I'm in my 5th week of flowering using 2 450w leds (400 total true watts) I was thinking about adding another 150watts worth of cfls. Is there any benefits of this, this late in flowering? Thanks
Folks need to know more. Are you growing 75 plants under those 400w of light? (how many plants, what size). How are they doing right now? (probably the most important to know, post good pics). Short answer is "yes, there is a benefit to adding light usually". Though you may not need more, we can't tell until we see the above info.
1 plant and I'm in a 3x3 closet and it's healthy. I was just wondering if I can get more out of the plant with the added watts.
I don't think anyone can give you a cut and dried answer on this. I've never seen a way to calculate the amount of watts of light a plant of a given mass/size can use but if you're filling out your 3x3 tent, I think 2 or 4 edges could likely benefit from more light. I flower in a 5x5 tent, scrog method filling the area, Mars II 1600 in the center (~725w), and 4' 2 tube T5's around the perimeter. I added the T5s after the first grow to help the outer 1/2 ft and I don't think that they help a whole lot. At least not enough to justify the ~$263 cost. If I were in your shoes, I'd save up for another 2 of the same LED fixtures (if you're happy with them) and have 1 in each quadrant for maximum coverage. That'd probably only be worth while if you scrog. If you do add CFLs, keep them close to the plant.
So I went ahead and bought 8 23w cfls. Should I keep the LEDs side by side and in the center of the plant and have 4 CFLs on each side of the plant?
Well I'd take in to account that your temps are already boarder line hot... U add 8 cfls and just closely monitor your temps. And yes, when I did use the clfs they were for side lighting, I'd get them as close to my buds/sites as possible without burning them. Sometimes I'd have to remove a fan lead to accomplish this, and one or two shouldn't hurt every now and then. I managed to get a qp that time around from one plant in dwc. Go for it just monitor temps.
Nooo. You're blocking your more powerful lights with your less powerful lights. Rig up a stand or hang them on the sides so they don't block your LED light but still contribute to the areas that aren't most lit up from the LEDs.
Agreed... Side lighting is generally for the under carriage. Bring them out on to the outside borders of your plants and lower so it lights up what the LEDs are not getting to. Your LED lights can only penetrate so much canopy. The cfls are to cover what the LEDs miss. And yes it's a very bad idea to put anything between your plants and your most powerful light. Even clear glass will diminish the lumens, to a certain point. But your completely blocking them.
Lol that's your decision, if it were up to me I'd use them... To start a few new seedlings. Honestly you've amassed a superb amount of weed for a beginner. Can't expect much more from those little cfls. Use them for the next batch.
Yea, it's my first grow. I did a lot of reasearch I just wanted to maximize my yield, bc where I live you can go prison for a long time for cultivating.
Same rules here, different terms. If I grow six of them I'm good, if I grow seven then I'm border line felonious. Lol fuck the law, slavery, apartheid, the holocaust, all legal when they did it... Hell, when they crucified The Christ, that was legal! So I don't follow laws, I just do my best to go around them lol You did a really good job tho, especially for a first timer. A lot of first timers are really terrible. It's refreshing to see a first timer take the art so seriously. Kudos to you!
I've done both, it's really a personal preference but I like to trim while still wet but I also flush thoroughly using florakleen and water for about a week or two.