would it be ok for me to veg with 5500k bulbs instead of 6500k? For that matter what would happen if i threw my plants into 12/12 under high kelvin bulbs.

I'm only an average cfl grower lol, but from my experiences, i believe that high kelvin bulbs can be used for flowering 12/12. It was so bad for me at one time i had only a 14 watt cool white cfl and that was all. i saw the hairs raise towards the light tho..

You can grow under 5500k, but anytime you're not using the optimum spectrum you might need more light to compensate.

With flowering, the only thing which dictates whether or not a plant flowers is darkness. You can flower under 6500k lights, but more red light encourages more bud growth. Some people say metal halide lights, which are much more blue, creates denser, more potent buds.

5300k - 6500k is good for veg (5300k full spectrum).

2700k for flowering

I personally wouldn't flower under 5k-6.5k lights, thats a lot of time for loss of yields. People who use 400 and up MH to flower can do so and get good yields because the light penetration is so much greater than CFL's not to mention the increase in lumen's per sq ft. If you ever do go HID get a digital ballast and a son agro or same type bulb. They emit HPS & MH spectrum light, now those can grow some fatties

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