Buds for Less ? Exception or rule ?

[cjj]

Ive asked around in IRC and the people ive talked to are skeptical stating that its more of the exception than the rule to get that amount from cfls. Ide like to know your personal experiences with similar setups. Im looking to just have a small grow area for now while I work some stuff out (I have a 400w hps enf etc but I dont have time to set it up as ide have to do some rewiring of my house so please dont make any suggestions having to do with a larger light). Is this the exception rather than the rule ? Should I expect less than half the harvest from a similar setup ? Have there been many easy modifications to this technique that dont involve adding more lights?

Please do not turn this into a hps vs cfl thread. The people I bought my home from made some serious wiring issues for me and I do not have the time to rewire it nor do I want to do it in this extreme heat. Come fall I will rewire and setup everything else.

 

[stupidclown]

not sure on the cfls mine didn't do well. i got a ufo and am doing better with less watts. im trying these as side projects but so far one plant under a ufo is as good as anything ive done indoor or out

 

[Benelli]

I got 3 oz dry from my first time growing with cfls. I am on my 2nd grow with sour diesel and it is budding fantastic right now. I have a total of 12 cfls. All 23 & 26 watters. 8 2700k's and 4 6500k

 

[darkdestruction420]

Should I expect less than half the harvest from a similar setup ?
whats a similar setup? do you mean compared to an hps setup? i thought we werent going to make this into a cfl vs. hps thing.......
if you mean with cfls your question is confusing, if you copy a cfl grow its not gonna make the harvest less than the original you copied from.

 

[growingforfun]

liek we told you in chat cfls make for more "airy" buds. they will grow weed just not as well as other lights. you can still expest around .5 g per watt tho but you most likly wont get into the 1 g/ watt range. that guy that got 3 oz dry was running about 300 ish watts. that would be about .3 g per watt. you really jsut get what you pay for

 

[dormeo]

People can gan get great results even with low watt CFLs - click here
It's really more about the technique (LST,ScrOG,SOG etc) and the reflectors.

 

[cjj]

This is all in comparison to the book "Buds for Less" if you havnt read this book or arnt very familiar with it dont respond. This is a specific cfl setup https://www.rollitup.org/cfl-growing/40884-buds-less-cfl-book.html

 

[Fisherman Pete]

so basically you want to know whether without much knowledge or experience you can get the same as what is most likely going to be a highly professional grow grown by someone with years of experience who has every little thing dialed in?

 

[cjj]

so basically you want to know whether without much knowledge or experience you can get the same as what is most likely going to be a highly professional grow grown by someone with years of experience who has every little thing dialed in?

What im asking is if following the guys book laid out step by step and followed to the letter (maybe 2 more 23w cfls and some co2) if someone can get comparable results or was his grow the exception rather than the rule with that setup. It isnt hard to follow the guy lays it out pretty well.

 

[darkdestruction420]

Of course you'll get similar results if you copy a successful grow and do it correctly like the original did. Youve got a good strategy, go for it.

 

[rombomb420]

liek we told you in chat cfls make for more "airy" buds. they will grow weed just not as well as other lights. you can still expest around .5 g per watt tho but you most likly wont get into the 1 g/ watt range. that guy that got 3 oz dry was running about 300 ish watts. that would be about .3 g per watt. you really jsut get what you pay for

It was still only one plant though, & 3+ oz from one plant is pretty good even with HPS much less CFL.

 

[rombomb420]

I think the best question would be how much space are you looking to fill & how many plants are you growing? CFL's are great for veg but not as good for flowering. They will flower your buds, but like one of the previous posters said, they don't get as dense as they would from using an HPS.

Can I ask you what the hell is wrong with your wiring in your house that you can't run an HPS light? You don't need to switch over to 220 volts. You simply need a 120 volt ballast for your HPS lamp. Then you could run it off of any outlet the same you would with your CFL's.

CFL's have to be run as close to the plant as possible. HPS penetrates the canopy much better, so it's a better light for flowering or for larger areas. I plan on switching to one at some point & my plants have loved the 342 watts of CFL they have gotten in veg so far. & I have 20 of them. Sorry for turning it into hps vs cfl but there's really no way around it when you start a thread the way you did.

 

[sonar]

Hey buddy, expanding on what someone else said, I'm not sure what kind of problems you are having with your house wiring that you are worried about a few hundred watts. But it's wise of you not to be overloading it when you know the wiring might not be sound. If you are skilled and knowledgeable enough about electricity, I'm sure you know that even 400w isn't really that much. Your average toaster runs at about 1200w. Then again, you don't run your toaster for 18 hours a day. Watts are watts though, whether it is 400w hps or 400w of cfl. I'm sure you know that, but the point I'm trying to make is that if you go with the setup in the book, about 336w by my calculation, it's not going to be that much less than your 400w hps. BTW I'm an electrician so if you need any advice shoot me a PM.

That being said, I have this book and read it from cover to cover and find it a little hard to believe this guy yielded 13 oz ( 3 oz from one plant, 5 oz each from two other) with 336w of CFL (8x42w). I'm no pro, but I've vegged with both T8 fluoros and 6500K CFLs and have never seen the amount of growth he is reporting in the time periods he is listing. For example, if you take the 2 week period of day 11 to day 25, that amount of growth he is showing is incredible. Either I'm the worst grower in the world or he is a genius. Don't get me wrong, I like the book, especially his DIY light strip, but I don't think I totally buy it. I've followed 400w mh/hps 3 plant grows by fairly experienced growers that didn't even yield that much.

