Kamel's CFL Guide

[KamelRedLight]

I do. I'm a little extra paranoid. Though I doubt they'd come aknockin just for buying a light.

[Cyric99]

Hey Kamel, do you know if the temps the lights give out vary much based on the wattage? Right now I have 6 24w bulbs because those were the highest I could find locally. But I've been looking at 42w online. But I don't want to waste my money if they are going to raise my temps a lot.

You have any input on this? My current temps with 6 24w bulbs is around 78

[Cyric99]

I went to walmart today and I actually found 2 42w bulbs there. So I bought them and I checked the temp after about 3 hours of usage and it was the same as before. So I'm gonna go buy some more.

[KamelRedLight]

They put out more but not much more, as you can tell. That's why I just say get the biggest ones you can find!

[zarathustra2]

Originally Posted by KamelRedLight

I do. I'm a little extra paranoid. Though I doubt they'd come aknockin just for buying a light.

Your smart - never underestimate the lengths those losers will go to bust someone playing with a harmless plant.

Ya know, you can go to an electrical supply shop and they will special order high wattage CFL bulbs for you. Pay cash and usually there's no names invoved.

[KamelRedLight]

I don't know any electrical supply shops, but that sounds like a good idea. I gotta go check the yellow pages.

[nenu]

hey kamel i'm also on my first grow and using cfl's please have a look in the beginers forum in my thread and tell me what you think.. great thread 10 out of 10 for the info...

[prettydarndope]

Originally Posted by KamelRedLight

-There is a large difference in vegetative growth when going from soft white to daylight. Therefore I recommend you use daylight CFL's for vegging, even if you are flowering with a HPS light, because they do not stretch the plants. You don't need much light for good veg growth, especially when using 6500k CFL's. If power savings are a priority, 30w per plant can suffice to a decent size, but more is always better.

Great guide, but i have a limited budget and am not going for a very large harvest. I only am buying one kind of bulb, I can't buy daylight AND soft white. Will it be that much of a difference if i only use one kind. And if I can use only one type, which will be better to use through veg and flower?

[needabuzz2]

With a small operatiion like this how do you know you have female seeds? Is it just going to be the luck of the draw?

[SmknVTEC]

prettydarn,

IMHO since flower is the most impoprtant phase of growth, the soft white or 2700-3700k lights would be the best if you can only go with one type. Your seedlings might stretch a bit but, your prized buds will at least be exposed to the most favorable spectrum.

needabuz,

the only way you know 99% you have female seeds is to buy feminized seeds. Otherwise it is really luck of the draw. Stress may or may not lead to more males; no one really knows for sure. Just figure about 50/50 chance male/female.

[SmknVTEC]

Hey Kamel,

Congratulations!! I just did a Google search for" uvb cfl type light bulbs" and the fifth choice down was "Kamels CFL Guide". Anyone know where to get some good uvb bulbs? I found a bunch that looked like the flood light type with a filament.

[KamelRedLight]

Haha sweet! Now I'm a drug kingpin! I know Petsmart will rip you off 50 bucks for a UVB CFL. They also apparently had tubes, I think 2 footers. There are also mercury vapor UVB lights, probly the floods you saw. It seems a bunch of growers on here use the Zoomed 10.0 CFL, the one I got, so it must be a good one. Check out the pet shops, they're sold as reptile lights.

[SmknVTEC]

I know I saw that, they are very expensive. Where did you get your 10.0 cfl? I am not sure those flood lights would work. And how about the MV bulb. MV usually gets pretty hot. I imagine this MV UVB Bulb would get pretty hot too. Have you grown a crop without the UVB and a crop with the UVB bulb? Do you notice a difference in trich developement with or without the UVB Bulbs?

[KamelRedLight]

I'm in the middle of growing with UVB, and it doesn't seem to be doing much for this plant as far as trichome production. They seem denser on the buds themselves, but they aren't growing anywhere new. They also seem to be on shorter stalks, but maybe thats cuz I haven't looked at one under the microscope yet. I'm wondering if I'll tell a difference in the high, because apparently every previous crop should be inferior since UVB light is needed for full THC production, and this'll be my first plant that's seen UVB rays.

[Cyric99]

yeah I definitely noticed a difference when I had my 10.0 UVB light. You can get them off ebay.

It sucks though.. the damn thing shattered in my hand after 2 days.. cost $25 too, rather expensive.