CFL Q's?

Discussion in 'Lighting' started by stunnakush, Jan 26, 2011.

  1. i hav many 20W CFL's and wonderin if they wud work 2 grow?
     
  2. try to get at least 1500 lumens per plant, anything past that is a bonus. buy the highest watt bulbs u can. and remember, daylight bulbs for veg, soft white fof flower
     

  3. oh ight, thxzz. u got any growin urself?
     
  4. Short answer is yes, they will work.

    I believe the most efficient lumen/watt ratio are the 20 - 26 watt CFLs. They usually kick out a minimum of 1500 lumens for 6500k (Blue for vegetative growth), and up to 1720 lumens for 2700k (Red for blooming).

    New seedlings, I'd recommend a 6-8" distance from the lights, once the plants are sturdy enough, keep the lights as close as you can without burning the leaves (2" is suffice).

    Vegetative stage and beyond, use as many lights as you can. Your limitations are usually heat & space.

    :smoke:
     

  5. oh ohk this is rlly helpful thankk uu very muchh!!
     
  6. hey stunna, i just started an indoor grow yesterday and i am using, (2) 26w, (1) 13w, and (1) 20w CFL. they are working fine for my non weed plants and when the weed sprouts i will begin a journal. So to answer your question. Yes they work fine. i would say 4 per plant is good.
     

  7. oh, ohk well tht sounds guud
     
  8. not right now but ive done a few cfl grows. it gets the job done, ive gotten great results with 4-6 150w equivalent soft white cfls per plant in flower. i wanna say a 26w cfl puts off about 700 lumens depending on the brand. just check the packaging.

    cfls work good, your yield just wont be that great because the lumens dramatically decrease only a few inches away from the light, so basically youll get a great canopy and a bunch of popcorn buds.
     
  9. do some research bubba. Get the bigger 42w CFL's that put out 150w total. 2750 lumens ea. 3-4 inches above the plants, some on the sides, but make sure NOT TO touch the leaves AT ALL, or they will burn asap! your 20w CFL's won't do it.
     

  10. ohh ight well at least it does tha job
     

  11. ohk so just some high wattage CFL's
     
  12. if ur gonna do cfls. use splitters, a great way to maximize your lighting at low cost. just check the max wattage of your socket. i ran 4 100w equivelants cfls on each socket and 4 150w for each socket durring flower. another thing to keep in mind is that the 100w's were about a dollar each whereas the 150w's were about $9 each. so if u have enough sockets and splitters and limitted funds i say just stick with the cheap bulbs

    u can get splitters for less than $2 a piece
     
  13. also u'll want to use at least about 100 actual watts per plant, so for the 20-26w you'd probably want 4-5 per plant.... and yeah use as many lights as u can fit in ur space, it will only help....
     

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