a little over a year ago in family contracting business. I dern sure dont know much about growing but I do Know electricity.

Quite the contrary: The lumen (symbol: lm) is the SI derived unit of luminous flux, a measure of the total "amount" of visible light emitted by a source. Luminous flux differs from power (radiant flux) in that luminous flux measurements reflect the varying sensitivity of the human eye to different wavelengths of light, while radiant flux measurements indicate the total power of all light emitted, independent of the eye's ability to perceive it.

In photometry, luminous flux or luminous power is the measure of the perceived power of light. It differs from radiant flux, the measure of the total power of light emitted, in that luminous flux is adjusted to reflect the varying sensitivity of the human eye to different wavelengths of light.

ie... Lumens are are a measurement of how bright the light is to the human eye. PAR (Photosynthetically active radiation) or radiant flux is a better measurement of lighting for plant growth.

 

[buddhamel40]

hello and a very happy thanksgiving,to all my fellow brothers and sisters whom share the same love for the almighty green goddess. question how much lumens does a 250watt red cfl light kicks out. and does a dual spectrum 250 cfl light produces the same amount or higher. and also thinking about buying t5 four foot lights a little down the road.

 

[Hosebomber]

Buddhamel40, that is impossible to answer. Each manufacturer has their own blend of prospers that the put into their light. So the only honest answer is to look and the box or go to the companies website.

 

[goathead]

I like your quote and would like to say truth can be perceived much like electricity can make your hair stand up in low does or potentially electrocute you in larger doses. Everyone has the instinct to know truth it is hard wired in our DNA. The question is can we deal with it?

 

[blasterman]

Each manufacturer has their own blend of prospers that the put into their light.

True, but the actual phosphor formulas and ratios are pretty much the same. Fluorescent tubes typically use a mercury based UV plasma to excite secondary phosphors in various ratios to provide color. The more colors used in the spectrum to increase CRI the lower the efficiency of the tube. Fluorescent tubes are very efficient at producing cool light from blue to green, but not as efficient at producing orange / red as LED and especially HPS. White LED (good ones) have a broader spectrum than fluorescent as well as more efficiency. Only HPS beats LED at 590nm emission.

In a nut shell lumens are both a measurement of energy out-put, but skewed towards our vision rather than photo synthesis. PAR curves are typically a symetrical inverse of lumen measurment, but both measure energy - just emphasize different parts of the spectrum. If you have two fluorescent bulbs at a similiar color temp, and one has more lumens, it's also going to have more energy available for plant growth. Phosphors won't vary that much. Where things get weird is mixing color temps and lumens. Cool white fluorescents (this includes CFLs) have a higher lumen rating than warm-white fluorescent tubes because our eyes are more sensitive to green / blue. While up for argument, warm-white CFLs are likely throwing more energy for growth (PAR) because orange light is more important than blue light if you're a terrestrial plant and not a coral growing under water. Red CFLs I've seen are just painted red, which is stupid because they block other light you can use. If you have a tight budget get three of the biggest warm white CFLs you can find and arrange them in a triangle above - around the plant. Fill in the three gaps with foil. If you have more plants look at a budget T5 HO rig. About $100 online, although you'll need different bulbs if you want to grow anything other than lettuce. Only T5 HO can deliver the PPFD per foot with more than one or two plants with any kind of practicality in fluorescent land. CFL can't.

Problem with spiral CFLs is something I've covered many times. While they are a cheap source of intense light they waste a lot of energy with strikeback bouncing off the inside of the spiral shape. Typical conversion is 50 lumens per watt when new, and it declines from there. T5 with excellent reflectors is maybe 75-80 with new tubes. LED rigs I'm building are over 100 lumens per watt, and that's at 3500k. A 30watt rig I just built using Philips LED arrays threw three timex as much PAR and twice as many lumens on my plant bench as a 95watt triple T8 lamp I had with a nice reflector using my spectrometer as a reference source. That's....effing astounding. Sent a happy note to Philips asking them to lobby for us, but I don't expect a response

 

[kandysman]

OK then ill rephrase the question. How much light do i need for getting the yield potential for ten plants. If lumens don't matter than how many watts per cfl. Ive seen some amazing grows using spiral cfl's on a much larger scale than 10 plants so im sure it can be done i just don't want to waste my seed money because i didn't have enough light for my babies to flourish. Cfl's are my only option. And thank all of you for taking the time to respond.im a noob and it has been a long time in the planning faze and im ready to move forward. i have my space ready but i dont want to come up short on the light and every were i look says this many lumens per square foot or that many and its confusing. i was wondering how much 1 individual plant needs to thrive. im not concerned with what unit of measure we use. Just an idea would be great. And once again thank u all ur knowledge is more valuable than gold

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

65w per square foot for cfls thats an average, the more the better.... 65w of actual electric draw usage !

