Growing with CFLs in very limited space
- Thread starter SkooterClowns
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420boogie
New Member
did u use a ph/TDS meter? that is what is preventing me from hydro. they are like 200 bucks! and i'm in a smal town that has no hydro/gro shop anywhere near here
420boogie
New Member
ps what is EC ??? tds/PH/EC meter? huh?
- Thread starter
- #25
SkooterClowns
Well-Known Member
To be honest with you I have no clue what some of the things the meter I use tests. I only pay attention to the PPM (parts per million) VERY important!
Temp and Ph. This is the meter we use: Hanna Instruments HI-9813-6 pH/EC/TDS/Temperature meter
It is the only piece of equipment we didn't cheap out on seeing it's a very important component to any hydro set up. We tried the cheaper, single use, types and found them to be a pain to calibrate and use on a near daily basis.
With good Google search techniques and/or checking ebay you can usually find a good price for these. I believe I've seen them in the $150 - $180 price range with some searching but don't hold me to it.
We don't have a hydro retail store near us either. But the only thing you would need to get from a hydro store are the liquid Nutes. Rock wool and the pellets and net cups etc. can be found in most regular garden supply places (even in Home Depot/Lowes during the right season). We buy our nutes online from a hydro site in the New England area (not sure if we are allowed to say specific web sites here).
Temp and Ph. This is the meter we use: Hanna Instruments HI-9813-6 pH/EC/TDS/Temperature meter
It is the only piece of equipment we didn't cheap out on seeing it's a very important component to any hydro set up. We tried the cheaper, single use, types and found them to be a pain to calibrate and use on a near daily basis.
With good Google search techniques and/or checking ebay you can usually find a good price for these. I believe I've seen them in the $150 - $180 price range with some searching but don't hold me to it.
We don't have a hydro retail store near us either. But the only thing you would need to get from a hydro store are the liquid Nutes. Rock wool and the pellets and net cups etc. can be found in most regular garden supply places (even in Home Depot/Lowes during the right season). We buy our nutes online from a hydro site in the New England area (not sure if we are allowed to say specific web sites here).
- Thread starter
- #26
SkooterClowns
Well-Known Member
Sorry DVSmofo, but I don't have any hard numbers to answer your question. The math says that 5 bulbs using 68 watts each uses 340 watts. Not too bad a hit on the spinner.
As far as quantity CFLs haven't yielded us anything close to what our old, and soon to be, setup would yield using traditional lighting but given our circumstances we are pleased with our crop size. We did a LOT of trial and error so that we can maximize our output. Given that our last, and so far biggest CFL crop, yielded over 3 ounces from 2 plants (pathetic IMO compared to traditional lighting) we are pleased. And so far this next crop of 2 plants is promising to possibly top that (fingers crossed). Our current journal is here: SkooterClowns CFL Cabinet Grow
It turns out that our results have prompted at least 3 of our "dirt growin'" friends to come over to the hydro side of things AND they love the simplicity and maintenance free aspects of the bubble system. I will be spending some time in the next few weeks getting them set up.
I wish I could make some coin doing this!
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- #28
SkooterClowns
Well-Known Member
Moe check your nute mix. Early plants should have no more than 800ppm of nutes and the ratio of the 3 is very important. Early on the plant will use much of its time developing roots rather than growing. How are the roots looking? Are they increasing in number and in volume?
As for air bubbles the more the better...always but I've had no problem related to lack of enough bubbles so that would be the least likely cause of any problems in my opinion.
BTW dark leaves early on may not be a problem at all.
Are you using a good ppm/ph meter? Speaking of Ph is that ok? Should be about 5.8 or so.
Did you start a grow journal here? You may want to do that and post pictures as you go if possible. We, and others, would be better able to help you with pictures showing what is going on.
As for air bubbles the more the better...always but I've had no problem related to lack of enough bubbles so that would be the least likely cause of any problems in my opinion.
BTW dark leaves early on may not be a problem at all.
Are you using a good ppm/ph meter? Speaking of Ph is that ok? Should be about 5.8 or so.
Did you start a grow journal here? You may want to do that and post pictures as you go if possible. We, and others, would be better able to help you with pictures showing what is going on.