 

[rombomb420]

Hey buddy, expanding on what someone else said, I'm not sure what kind of problems you are having with your house wiring that you are worried about a few hundred watts. But it's wise of you not to be overloading it when you know the wiring might not be sound. If you are skilled and knowledgeable enough about electricity, I'm sure you know that even 400w isn't really that much. Your average toaster runs at about 1200w. Then again, you don't run your toaster for 18 hours a day. Watts are watts though, whether it is 400w hps or 400w of cfl. I'm sure you know that, but the point I'm trying to make is that if you go with the setup in the book, about 336w by my calculation, it's not going to be that much less than your 400w hps. BTW I'm an electrician so if you need any advice shoot me a PM.

That being said, I have this book and read it from cover to cover and find it a little hard to believe this guy yielded 13 oz ( 3 oz from one plant, 5 oz each from two other) with 336w of CFL (8x42w). I'm no pro, but I've vegged with both T8 fluoros and 6500K CFLs and have never seen the amount of growth he is reporting in the time periods he is listing. For example, if you take the 2 week period of day 11 to day 25, that amount of growth he is showing is incredible. Either I'm the worst grower in the world or he is a genius. Don't get me wrong, I like the book, especially his DIY light strip, but I don't think I totally buy it. I've followed 400w mh/hps 3 plant grows by fairly experienced growers that didn't even yield that much.

Not sure what you were referencing but if you look at chb444220's white widow grow he has gotten over 3 oz's per plant on 2 separate tries. I think it's possible if you use your lighting correctly. I know I haven't, some of my plants are a little stretchy.

 

[cjj]

About my wiring its 14 wire in 3 rooms on 1 circuit. 2 bedrooms and a family room so the circuit has 2 acs 3 rooms worth of lighting/receptacals a computer and w/e else is plugged in and its on a 15amp breaker now believe it or not this all runs smoothly until the 2 acs and the hps are on then it trips the breaker. Now before any of you say anything about me spending the time/money to rewire im not gonna do it mid summer I dont have the patients etc to do it and im not running a cord from anywhere putting holes in my wall w/e. I smoke roughly 1 oz a month so as long as im clearing that with this "Buds for Less" guide then im content.

Now Sonar as for the book he actually used 23w bulbs I believe although one of them does look like a 60 or something else.

 

[rombomb420]

About my wiring its 14 wire in 3 rooms on 1 circuit. 2 bedrooms and a family room so the circuit has 2 acs 3 rooms worth of lighting/receptacals a computer and w/e else is plugged in and its on a 15amp breaker now believe it or not this all runs smoothly until the 2 acs and the hps are on then it trips the breaker. Now before any of you say anything about me spending the time/money to rewire im not gonna do it mid summer I dont have the patients etc to do it and im not running a cord from anywhere putting holes in my wall w/e. I smoke roughly 1 oz a month so as long as im clearing that with this "Buds for Less" guide then im content.

Now Sonar as for the book he actually used 23w bulbs I believe although one of them does look like a 60 or something else.

If you wanna get 1 oz/month I think that's pretty realistic until you are ready to rewire your chit. I would recommend a 60 day 12/12 grow from seed with 6-8 2700k 42 watt cfl's. You can find them at target, lowe's & probably other places. Run them in a 4 sq ft area & you should be good on tripping your breaker. 1-2 plants should be able to pull you 3-4 oz's, which would put you at about .5 gram/watt.

 

[cjj]

If you wanna get 1 oz/month I think that's pretty realistic until you are ready to rewire your chit. I would recommend a 60 day 12/12 grow from seed with 6-8 2700k 42 watt cfl's. You can find them at target, lowe's & probably other places. Run them in a 4 sq ft area & you should be good on tripping your breaker. 1-2 plants should be able to pull you 3-4 oz's, which would put you at about .5 gram/watt.

Yeah im catching a bit of flak for doing the cfl thing especially since I have a 400w hps but its only personal smoke so I dont need any more. Now this fall or late summer when I rewire (which I have to do growing or not) ill be using hps .

Ive got 9x 23 lights with a reflector and ill be doing some home made co2 so ide imagine the .5g per watt goal is reasonable if I got lucky and got 4+ozs that would be swell too

 

[topspin]

I think the lighting is fine, I would run from the MG and get FF soil. I used a T5 just over 200W for an oz. of the best bud I've had.

 

[sheapdog420]

About my wiring its 14 wire in 3 rooms on 1 circuit. 2 bedrooms and a family room so the circuit has 2 acs 3 rooms worth of lighting/receptacals a computer and w/e else is plugged in and its on a 15amp breaker now believe it or not this all runs smoothly until the 2 acs and the hps are on then it trips the breaker. Now before any of you say anything about me spending the time/money to rewire im not gonna do it mid summer I dont have the patients etc to do it and im not running a cord from anywhere putting holes in my wall w/e. I smoke roughly 1 oz a month so as long as im clearing that with this "Buds for Less" guide then im content.

Now Sonar as for the book he actually used 23w bulbs I believe although one of them does look like a 60 or something else.

don't mean to hijack your thread, but my home is very similar. I have my kitchen and all lights and appliances, my living room with all the lights and tv on one 15 amp circuit. I understand electricity, but it scares the hell out of me. Even when the circuit breaker is off and I tested the wires, I still get the shakes and sweats. My brother just rewired his whole house and said he was gonnna help me, but he's so flakey I'm not counting on him. Its gonna take a case of beer to get him out there to do it. Damn now I'll have to drink with him. (heavy sarcasm) Best of luck with your grow, I'm also gonna be doing CFL's so I'll keep checking for updates with your grow..

 

[GanjaFresh]

CFLS are GREAT. I cant stress how much I've used them over time and the results are amazing. But people dont undestand CFL's arent for growing 50 plants, there for growing small quantities. However, if your small time then CFLs are PERFECT.