200 real watts to play with. advice for cfl grow

Hi, I have an indica 3 weeks into veg,I'm looking for the best possible results I can get from 200watts. Currently I have 9 CFLs. In veg I'm using 9 23watt 1600lumen 6500k CFLs mounted inside an aluminum lamp clamp.

For flowering I plan to use 1 63watt 2700k and 8 23watt 2700k. So around 230watts (17,000+ lumens) Any advice?


light penetration shot


got a total of 8 CFL's for veg 8x23watt 6500k 1650 lumens each. only 8 are on right now, the 68watt cfl (300equiv) is a 2700k bulb and my plant has not shown her sex yet. also have 4 2700k 1650 lumen cfls for flowering (1x2700k 68w 4x2700k 23w & 4x6500k 23w)



they are as close as i can get them without any heat stress. this is a 2x8x10 closet with a recirculating fan and a 120mm 12v fan for a 3ft exhaust duct and 120mm 12v fan for a 3ft intake duct. with the lights are on, the closet is open for good air circulation. at night with the lights off im not so sure if that intake\exhaust fan is taking in enough fresh air overnight. the temps dropped from 73f to 65f at night since i did the fan ducts.

I've found that using the smaller 23w bulbs works better than using the big bulbs.. You get more lumens per watt with the 23w bulbs, and you can spread them out to get better light coverage.. The light intensity from CFL bulbs fades greatly at short distances, so it's better to put more bulbs closer to the plant than fewer bulbs further away.. I mount two lights horizontally above my plant, and then I hang bulbs down vertically, one for each top.. Make sure you have plenty of airflow blowing over your plant to keep it cool, and you'll want to use an exhaust fan to force the hot air out if you're growing in a small space.. Try to keep your plant as short as possible because CFLs don't penetrate well.. I use mainlining and lst to keep my plants low and spread out, that allows me to place the light bulbs right between the tops.. That's what seems to work best for me anyway, you'll have to play around some and figure out what works best for you.. Good Luck man..

KnowledgeNeeder said:

I've found that using the smaller 23w bulbs works better than using the big bulbs.. You get more lumens per watt with the 23w bulbs, and you can spread them out to get better light coverage.. The light intensity from CFL bulbs fades greatly at short distances, so it's better to put more bulbs closer to the plant than fewer bulbs further away.. I mount two lights horizontally above my plant, and then I hang bulbs down vertically, one for each top.. Make sure you have plenty of airflow blowing over your plant to keep it cool, and you'll want to use an exhaust fan to force the hot air out if you're growing in a small space.. Try to keep your plant as short as possible because CFLs don't penetrate well.. I use mainlining and lst to keep my plants low and spread out, that allows me to place the light bulbs right between the tops.. That's what seems to work best for me anyway, you'll have to play around some and figure out what works best for you.. Good Luck man..

Click to expand...

thanks! do you think i could pull off 1oz with 252 real watts of cfl's kept close to each colas? the main 68 watt cfl will be towering above the plant as close as i can get it while 8 23 watts will be going around the plant near the other tops.

SPLFreak808 said:

thanks! do you think i could pull off 1oz with 252 real watts of cfl's kept close to each colas? the main 68 watt cfl will be towering above the plant as close as i can get it while 8 23 watts will be going around the plant near the other tops.

Click to expand...

Your plant looks pretty good, except for those couple leaves at the bottom.. You don't want the bulbs touching it though, you want them about an inch away, they get hot enough to burn the leaves.. You could get well better than an oz, and you could get a 20 sack.. It depends on how healthy you keep your plant, and if it has the nutrients it needs to build buds

KnowledgeNeeder said:

Your plant looks pretty good, except for those couple leaves at the bottom.. You don't want the bulbs touching it though, you want them about an inch away, they get hot enough to burn the leaves.. You could get well better than an oz, and you could get a 20 sack.. It depends on how healthy you keep your plant, and if it has the nutrients it needs to build buds

Click to expand...

Ah,yes I foliar fed and left the lights on,she didn't like that. I'm feeding earth juice catalyst,fox farms big bloom twice a month & floranectar molasses every watering.

you might want to take off some of those fan leaves also; preventing light to get through. its kind of a guessing game, leave enough fan leaves to produce energy take off enough so energy isn't wasted on useless leaves. But other than that you over killed the light game on the grow so you should be getting some decent bud. you should do a seed to harvest; i'd like to see your process cause i have a similar set up

Ca've said:

you might want to take off some of those fan leaves also; preventing light to get through. its kind of a guessing game, leave enough fan leaves to produce energy take off enough so energy isn't wasted on useless leaves. But other than that you over killed the light game on the grow so you should be getting some decent bud. you should do a seed to harvest; i'd like to see your process cause i have a similar set up

Click to expand...