Lovin the CFL action u clowns get up too. This thread was the very 1st i read shortly b4 buying my 1st 125w CFL(b4 i even became a member).I've used HID's b4 but havn't done a grow 4 yrs. I have just about completed my 1st test grow with CFLS in a temporary set-up. I am runnin 2x125w CFL's 6400k veg/2700k flower. I was told CFL's lack penetration and to keep em short 8-10in veg then turn em. I used a foliar spray bottled by my local hydro shop called bonzi. Dunno(aussie 4 "dont know") what it is but it stopped lateral growth like magic. It reduced the node length heaps too. The outdoories from the same seed are just normal but the hydro's are short little bushes and seem to be pretty much all bud. I'll post some pics when i pull em. I plan to journal my next grow in the new space i am building. Thai hazex skunk(these seed were really cheap and a test to see if they would arrive. Anyway's enough Aussie dribble. I've been meaning to leave a reply here 4 ages. It was u guys and a good mate o mine that inspired me to start growin again and this time with CFL's. 
So much for the "knob ends" that reckon u can only grow popcorn with CFL's. +reps for ya thread keep on clownin around.
So much for the "knob ends" that reckon u can only grow popcorn with CFL's. +reps for ya thread keep on clownin around.- Thread starter
- #30
SkooterClowns
Well-Known Member
Lovin the CFL action u clowns get up too. This thread was the very 1st i read shortly b4 buying my 1st 125w CFL(b4 i even became a member).I've used HID's b4 but havn't done a grow 4 yrs. I have just about completed my 1st test grow with CFLS in a temporary set-up. I am runnin 2x125w CFL's 6400k veg/2700k flower. I was told CFL's lack penetration and to keep em short 8-10in veg then turn em. I used a foliar spray bottled by my local hydro shop called bonzi. Dunno(aussie 4 "dont know") what it is but it stopped lateral growth like magic. It reduced the node length heaps too. The outdoories from the same seed are just normal but the hydro's are short little bushes and seem to be pretty much all bud. I'll post some pics when i pull em. I plan to journal my next grow in the new space i am building. Thai hazex skunk(these seed were really cheap and a test to see if they would arrive. Anyway's enough Aussie dribble. I've been meaning to leave a reply here 4 ages. It was u guys and a good mate o mine that inspired me to start growin again and this time with CFL's.
Thanks Groover!
Slappy and I had lurked on this site, and others, for a while and decided early on that when we were ready to post anything it was going to be here at 420magazine. This is by far the best place for learning from others and support etc. Just like any community it's the people that make it enjoyable to hang out here. Another HUGE plus about this site is the fact that it is VERY well moderated. The mods here do a great job keeping things in order and keeping the site goin' in the intended direction.
We're both pumped that our thread has gotten you back into growin'. It's a cool feeling that our effort to show people what we learned has resulted in getting someone up and growin'. We are anxious to see your pictures when you get them posted.
Not sure if you know it but we also have a journal going on right now over here: SkooterClowns CFL Cabinet Grow. Stop by and check it out. It's almost harvest time.
We also threw one of our twins into this months Plant of the Month contest. There are a LOT of great plants in this months competition. Check it out and cast your vote when the voting begins. (I have a feeling who is in the serious running for this month and ours is not one of them. Like I said a LOT of fantastic plants are entered).
Thanks for the rep and welcome back to growin'!
SK-Slappy
New Member
Welcome...........hope your grow turn out great....Scooter Clown pretty much covers it, glad to see you back in the game...
as for "u can only grow popcorn with CFL's"...Don't you believe it....the pictures speak for themselves.....
good luck and if you have any questions we would be happy to answer them for you, if we can...
SK-Slappy
New Member
SK-Slappy
New Member
I picked up some replacement carbon filters at the pet store. They are sold for cat litter boxes..
I cut a 4" hole on both sides of the box and on one hole I stacked two of those filters and taped them to the outside, and took another stack of 2 and taped them to the inside of the box,same hole.
on the opposite side of the box I mounted a computer box fan on the outside of the box blowing in.
Made wood frames out of very light stock, then stapled nylon window screen to them as drying trays. We use wood blocks to space them for stacking
I cut a 4" hole on both sides of the box and on one hole I stacked two of those filters and taped them to the outside, and took another stack of 2 and taped them to the inside of the box,same hole.
on the opposite side of the box I mounted a computer box fan on the outside of the box blowing in.
