Hey all. I planted 10 Ambrosia-strain seeds exactly 3 weeks ago today, and it wasn't until the end of week 1 that I purchased and set up my 150W HPS bulb. That means that week 1 was bitch-ass sunlight from the window (made them stretch), and weeks 2+3 were under my 150W HPS kit (which made them produce leaf sets 2,3, and now 4). My problem is thus. For 3 weeks of growth, they're not very big. They're in between 5-7 inches tall now, and none of them have more than their 4th set of leaves (the first to have more than 1 finger). I'm fairly certain it's because they're in 4" pots, and I'm trying to cram all 10 of them under a light that only has a 10" opening to shine from. I've been browsing YouTube how-to videos, and I stumbled across a very interesting, cheap way of building your own CFL light setup. I spent 5+ hours walking and bussing across the city collecting the ingredients I needed, another 3 hours building the contraption, and presto. It actually works! The YouTube video I followed is right at the bottom of this post. Rather than 8x 23-watt bulbs, though, I'm running 6x 23-watt bulbs. That means there's three pairs of 100-watt equivalent lights, making for a grand total of 138W simulating 600W regular light output. I've included 3 more pictures of the contraption I've built. I didn't make the wires quite long enough, so rather than wire-nut them all together as the guy in the video did, I had to solder most of them together. This made for a little bit of mess on my carpet and a couple small burns. THE PICTURES BELOW were taken during the building process. I've since taped up the exposed wires and moved the lights away from the couch. Here's the problem. The CFL's are hot. Like...really hot. I've got my thermometer underneath them right now, and at a distance of 5" away from the surface of the bulbs, the temperature is a steady 33.5 degrees Celsius. That's a whopping 92.3 degrees F. Why are they running so hot? At that distance from my HPS bulb, I'm getting the exact same temperature! What was the point of switching to CFL bulbs if I'm going to have to keep them the same distance away? I suppose they're still getting more raw lumens of light output. But it just seems...wrong to me, somehow. Any ideas? YouTube video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIOKLJJ2BEo
138 watts is still 138watts. It means it gives off the same amount of light as 600w of incandescent lighting because incandescent gives off more heat than actual light. Its probably about equal to a 75 watt HID.
So you think my 150-watt HPS is going to be better for them than 6x23-watt CFL where each is replacing 100W incandescent?
Equivalent watts means nothing in growing, you go by actual watts. That HPS has more lumens than 6 of those CFLs but it should be harder to cool down. You need a fan blowing across the lights with how its setup and that should keep them down. I have 12 x 23w CFLs and its like 73 in my area
Your trouble is ventilation and you probably are growing in a box. Dont use a box, let the plants have some air flow.
Thanks for the replies everyone. I understand a little more now about the differences in wattage and lumens. A light in the CFL stopped working after a few days so I DEFINITELY made the switch back to the HPS. All is going good now, except I have a brown splotch on one of my prize girls Going to make a new topic if I can't find one that pertains to the current situation.