 

[Lurch Farmer]

Was up I love grow ing with cfls until I was spending more than with hps...any way the best watt per gram= I got was .2g per watt (3-200w 7000k and 3 200w 2700k --4 plant/sog got that consistantly past 6 months.but heat was a killer to get rid of .on average I had 75 watts per sqft.
with hps 2 down new one starting soon grow 2 4 plant 1 400 watt- first 24 gram and second 31 gram.
hope this helps and encourages.
GREAT LUCK

 

[Lurch Farmer]

Forgot 1 thing : fewer big plants or more small plants

 

[goofyfoot]

If your worried about lumens ,your plants will suck.

 

[kandysman]

why?

If your worried about lumens ,your plants will suck.

 

[Toddigy]

The sun produces 10k lumens, I'm using four 42 watt bulbs for my plant and that's right around under 12k lumens. I'm not an expert on growing as I'm almost done with my first plant ever, but have done my research on lumens. Stick to natures logic and you got it, 10k lumens and up (evenly covered light of course)

 

[Hosebomber]

The sun produces 10k lumens, I'm using four 42 watt bulbs for my plant and that's right around under 12k lumens. I'm not an expert on growing as I'm almost done with my first plant ever, but have done my research on lumens. Stick to natures logic and you got it, 10k lumens and up (evenly covered light of course)

The sun produces 100,000 lumens per square meter (or 1361 watts per meter squared) at the earths surface. The highest CFLs only get 70 lumens per watt... therefore your 42 watt bulb is getting about 2940 lumens each (maximum). Even if all of those are in 1 square meter you are still more than 8 times below the light output of the sun.

 

[Rmsbud]

Hello! I want to ask you some questions guys, first of all i will make you and introdution about me : I was growing 3 times under 150w MH(during veg )and 150w HPS(during flowering) , first 2 grows was bad from many reasons(temerature ,too much nutrients etc), the 3rd grow was "happy ending" i got like 1oz from 2 ladies (seeds unknow), i get this yeld also on bad conditions. Now i will like to start an CFL growing . I have a space like 3x2ft and i would like to know how many 23wCFL should i get into , The money isn't a problem ,i was thinking to get like 20x23w(6500k for veg )and 20x23w (2700k for flowering). I would like to know your opinion for this is this enought should i get more light for better yeld?And one more thning can you suggest me a good strain for CFL?

I hope you understand my english

Thanks

 

[kandysman]

hey rmsbud if i am reading you right you mean 20 , 23w bulbs? If so that would be like 23,000 lumens . this is my first grow but from all the research ive done and something that is also stated in this thread you need 2,500 lumens per plant,3,000 optimal.So with the space you have that may be over doing it a bit. I may be wrong but i dont think i am.

Hello! I want to ask you some questions guys, first of all i will make you and introduction about me : I was growing 3 times under 150w MH(during veg )and 150w HPS(during flowering) , first 2 grows was bad from many reasons(temperature ,too much nutrients etc), the 3rd grow was "happy ending" i got like 1oz from 2 ladies (seeds unknown), i get this yeld also on bad conditions. Now i will like to start an CFL growing . I have a space like 3x2ft and i would like to know how many 23wCFL should i get into , The money isn't a problem ,i was thinking to get like 20x23w(6500k for veg )and 20x23w (2700k for flowering). I would like to know your opinion for this is this enought should i get more light for better yeld?And one more thning can you suggest me a good strain for CFL?

I hope you understand my english

Thanks

 

[Rmsbud]

hey rmsbud if i am reading you right you mean 20 , 23w bulbs? If so that would be like 23,000 lumens . this is my first grow but from all the research ive done and something that is also stated in this thread you need 2,500 lumens per plant,3,000 optimal.So with the space you have that may be over doing it a bit. I may be wrong but i dont think i am.

Thanks for your reply! I plan to put like 4 plants in 10liters pots , that means like 6000lumens per plat can this hurt them because is not 3000 lumens ?or this is better?