Made wood frames out of very light stock, then stapled nylon window screen to them as drying trays. We use wood blocks to space them for stacking
k1net1k
New Member
^^ slappy, thanks for this tip. Will be perfect for my grow 
- Thread starter
- #37
SkooterClowns
Well-Known Member
Thanks ShadowKllr. We hear that a lot about our roots. They have always been plentiful and healthy (knock on wood).
We began playing with supplements in the grow we harvested earlier this month (Northern Lights). We added the chemical equivalent to molasses (i think) toward the very end of the grow and plan on using it to it's full potential in our current grow (Papaya).
baldalicious
New Member
Hey, thanks for this thread. I'm a newbie and just setting up my first grow room. I don't have anything yet but I've been going back and forth on this whole lighting issue; CFLs, HIDs or LEDs. This thread was really informative.
If you don't mind me asking, what kinds of yields were you guys getting with your previous HID set up and how much was your electric bill compared to this CFL rig? You mentioned that you were disappointed in the LED bank you used and there's a pic of it in your first post. It looks like a 50 watt bank. Where did you get it, if you don't mind me asking? I just read this High Times > Light and the LED Zeppelin: Will LED's Sink or Soar in the Growroom? about LED and it seems that a few companies are developing much more effective LED grow lights than were available even as much as a year or two ago. They ain't cheap, but when compared to buying a 600 watt HID rig with can fan and all the ventilation necessary plus the cost of running all that 12-18 hours a day for three months, the initial cost of a quality LED light doesn't seem so bad.
Space isn't a problem for me but, as a medicinal grower, legally I'm allowed only three vegies and three flowering so I don't really need that much room. I could conceivably mix a CFL rig like yours with a good quality, spectrum tuned LED and keep the monthly utility bill reasonable.
Any thoughts you might have would be really helpful. Thnx
- Thread starter
- #39
SkooterClowns
Well-Known Member
Baldalicious
Thanks for checking out our thread. We are glad you found it helpful and we certainly don't mind answering any questions (provided we have the answers of course).
In my signature you will see a link to our Northern Lights grow using CFLs in the grow box shown in this post. Our yield, from 2 plants, in the CFL grow was a dried weight of just over 5 ounces. The picture you see in this thread with the quart water bottle up against the cola was one of 2 NL plants grown under 400w HIDs. As you can see the quantity difference between lighting is significant. To be completely honest that NL grow under HID lights was the very first grow we had done in our tub set up and only the second grow we had ever done. We actually thought that the resulting NL in that picture was not good (we didn't know better at the time) so we never weighed it. It was the larger of the 2 NLs we grew then. If it helps to know we smoked the 2 NLs (and a couple of smaller disasters that were the result of our only dirt grow) for over 2 years! And Slappy and I are no slouches when it comes to hittin' the bowls IF you know what I mean. And we gave some away to friends and family so you can see it was a substantial yield (we've come to realize it was a pretty successful grow). We currently guestimate that the yield from the 2 NLs we did under HID was probably about 12 ounces. The picture alone shows that it was considerably more than what any CFL lighting can produce.
As for the electric bill I have no hard numbers but can say that the CFL grow had very little impact on the electricity usage whereas I did notice the bill when using HID. I have to say that given the difference in production it is well worth it to use HID when possible. In fact I will be going back to our old HID set up some time in the summer of '10 and will certainly be journaling those grows.
Slappy picked up the LED panels we tried off of eBay. I'm not sure the wattage etc but he did pay about 100 bucks for it. I am sure that as the technology changes (improves?) LED lighting WILL become a viable and successful option for the home growers. It may already be there from all that I know but we are not going to look into it again until we are able to see definitive, comparative numbers to prove the effectiveness of this type of alternative lighting. While we did prefer to stick to HID, our options were very limited recently so we had to look at and, hopefully, improve upon other lighting options. CFLs seemed the logical choice for us to look into.
My thoughts about your situation are that if you are legally limited to the number of plants you are allowed you should probably look into obtaining the maximum quantity your chosen strain can produce. That would mean using HID. While CFL will work (as it's been shown all over this site and others) when it comes to medicinal purposes taking a chance that you could run out while waiting for your next crop is probably not an ideal situation. I haven't looked in a long time but a while back I saw some data showing the cost/pound of a HID outfitted grow operation. The numbers had shown, in the example they provided, that a HID set up could theoretically pay for itself in 2.3 full grows providing that everything was used to it's maximum and that no light was wasted (more light than was needed to grow the number of plants).
