cfl vs mh for veg?

If the Lumens you stated are accurate I would stick with the CFLs. First, and most obviously, you are producing more watts and lumens. Secondly, you can get beter coverage with six CFL bulbs than you can with one MH bulb.

Good luck.

 

you want bushy lol i would keep them as close as possible just make sure its not to hot for your plant i used to just point a computer fan at each cfl then they can basically touch the plant

 

I have a 1000watt MH Mini-Sun lamp and I'm looking to switch to CFL's. Here's why:

First off, my electric bill almost doubled. I'm a cheap, cheap, dude, and I wasn't very happy with that. Besides, suddenly surging electric bills could, possibly, attract the wrong kind of attention, though that's not very likely where I live. It's just the money thing that's so annoying.

Secondly, I have a rather small apartment and the entire place feels like it's on fire all the time. It's about 30 degrees outside right now, snow on the ground and all that, yet I haven't had the heat on at all this winter. It sounds cool not to have to pay the heating bill, but I'm panicking about summertime. Something's gotta change before then, I can't run an AC in my apartment all the time. Because I am very cheap (see first paragraph.)

Third, my apartment is lit up all the time. I'm pretty sure I used the wrong wattage for my situation. Quite honestly I had never encountered a MH bulb previously and had no idea how big and hot these things are. I'm growing seven plants in a closet with a small footprint, two feet by two feet and eight feet tall. I found out later that this is a ridiculously tight space for such a huge lamp, so I have to keep the closet door open. Now, when I drive up to my apartment, I see light everywhere, even through the closed blinds and curtains! My lady and I don't even use lights in my apartment anymore; that one light from the hall closet lights up my bedroom, living room, and kitchen.

Fourthly, I can't change the wattage on my MH. After my friends had a good laugh over how silly that huge lamp was, (I found out later that a 1000 watt MH can light an entire room of plants,) I went on line to pick up one of the 400 or 600 watt bulb they sell separately. Turns out you can't do that, my ballast is for 1000 watts and that's it. So, Probenit, be more careful than I was if you go the MH route, you'll be stuck with whatever wattage you get. With CFL's you can change and adjust whatever you want whenever you want. Never underestimate the power of flexibility. I did.

Okay, I'm done bitchin about this. Truth be told, the bulb and set-up is pretty neat, quiet but effective, and my cat loves to sun herself near it. The bulb's fine, it's doing what it's supposed to do, I just really was impatient with the planning. If I knew then what I knew now I wouldn't be in this ridiculous position, but hey, maybe you can learn something from my screw up. I did!

 

The main advantage that a HID (High Intensity Discharge) Light will give you is penetration. At 100 Watts you won't be getting much of that... I would say wait until you need/want a 400W (which I have). Its good for a 4' x 5' area (mine is HPS not MH). Because you lack penetration you WANT to keep your plants as squat as possible AND you don't want to veg your plants much more than a month before throwing them into flowering. You definetly don't want trees or you'll be very disappointed in your yeild.

Hope that can help some.