I'm gonna veg her for 3 more weeks then flower for 4-6 weeks depending in how quick it ripens. I wouldn't say overkill on the lights. I was gonna do 5 68watt(3x 2700k 2x 6500k) and cover wherever I can fit 6-9 23w 2300/6500k. 470w-550w. At that point I minus well spend the extra money on better ventilation and a 400w halide? Just hoping I currently have enough for a decent yield(30g) I check them daily,and end up moving lights about a quarter inch up every morning. I will consider trimming fan leaves, never did it before. Would I want to do that in flower?

not in flower by then all power should be going to bud production, don't want her wasting energy putting out new fan leaves cause you took one to many off. But i feel that cfl grows can yield good amounts if done the right way. currently I have a homemade hydro system with 4 23watt 3500k with 1 23watt 2700k on one plant that i got from a smoke bag, haven't pushed anything to harvest yet due to problems with timers and lights but hopefully soon.

Ca've said:

not in flower by then all power should be going to bud production, don't want her wasting energy putting out new fan leaves cause you took one to many off. But i feel that cfl grows can yield good amounts if done the right way. currently I have a homemade hydro system with 4 23watt 3500k with 1 23watt 2700k on one plant that i got from a smoke bag, haven't pushed anything to harvest yet due to problems with timers and lights but hopefully soon.

Click to expand...

OK sounds good. I have some damaged lower fan leaves from feeding under the lights,maybe I will start with those and a few others that severely shade the lower area. This plant has been fimed,topped and LST tied down to get my tops to bush out of the top. However,I did have a plan and small gaps to fit 23 watt bulbs below my plant on the side almost protruding into the 3.5 gallon pot. I can get pretty crafty with lights, as I fabricate electric components for a living. I will keep this thread updated for you bro. This indica or possibly indica hybrid sprouted on Jan 16th. I want to flip her when my 2 last visible lower colas rise to the top. At the same time I'm not sure if I have enough width for the plant yo grow. Should I only be concerned about height? I have double the height but no width to spare for flowering. Perhaps a good thing? 17,400 lumens in a 2ft depth x 8ft wide x 10 height.

You can buy big 130w actual cfl's , why dont people use a couple of these instead of lots of little ones? Are they still not that bright enough away from the plants?

tarks said:

You can buy big 130w actual cfl's , why dont people use a couple of these instead of lots of little ones? Are they still not that bright enough away from the plants?

Click to expand...

I feel that with 2 67watt bulbs not only give you 400 extra lumens with 4 watts more, it will give me better angles at spreading the light vs one hot light far away which ends up illuminating the sides of the walls etc. I have a total of 17,600 Lumen's. I'm thinking of aiming towards 20,000 lumens for flowering with CFLs as close as possible without heat stress. Right now, half inch will stress it and it will start to very minor cup the leaves.

SPLFreak808 said:

Hi, I have an indica 3 weeks into veg,I'm looking for the best possible results I can get from 200watts. Currently I have 9 CFLs. In veg I'm using 9 23watt 1600lumen 6500k CFLs mounted inside an aluminum lamp clamp.

For flowering I plan to use 1 63watt 2700k and 8 23watt 2700k. So around 230watts (17,000+ lumens) Any advice?


light penetration shot
View attachment 3364109

got a total of 8 CFL's for veg 8x23watt 6500k 1650 lumens each. only 8 are on right now, the 68watt cfl (300equiv) is a 2700k bulb and my plant has not shown her sex yet. also have 4 2700k 1650 lumen cfls for flowering (1x2700k 68w 4x2700k 23w & 4x6500k 23w)
View attachment 3364110


they are as close as i can get them without any heat stress. this is a 2x8x10 closet with a recirculating fan and a 120mm 12v fan for a 3ft exhaust duct and 120mm 12v fan for a 3ft intake duct. with the lights are on, the closet is open for good air circulation. at night with the lights off im not so sure if that intake\exhaust fan is taking in enough fresh air overnight. the temps dropped from 73f to 65f at night since i did the fan ducts.View attachment 3364112

Click to expand...