Personally if I needed to grow my medicine I would try to find a way to provide as much as possible per plant which would mean HID lighting over any alternative lighting option.
Good luck with whatever you decide and know that there are a lot of VERY knowledgeable people here at 420magazine.com that are ready, willing and very able to help you with any questions you have.
Thanks for checking out our thread. We are glad you found it helpful and we certainly don't mind answering any questions (provided we have the answers of course).
In my signature you will see a link to our Northern Lights grow using CFLs in the grow box shown in this post. Our yield, from 2 plants, in the CFL grow was a dried weight of just over 5 ounces. The picture you see in this thread with the quart water bottle up against the cola was one of 2 NL plants grown under 400w HIDs. As you can see the quantity difference between lighting is significant. To be completely honest that NL grow under HID lights was the very first grow we had done in our tub set up and only the second grow we had ever done. We actually thought that the resulting NL in that picture was not good (we didn't know better at the time) so we never weighed it. It was the larger of the 2 NLs we grew then. If it helps to know we smoked the 2 NLs (and a couple of smaller disasters that were the result of our only dirt grow) for over 2 years! And Slappy and I are no slouches when it comes to hittin' the bowls IF you know what I mean. And we gave some away to friends and family so you can see it was a substantial yield (we've come to realize it was a pretty successful grow). We currently guestimate that the yield from the 2 NLs we did under HID was probably about 12 ounces. The picture alone shows that it was considerably more than what any CFL lighting can produce.
As for the electric bill I have no hard numbers but can say that the CFL grow had very little impact on the electricity usage whereas I did notice the bill when using HID. I have to say that given the difference in production it is well worth it to use HID when possible. In fact I will be going back to our old HID set up some time in the summer of '10 and will certainly be journaling those grows.
Slappy picked up the LED panels we tried off of eBay. I'm not sure the wattage etc but he did pay about 100 bucks for it. I am sure that as the technology changes (improves?) LED lighting WILL become a viable and successful option for the home growers. It may already be there from all that I know but we are not going to look into it again until we are able to see definitive, comparative numbers to prove the effectiveness of this type of alternative lighting. While we did prefer to stick to HID, our options were very limited recently so we had to look at and, hopefully, improve upon other lighting options. CFLs seemed the logical choice for us to look into.
My thoughts about your situation are that if you are legally limited to the number of plants you are allowed you should probably look into obtaining the maximum quantity your chosen strain can produce. That would mean using HID. While CFL will work (as it's been shown all over this site and others) when it comes to medicinal purposes taking a chance that you could run out while waiting for your next crop is probably not an ideal situation. I haven't looked in a long time but a while back I saw some data showing the cost/pound of a HID outfitted grow operation. The numbers had shown, in the example they provided, that a HID set up could theoretically pay for itself in 2.3 full grows providing that everything was used to it's maximum and that no light was wasted (more light than was needed to grow the number of plants).
Personally if I needed to grow my medicine I would try to find a way to provide as much as possible per plant which would mean HID lighting over any alternative lighting option.
Good luck with whatever you decide and know that there are a lot of VERY knowledgeable people here at 420magazine.com that are ready, willing and very able to help you with any questions you have.
wowtestdrive
New Member
Skooter & Slappy, GREAT looking grow myman 
...Followed your link over from C5Rftw's grow, and i must say I am impressed...by both your organization in your grow and in your documentation of it, this thread looks very clean and was enjoyable to read.
Furthermore i'm also doing a CFL grow with two plants using cfls right now..Even tho i'm using more lights i would still be quite happy with your yield!!
What was your start up cost for everything? (if you have it handy) Looks like you put a pretty penny into the control center and cabinet and such.
But props man, good grow!
edit: Had to add the brothers name =)
...Followed your link over from C5Rftw's grow, and i must say I am impressed...by both your organization in your grow and in your documentation of it, this thread looks very clean and was enjoyable to read.Furthermore i'm also doing a CFL grow with two plants using cfls right now..Even tho i'm using more lights i would still be quite happy with your yield!!
What was your start up cost for everything? (if you have it handy) Looks like you put a pretty penny into the control center and cabinet and such.
But props man, good grow!
edit: Had to add the brothers name =)