CFL Lighting advice

"Full spectrum" is a slang term usually used interchangably with the term "cool white." I suspect those bulbs are 6400K- good for vegg but not flower. I'm assuming you're in the UK, so I don't know what kind of stuff you can get there, but I recommend GE... Philips may be an easier brand for you to get there. Read the link in my signature for more CFL info.

I found this- http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-li...?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1235054046&sr=1-10

Try to use the most light you can for 5 plants. Remember- just because you can fit them all in the cabinet without crowding the floor, doesn't mean they're all getting enough light. I'd recommend two of these huge bulbs for a grow that size. Remember- in order to get the best lighting conditions possible, you'll need to satisfy a few rules all at once:

1) No less than 3,000 Lumens/ Square foot. Measure your grow space and figure out how many lumens/square foot you'll be getting. If it's less than 3,000 Lumens/SQ foot, then add a fake wall to make your grow space smaller

2) 100Watts of actual power for the first plant, and 50Watts for each extra plant. (5 plants= 100watts for the first plant + 4plants*50Watts= 300Watts of light needed- too much for CFL imho...)

3) line the grow area with the best reflective material you can get and use as few reflectors on the bulbs as you can. Remember- light loses it's intensity the further it has to travel before it is absorbed by the plant. You'll need reflectors for the lights that you hang over the plants because you want the light to bounce right down to them without haveing to bounce off the ceiling first. As for the side lights, try to hang them inside the canopy. that way the light gets absorbed on all sides by your plants before it has to travel to a wall and bounce back onto something and get absorbed. Put your CFL in there sideways and not up and down since more light comes off the sides than off the tip.

The trouble doing this with CFL is making a decent grow space that uses less then 250Watts. 250Watts is my benchmark for changing from CFL to HID since HID over 250Watts put out way more light than CFL, but HID under 250Watts are close to the same as CFL. What you'll find out as you get into this is that you have to keep your grow area small in order to get the most lumens/Watt, but then you barely have enough space left to fit enough lights in there in order to get 100Watts for the first plant and 50Watts for every additional plant. By the time you satisfy those rules, sometimes there isn't enough space left on the floor to fit in as many plants as you'd like to.

If you want to grow with CFL that's fine. I use CFL. My advice is to grow 3 plants at a time or less. Remember- even though your 5 plants may not be putting shade on each other and blocking light; they are still sharing the available total light amongst each other. If you get greedy and stuff too many plants in there, they'll grow slowly, your yields will be smaller, and you'll get less dense buds that are really airy etc. If you grow less plants at once, your yields (per plant not overall) will improve somewhat, but the quality of your buds will be much better

 

Don't give up man! Just modify your closet or something. Empty a closet and put a horizontal shelf across the middle or something. Air circulation would be a little trouble but not huge trouble. You shouldn't worry about the bulb being bananna style or threaded style either. Can't you just get a bulb socket at the hardware store yourself and wire it in? Splice it to an extension cord and put a light timer on the end and it's all good man. Try to go for a space that's a little less than 2 foot by 2 foot at the base, and about 3.5 feet tall. Put about 175-200Watts of CFL in there and you're good to go as far as the lighting is concerned. You'll be able to grow like 2-3 plants in there. You'll grow less buds but it will be better buds because they're getting more light. You could use a do-it-yourself hydroponic system to try to compensate for this because hydro can grow as fast as half the time as soil under the correct conditions. It's basically exactly the same thing I'm doing right now minus the hydro.

Growing MJ can be as hard or easy as you want it to be. It's the quality and yield that are a pain. I've seen a thread with a plant grown to full maturity in a plastic party cup under a single household CFL. Dry yield was 2grams, but it proved it can be done. Anyone (well, almost anyone) can grow a MJ plant to maturity, it's growing awesone bud in large quantity that can be a real pain in the ass. Don't give up man, you'll figure it out. You've just gotta be willing to make a few mistakes and learn by them. I built like 3 or 4 failed cabinets before the one I have now. I made all kinds of mistakes, and probably spent some money I didn't have to along the way. The end result? After about 6 months of having the ball rolling, I'm finally starting to become very pleased with myself... It's an amazing learning experience that teaches you about so much more than plants. I learned alot about myself, and about patience and lots of stuff. I'm probably going to have to quit soon to become a truck driver, but growing as a hobby has been a fantastic experience for me. When I open the door to peek at my babies I can't help but smile no matter what...