-Replace your 23w Lamps with 65w-2700k CFL bulbs. With good ventilation, you should do fine, and just think of those fat, sticky buds

indicat33 said:

-Replace your 23w Lamps with 65w,2700k CFL bulbs. With good ventilation, you should do fine, and just think of those fat, sticky buds

Click to expand...

So 37,000 lumens and 603 watts. Anyone else reccomend a 400w mh over this? Not sure if I'll be able to cool this plant with 600watts of cfl's in a 2x8 space lol. Anyways, I'd like to stay around 200-300 watts and yield 30g minimum. Thanks for everyone's help. I will still be considering advice from others. As soon as she shows me a pistillate,its 12/12 time =)

SPLFreak808 said:

So 37,000 lumens and 603 watts. Anyone else reccomend a 400w mh over this? Not sure if I'll be able to cool this plant with 600watts of cfl's in a 2x8 space lol. Anyways, I'd like to stay around 200-300 watts and yield 30g minimum. Thanks for everyone's help. I will still be considering advice from others. As soon as she shows me a pistillate,its 12/12 time =)

Click to expand...

That was if you just must stay with CFL's. - Otherwise, you should go with HID lighting. Try a 250w HPS for your cab, I think 400w may be overkill in your space. Just a hunch-

indicat33 said:

That was if you just must stay with CFL's. - Otherwise, you should go with HID lighting. Try a 250w HPS for your cab, I think 400w may be overkill in your space. Just a hunch-

Click to expand...

OK I see. It gets quite hot in there with the 67watt cfl automatic 3f rise. Iv considered a 250w MH or 300w of cfl. With the MH I will be forced to buy cooling option's because I live in hawaii that will probably ramp up the bill more then 300 watts of cfl. Its tricky for me because 1,very very high humidity when it rains,our avg is 55 at sea level,65-70 elevated and sometimes 90% because I live up the mountain's, elevated pressure increases water in the air, I had shit luck with aphids,gnats and spiders( not mites) but I got it all under control,have not seen an adult in almost a month. 2 my grow closet is pretty small that the lowest I can get with all CFLs on is 80f.
I can probably do 300watts but I'm pretty sure anything past that will just be too hot. Its usually 80f daily outside.

SPLFreak808 said:

OK I see. It gets quite hot in there with the 67watt cfl automatic 3f rise. Iv considered a 250w MH or 300w of cfl. With the MH I will be forced to buy cooling option's because I live in hawaii that will probably ramp up the bill more then 300 watts of cfl. Its tricky for me because 1,very very high humidity when it rains,our avg is 55 at sea level,65-70 elevated and sometimes 90% because I live up the mountain's, elevated pressure increases water in the air, I had shit luck with aphids,gnats and spiders( not mites) but I got it all under control,have not seen an adult in almost a month. 2 my grow closet is pretty small that the lowest I can get with all CFLs on is 80f.
I can probably do 300watts but I'm pretty sure anything past that will just be too hot. Its usually 80f daily outside.

Click to expand...

Dude, don't over-do it, or you will have serious issues. Try this - You need about 50w/sq.ft of HID light for good production and fat nuggetry. You could get a 250w "cool tube" HPS and your problem would likely be solved. You may have to still run a couple of small fans though. Peace, n happy growing

indicat33 said:

Dude, don't over-do it, or you will have serious issues. Try this - You need about 50w/sq.ft of HID light for good production and fat nuggetry. You could get a 250w "cool tube" HPS and your problem would likely be solved. You may have to still run a couple of small fans though. Peace, n happy growing

Click to expand...

You know what, I might take a stroll to home depot and buy a 250w MH to experiment with. Gonna be tricky getting below 80f without air conditioning on an 80f day! Thanks for all your help bro! BTW,your profile pic is a huge win =)

SPLFreak808 said:

You know what, I might take a stroll to home depot and buy a 250w MH to experiment with. Gonna be tricky getting below 80f without air conditioning on an 80f day! Thanks for all your help bro! BTW,your profile pic is a huge win =)

Click to expand...

Dude, fuck home depot, just get on amazon or e-bay - they are likely cheaper there

SPLFreak808 said:

You know what, I might take a stroll to home depot and buy a 250w MH to experiment with. Gonna be tricky getting below 80f without air conditioning on an 80f day! Thanks for all your help bro! BTW,your profile pic is a huge win =)

Click to expand...

Hahaha - Thanks Bro!