CFL questions

[SkankyRatbag]

hey guys, im going to be starting my first grow in the next few weeks and just need some advice on lighting. i dont have a lot of money to get set up and have seen that cfls are pretty cheap and dont need to be wired to a ballast. but are cfls a good substitute for hps? would they affect the yield in a negative way?

i dont have a lot of space either so id only be growing 4/5 plants at a time, would 2 6500k and 1 3000k do the job? or would i get better results saving for a hps. advice from anybody with experience with either of the lights would be greatly appriciated.

 

[greenmonkey]

CFL can be used to good effect for veggin but if you want nice dense fat buds then a hps is a must for flowering. you can still use cfls but the result wont be as good. hit up ebay for some hps, i got a sweet 150w for 40 bucks. dont have to get a super high watt hps, can always supplement with the cfls for better light coverage. im describing my setup so im biased to what to use.

 

[blowin.endo]

i had a CFL grow before... i used them for flowering and the buds were'nt that dense as said above.. hps is by far the best to grow with.

 

[SkankyRatbag]

thanks for the replys guys. the advice is much appricated and i think ill go with yous on this one. hps seems to be the better way to go. cheers

 

[Stoner4Life]

i had a CFL grow before... i used them for flowering and the buds were'nt that dense as said above.. hps is by far the best to grow with.

How many watts total and how close to your plants were they blowin.endo?
I'm wondering if someone uses 2000-2500 watts (output wattage) CFL would that make a difference in density?

 

[Stoner4Life]

^^^Any advice here 4 extra wattage?^^^

 

[gren]

please some answer this question.i need to know this as well.

i wanna use 2 or 3 200 watts cfls at 27k

 

[Urdedpal]

I wish I could answer that Q bro but I have never did a whole grow with just cfls. I would think so but it would not be cost effective, those bulbs get expensive and are only good for growing for about 6 to9 months. After that, they start loosing there intensity and lumens output. Even mh and hps bulbs don't have a long life. Optimum strengh of a mh doing 18/6 is 6 months. Optimun strengh for a hps bulb at 12/12 is 9. I tend to go longer because bulbs are exspensive.

 

[gren]

$60 a bulb 3x a year isnt too bad at all. i just cant see myself havin a high elec. bill.

 

[jakass]

what would be a reasonable yeild from 2 or 3 150watt cfl on a indica , i know it might be hard to answer but any honest educated guess would make me happy.

 

[RJD2M86]

My grow has been done with all CFL lights. I only had 2 plants 1 died so i currently only have 1. For my one lonesome plant i had 9 CFLs on the plant alone through Vegging and i'm currently in the flowering stage. For the flowering stage i Bought 2500k CFLS and for vegging 5500k and i'm always wanting to put more light in there. For CFLs i'd say the more the better but thats just my two cents...

 

[gren]

rj how many watts are cfls? 9 cfls just get 1 hps if thats the case

 

[RooRman]

My grow has been done with all CFL lights. I only had 2 plants 1 died so i currently only have 1. For my one lonesome plant i had 9 CFLs on the plant alone through Vegging and i'm currently in the flowering stage. For the flowering stage i Bought 2500k CFLS and for vegging 5500k and i'm always wanting to put more light in there. For CFLs i'd say the more the better but thats just my two cents...

CFL's are great for veg. However, if your already flowering, and buying more of them, one would say your money is better spent on a small HPS system. The major difference is the spectrum of light it will put out versus the CFL's. More red in the light means bigger, denser buds.