Kamel's CFL Guide

[gspedc33]

Originally Posted by Dbora

New to this forum/growing,never used any board before so not sure how to post, hopefully "reply" is OK to use when requesting advice, if not please direct me.
I have one jack the ripper/c-99 plant (so I am told) I grew her from seed and she has been through some stress,I think she is doing well considering BUT with little funds to work with only recently bought FF tiger and grow, she was planted 8/31 in FF ocean forest, experimented a little with a manure tea for nutrition but stopped as I am just guessing. Will start at where I am now instead of writing all the specifics unless that would be helpful.. As of 10/31 she was under 2/48 in 32w Phillips day deluxe T8 F.tubes 2800 Lum/6500K with shop reflector. 3/100w equivalent (120v,23w,2700k) ecosmart soft white CFL screw in @ 1600 Lum ea.only understood "equivalent" recently so hope what I have is OK. Had foil up,took down as she is in a white closet. First FF nutes added 11/19 4am I used full strength grow 1 tsp to 1 gal but should probably decrease to half strength,also turned off the 3 100w.cfl fearing to much light so she is only under tube lights. My girl (such a fighter) is 26 inches tall,space is apx. 195 sq.feet,temps range from 75-80,hum.50-60% live alone with lots of space so I keep the bedroom door to her closet room open,circulation should be good. I fear she needs to flower soon and feel confused about lighting her for that stage since there is an abundance of info out there, eventually I will get G.greens book but cannot at this time.
My main question is can I flower her without a hps or mh bulbs, H.depot has them but no ballasts to go with them and I do not quite understand electricity issues and fear burning my house down. Can i use screw in cfl's maybe even what I have to flower her or what would you recommend and when since she only recently had grow nutes and is almost 3months old. Hopefully I made some sense, communicating face to face is easier for me LOL Attached pics of her BEFORE light change she is only under tubes at this time, did I do the right thing by turning off other cfl's? Forget the pics attachment will not drop down and insert image asks for http, pics are on desktop. UGG-maybe I just have no clue how to insert pics *sigh* Please help!! This is giving me a migraine LOL BTW 18/6 cycle. snapped top off, put honey on end and stuck in ff soil, she is alive and well so far.

You can certainly use CFL's to flower, just make sure you switch to a more soft white spectrum. Leave one or two daylight bulbs is ok, however, the lighting should be dominantly soft white / 2700K. Good luck. PPP!

[gspedc33]

Everybody please check my videos on youtube. the link is in my signature. I have come a long way and I need some opinions from other dedicated CFL growers. PPP!

[Dbora]

Originally Posted by gspedc33

You can certainly use CFL's to flower, just make sure you switch to a more soft white spectrum. Leave one or two daylight bulbs is ok, however, the lighting should be dominantly soft white / 2700K. Good luck. PPP!

Thank you for replying. I have taken away the 4/23watt soft white 2700K 1600L screw in cfl's in fear of burning plant,left is 2/t8 daylight 2800L 6500K on 18/6 cycle. on 11/30 she is 3mths old with only 1week of foxfarm grow for nutes. Should I go ahead on the 30th and set to flower with tiger bloom or wait till she has been on the grow nutes longer? If I add back in the 4/23watt soft white 2700K 1600L screw in cfl's with her current light(t8) can I flower or do I need more? Pics in gallery cannot figure postng them yet. I sincerely appreciate any advice. Anxious about veging to long

[newgrowNY]

This thread was a big help on my first grow.... I now flower with HPS but I think you can't beat a good CFL veg, keeps 'em nice and bushy. You can get really nice buds flowering under CFL, but better for only 2 or 3 plants... and you need to spoil them with 2700k bulbs... I pulled 6oz off 2 plants, but under 504w.

Here's what 504w of 6500k CFL's can do.... in veg

[newgrowNY]

My vegging CFL fixture

6 bulb vanity fixture $20 , Y splitters and 12x42w (504w) mounted to a 1x3

cheap, simple and effective

[teppy1954]

I have been using CFL's since I started my first grow in an Aerogarden 3 years ago. I have steadily increased the number of CFL's from the two in the AG up to 10 x 2700k now with a folding mirror standing behind the lights and reflecting it back on the plants. The results have been spectacular. My last grow was 3 Jorge's diamonds feminized. (Given that I have a small closet losing everything when the plants sex and turn out to be males just bummed me near to death). To say the least, the Jorges put me on my ass in 2 tokes.

I have been adapting and re-adapting. The last grow yielded 8 oz dry bud (strictly bud)no leaf, no shake (all that was saved to make honey oil). More light, more bud. The original Aerogarden tank was ditched when I customized a 10 gallon tank to the AG holders, and replaced the weak pump with a proper pump and aerater pump.

Current grow-3 beautiful Lolife Automatic AK-47's. Expected yield-4-5 oz dry bud. Grow time 60 days plus 15 veg days. I cant wait.

[otracerveza]

Love what yer doin here, Kamel. I've been looking at these threads for cfl brands that I'm familiar with and haven't seen 'em. I worked at two sustainable goods/supplies/solar powered hippie-dippy outlets as a buyer, did a lot of research for products & whatnot, and found that some brands were definitely better than others. Bought 'em all, actually, every brand, and since my main guy personally guaranteed the bulbs he sold for the 10,000 rated hours listed on the warrantee, I think I can say that I know what I'm talking about when it comes to product life.

EnergyFederation.org sells Harmony/LightWiz and MaxLight products that I have yet to see on anyone's list, ditto RealGoods.com. I bought these for both stock and for my own personal use in 2006 (mostly Harmonys, coupla Greenlites); everyone of which is still working, even though I have an 18-year-old son who has yet to turn off a light without being asked (who is a standup guy in all other respects, a genius, a gentleman, a chip off the ol' buffalo).

