Monster bud with CFL?

iNFID3L

Well-Known Member
I started off thinking that I would use CFLs all the way through. I spent money on light adapters, bulbs, and other things when I could have just purchased a HPS fixture. Lowrider2000, it looks like we both started off basically the same way, except I went with the 400 watt HPS.
me too, lol
 

iNFID3L

Well-Known Member
I love when HID guys try to tell people CFL's suck and get their foot shoved in their mouth lol.
i love when people just grow the best they can with what they prefer and let others do the same without turning it into a competition.
 

napa23

Well-Known Member
I started off with CFL. I had a 105W plus some smaller 26-32 watters. Then I bought a 150W HPS for a cheaper price and i will never go back. You can pull off a good CFL harvest if you strategically place them around the plant. But when you compare the lights it's just easier to go with HPS from the start. It depends on your situation.
 

mushroom man

Active Member
i will be getting an hps also but i will use the clf for side light,and i beg to differ on if i will get 10 oz or not lmao ,but everyone has an opinion
 

napa23

Well-Known Member
i will be getting an hps also but i will use the clf for side light,and i beg to differ on if i will get 10 oz or not lmao ,but everyone has an opinion
CFLS are great for side lighting. Essential really...to get the most out of the lower buds.
 

mushroom man

Active Member
its just such a pain in the ass to have to move yr lights from day to day ,some days yr plant can grow over 3 inchs and yr battleing to keep yr plant from burning
 

napa23

Well-Known Member
its just such a pain in the ass to have to move yr lights from day to day ,some days yr plant can grow over 3 inchs and yr battleing to keep yr plant from burning
true that. I can just move my main light up and down, then i have about 5 mixed temp CFLs on 3 lamps using Y-splitters. Let me see if i can find a pic. See, i still use cfl. no ones hating on them but eventually you step it up a notch. i'd like to get a bigger hps.
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edit- with those lamps, i can rotate the cfls any way i please, but as you can see once you get a good growth pattern you fdon't need to move them so much
 

sso

Well-Known Member
id prefer hps over cfls.

though ive never tried over 55w cfls. dont know how they compare, just know that around these parts, you might as well get a 600w hps, the prices of 150w+ cfls are ridiculous, the 250w comes close to the price of the 600w hps ballast.

i did try 400w of 23w cfls lol. and 196w of t5´s.

150w hps kicks the ass of 196w of t5. though you could get the same yield from both, with the t5´s its fiddle all day, every day with your buds and its only the same yield cause the t5´s (4foot) cover more space (3 times, so that tells you alot about budsize difference)

the 150w hps (2 of them) were easier to cool than the 196w of t5´s , though not alot, but its much easier to remoteballast the hps, so its easier to cool actually.

plus you need to keep the fluo much closer, so you actually need more fanpower to cool the plants..funny really, considering most people´s fears about hps.

...so

hps are much better priced and easier to cool, much better spectrum for flowering, much more power to boot.

less fiddling with your plants (dont need to adjust the lights or plants for days, instead of Every day)

on the other hand, fluo´s will give you healthier plants and bit more potency. (probably healthier cause they arent pushed so much)

so they make a nice sidelight.

some people find cfls cooler, that Is true, to some extent.

some cfls are cooler, they are usually more expensive and better made.

i havent tried those, did find a brand or 2 that were cooler right from the start, but
as cfls age (for me anyway) they grow hotter.

some bulbs were too hot to touch (Even the ballast) after 6 months of use.

meaning that i needed either to buy much more expensive bulbs (up to twice as costly)

which i dunno how often ive wouldave needed to replace, probably though not greatly less than with the cheaper bulbs, but changing every 6 months and with bulbs more expensive than hps bulbs?

cfls dont work for me, except as a veglight and sidelight.

there is too, how much you need? id need a shitload of cfls to replace my 600w hps. but im a daily toker, 1-3g a day. if i only smoked on weekends , i might get away with a 150w hps or a 250w cfl.
 

lowrider2000

Well-Known Member
I started off with CFL. I had a 105W plus some smaller 26-32 watters. Then I bought a 150W HPS for a cheaper price and i will never go back. You can pull off a good CFL harvest if you strategically place them around the plant. But when you compare the lights it's just easier to go with HPS from the start. It depends on your situation.
Thats what im saying i still use 3 cfls for side lighting n shit i got a tight space................
heres an example the last pic with the multiple colas gave me 60 grams that was all CFL's..........the smaller single cola looks like itll give me about 30 gramms and its only 12 inches tall this one was grown its whole life till 5 weeks of flower with CFL and the shorter one looks like it going to give me the same as the taller one and its had HID since the 2 week of flower............i got proof all most of you guys got is he said she said........and when i had cfls i had 7 26 watters 182 watts...... so for you cfls guys KEEP BURNING THOSE LEAF TIPS IM NEVER GOING BACK lol...(just talking shit i love you guys)
 

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Matchbox

Well-Known Member
I personally don't like hid's at all, I actually stepped down from a 400w dual spec hid to what I have now.

However I do agree that's it's down to circumastance!

I find that cfls are more forgiving than hid's in the sense that they emit less heat over a larger surface area so the plants suffer less. And you can place them closer, and more specifically like where they are needed most. And my cfls were way cheaper and cheaper to run (even 400w of cfl are cheaper than 400w of hid 'cause of the amperage I believe) in all, including fittings etc. They're all tidily wired into a switch box so all cfls are on 1 switch, led on another carbon filter on another and intake on the last (not that that's relevant, I just felt like rambling on)

Also... LED's lol I love them as much as cfl's!

And so far im getting the same if not better results this grow. Well only final yield will tell but they look better at this point XD
 

mushroom man

Active Member
i still like cfl.my hole grow cost 150 bucks ,i cant even buy a 400 watt hps for that,but for me to learn how the plant grows and the prosses , learning whats wrong how to fix ,and just to be able to read my plant .i would say u can get a great yeild and tite buds with clf but it really is a lot of trouble. Starting out with cfl is best and its cheap but if yr going to get really into it hid hps would be more effecent for bigger grows IMO
 

lowrider2000

Well-Known Member
as for the title of the Thread i think you can get a monster budd off of CFLs........there is nothing wrong with CFLs its just way easyer to get a monster budd with HID
 
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