Quote:
Originally Posted by FirstTimeGrow
Most of the time people are referring to the real wattage, not the incandescent equivalent.
2 to 200 Watt CFL
Here is a site where you can order CFLs up to 105watts, equivalent to a 500w incandescent. I have never ordered from here or anything, this is just more to give you an idea that there are high wattage CFLs out there.
The highest I am able to find at any stores is 42watts, but higher wattages can be purchased all over the internet. I think that this is because CFLs aren't as well known and familiar as incandescents, and I don't think people have any use for a 400w or 500w incandescent equivalent (other than growing dankness).
Make sure you look at the color of the light (measured in degrees Kelvin). For vegetative stages you want daylight (6500k or 6000K) and for flowering you want softer light (2700k or 3000k). The light color will be on the package somewhere or on the ballast of the bulb, and sometimes I can't find it at all, lol.
Hope this helps, good luck. |
Thanks FirstTimeGrow that's helpful info. I've been coming round to the idea of using cfl's for flowering, as some other growers on here do already. The benefits include the fact that the cfl's are cheaper to run. And amount of light doesn't appear to be a prob with wattages uo to 200 available (presuming I can buy those in my country). check out this guys cfl grow:
UPDATE: CFL 46 days Flower (bagseed) Impressive yeah?
However I'm thinking that price could be a prob. I don't know what a 85 watt or 105 watt would cost me here, but I found 40 watt cfl's and they were a huge 40 euros each! If I buy just 2 of these that's 80 euros which is crazy because I can buy a 400 watt HPS with reflector and transformer for 95 euros.
I checked out the 25 watt cfl's that I'm using on my seedlings but unfortunately can't find the kelvin number. They look pretty bright and white so I'm presuming they are daylight.