The prices are at least comparable to the Phillips and GE bulbs, both of which quickly became return problems for the stores I was buying for. And they are often cheaper. I personally like TCP bulbs (which is good, because they make the odor eliminating bulbs that people in these parts seem to like), but my wholesale contact at EF is sorta lukewarm on 'em, and he sells millions of bulbs every year. I don't recall seeing any returns on those, though, but I thought I should say that.

Anyway, I'm a little concerned by this big-ticket mentality ("I went to Home Depot and...") and the concomitant lack of curiousity about quality and durability I see here. Your local "green" stores sell those Harmony, Greenlite, MaxLite and LightWiz products exclusively -- and I guaran-God-damn-tee you that they'll outlast and outperform anything bought off the shelf at Lowes or Home Depot.

Thanks for your patience; I do go on.

[Buns.]

yo KAM very good simple info for all of us newbs i only have one question..on your pics of your setup (i love by the way) have you thought about cutting some cardboard and throwing some mylar on it to go around your kids? then absolutly no light is wasted. jus a thought. you got some dope shiz to mang

[green.man.420]

i have a question.. if i had 500 watts of cfl's and florescent bulbs.
127w of florescent tube lighting. (mixed spectrum : plant, 42k, 55k, 27k)
184w's cfl 23wx8(27k)
208w's cfl 26wx8(55k)

519 total watts

if i grew 7 plants till i found out which were females.. say i got 4-5 females and grew them LST, and topped them, how much you think i could harvest off of them??? any help would be great. i have a couple postings in this section with pics of my babies.

[clos3tgrow3r]

Im about to expand my setup into a 2 part grow with hps in one room for flower and florescent tubes in another for veg. I am looking at a fl light fixture that holds three bulbs and am gonna buy (i was thinking 2 daylight 6500k and one wide spectrum) what do you think? Also are the tubes better/worse/the same as cfl's. I have a long and narrow room 5' long 20" wide. Thanx

Clos3tgrow3r

[Buns.]

copied your veg fixture.. works lik a champ.

[DannyDuhzet]

Good Morning yall!! Been up all night "studying" hehe.. So im a little confused.. hopefully i can get some help.. So I have an 800 watt HPS setup which ive used for veg/flower in the past.. I would like to veg in the right spectrum of light, and ive heard it makes a hell of a difference.. I came across a few posts about using an MH bulb with my HPS ballast, if i disconnected the ignitor part of the ballast.. that shit seems too complicated, and i dont want to fuck my equipment that ive invested alot of money on,up.. plus i would probably burn a few bulbs in the process.. and HID bulbs aint cheap! so here i am, with the CFL gang.. Im doing 15 plants using the SOG method.. I would like to get some CFL's in conjuction with my HPS lights for the veg cycle.. So without getting to into detail with what i know and read tonight.. id like to know what u CFL guys/gals would recommend for me to do.. as far as what i dont get is the whole actaul wattage to the incadescent wattage.. what exactly do i need to get? ive read that some of you got lights from walmart for 11 bucks and are using clamp lights or something..ionno im hella sleepy..i know i need to get them as daylight in the 6500k cool bulbs (blue) but as far as the number of wattages im clueless.. can someone please point me in the right direction? how many CFL would i need to use? what do i look for as far the wattage? brands? serial number maybe? i would like them to be the kind i can screw in without having to re wire anything.. haha oh and cheap.. the grow starts in 2 weeks and i just spent most my money getting it going.. if not i can always just do what i have been doing.. but some help would be verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry much appreciated... what should i get and how much would it cost.. remember i am using the HPS and CFL at the same time so i might not need alot..but im not sure.. thats why im here.. goodnight evryone im spent..

[wildcheese]

Originally Posted by gspedc33

Everybody please check my videos on youtube. the link is in my signature. I have come a long way and I need some opinions from other dedicated CFL growers. PPP!

Wow it's great. But why do you use so many CFL ? I am currently growing 2 female white widow with only 3 cfl (had only 2 at the beginning). It's a so simple setup, very cheap and I didn't even see a difference on the electricity bill. Here take a look at my setup.

I would say 1 CFL of 2000 lumens / plant is enough. And maybe put a lower one if the bottom leaves don't have enough light.

Seriously, I maybe spent 50$ for this setup. And my white widow plants are very healthy and high ! Very satisfied

[Petho1]

You call that doing great! Those are so small. lol. Sorry but mine are huge giants compared to those. Get more light.

[newgrowNY]

Originally Posted by wildcheese

Wow it's great. But why do you use so many CFL ? I am currently growing 2 female white widow with only 3 cfl (had only 2 at the beginning). It's a so simple setup, very cheap and I didn't even see a difference on the electricity bill. Here take a look at my setup.

I would say 1 CFL of 2000 lumens / plant is enough. And maybe put a lower one if the bottom leaves don't have enough light.

Seriously, I maybe spent 50$ for this setup. And my white widow plants are very healthy and high ! Very satisfied

It all depends on your expectations of yield... your plants look healthy but your yield will be limited with that amount of light. 50 dollars on your setup will probably yield you about double that in yield.. add more CFLs during veg and flower and a small investment can pay off much bigger. I've yielded just shy of 4oz on one plant with CFLs.

My first closet CFL grow I spent maybe 150 on the high side and yielded 7oz... so to me thats 7x200/z ... so about 150 spent and about 1400 in stash, not a bad ratio in my book