Hello forum!! I have a few questions regarding Dual Spectrum II High Output Fluorescent Bulb Kit which I recently purchased from SHydroponics. I plan to grow one plant using 2 of these CFL bulbs. One is vegetative (blue) and the other flowering (red) spectrums, each put out 4200 lumens, for a total of 8400 lumens. I was wondering if this would be sufficient for one plant? Also what is the difference between blue and red spectrums, when it comes to CFLs? Do they sell the equivalent types of bulbs at Home Depot? Thank you!!
As for the CFL's, yes, there are red and blue bulbs. The blu bulbs will be daylight and be either 5700k or 6500k, and the soft white lights will be red and be 2700-3000k. You should pick a few up, maybe 4 or 5 (they are pretty cheap), it will really help out.
Hi, Thank you for responding! I see, that makes sense. Generally, what is the highest wattages for CFLs that places like Home Depot carries? The ones I got from Stealth are 85 watters. I'm thinking if I need more light, I will add some smaller CFLs as well. In general, do you use both blue and red spectrum for vegetative and flowering stages? That is what they recommend with the Dual Spectrum IIs. Only difference is they recommend longer cycles in the vegetative stage (18hrs) and shorter for the flowering (12hrs). Also I was wondering, what does the (k) in 5700k stand for, concerning the spectrums? Thanks a bunch!
you want to have 12/12 for flowering because the axons (hormones) in the MJ plant respond to that light cycle because they think it is fall (the end of breeding time) and need to make more pistils (which are located on the buds) grow thus more bud growing and use more light from the 2700k (soft white) spectrum during this time. K stands for kelvin, which is a unit of temperature other than farenhieight or celcius. 0 degrees kelvin means there is no atomic movement whatsodver, the coldest you can possibly go (which has never been replicated on earth, only in outer space) the speed of atomic movement (kelvin) of a light wave denotes its wavelength, which has seven primary colors (ROY G. BIV from highschool science class) the plant utilizes mostly blue spectrum during photosynthesis during the vegetative state, and mostly red spectrum during its flowering stage (when its making bud!!!) thats why you want cloesr to 6500 k during veg (it mimics the summer sun) and closer to 2700K during flowering (because it mimics the autumnal sun) however, having SOME of the other spectrum will typically increase yield and shorten flowering time. I hope this answered your question, im mad blazed right now so im not even sure... good luck!
hey i think i can help you out here man i bought the same bulbs from stealth hydro and i used 2 blue 65k for veg with a couple of daylight cfls from homedepot 55k(the more light the better) and it worked great just be sure to keep them close to the plant.they do give off a decent amout of heat but if you have a fan blowing on them you will be fine i have mine right inbetween my plant and the soil to get those branches on the bottom and the red spectrum is also good and i bought a couple of soft white cfls from home depot for the flowering stage and she gave me a decient harvest i mean not as much as a hps or mh would.. edit: this was also for one plant
Yes, that was what I had been planning to do. Use the bulbs from SHydro along with some homedepot CFLs. Unfortunately I just received the Shydro bulbs today, and found out that they broke in shipping! I'm so shocked and sad. I was looking foward to using them right away, but now I can't. Is it a common problem that CFL bulbs break through shipment. I don't know what to do at this point. *cry*
i honestly have no idea if that is a common problem b/c the ones i ordered came in a box that was packed up so good that if they broke they would of had to of been broken b4 they went into the box but the only thing u can do at this point is send them an email saying that u received ur lights broken and they should send u out a new pair and see if you can have them over night them or atleast 3 day air them. tell them that your garden cannot wait for the extra days maybe that will work so u can get ur real grow on quicker insted of waiting another week or so lol
Thank you for the explanation man. I think I getting a better understanding of the spectrum differences and how it affects the stages of growth. I think it's great that so many people are successful in growing with CFLs as a simple alternative to the other high output lights, especially for small amounts.
Yes, I will have to contact them today. I don't know what their policy is about damaged bulbs. I'm kind of worried now about trying to order these bulbs and shipment. I'm thinking maybe I should just get smaller bulbs from homedepot or something. It sucks that there are no local places that I know of that carry 85 watt CFLs.
I know this post is a bit old but oh well. I'm probably gonna be buying this set up and I found on Home Depots website a replacement 85w bulb.. http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...Id=10053&productId=100405568&N=10000003+90186 Found the same for 65w and 42w bulbs, even a 100w.. they just look different but still have a 6500 Kelvin rating so there still good. Even though they look different they should be just the same, and there even cheaper. I only really want the set up for my veg. cabinet.. the reflectors are just perfect for my area, too bad I can't get 2 veg. bulbs instead. I'm probably going to just get this one: http://www.stealthhydroponics.com/p...ec=3&jssCart=4153bd839b493ce59b3c273d84c6d9ff After reading about all 3 I realized that the 65w ones reflector is only 8.5" wide and this ones is 9" wide even though its a 42w (I assume its 42w anyway). I can always buy the other bulbs from home depot when I want to upgrade, plus this one is 15 bucks cheaper anyways. I think the one you got is 12" wide and that might be a bit big for my 15" deep cabinet.
Hey dude! That's cool that your HomeDepot sells 85 watters!! The one near me only sells 42 watts as it's highest. I think the smaller ballasts will be fine. In fact you could probably put higher wattages in the smaller ones as well. The ones I got are pretty big, so yeah, it can get bulky if you want to put smaller lights in them, or you don't have much space. I recently put a 42 watt bulb in my Dual Spec II ballast, and it is a bit awkward. So I think the size you get would be a good in-between size, if you are planning to use both small and large light bulbs. peace.