Advice on CFL please

I am planning to buy a twin Sunmate reflector for growing autoflowering varieties. I am undecided between 125w and 300w bulbs, and whether I should go for blue for veg and red for flowering, or dual spectrum throughout. Questions I have are:

1) 125w or 300w?
2) blue then red, or dual spectrum throughout?
3) how many plants?
4) how big a grow area?

I will be growing in soil. Sorry if these seem very basic questions, but I am just looking to expand my grow after experimenting with an aerogarden, and finding that the yield is not enough to keep me going through winter when my attic gets too cold to grow.

Thanks

125W is fine just have to decide on how many, normally cheaper bulbs too. I always do a majority of blue during Veg cycle witha a few red and/or full spectrum in there also, to boost up the lumens. How many plants? depends on size always figure on the space needed for when they are full grown. So if your are using 5gal. buckets then space them out with out crowding and that will give you they basic number to start with. Most seedbank will sell 5 seeds at a time..so my suggestion is my 2 or 3 varieties and start with a nice mixture and store the remaining seeds for your second grow. Keep good notes and think it all will out before you start.

My experience with cfls is a couple big watts isn't necessarily better then more of smaller watt. Vs price and out put. If I'm remembering correctly you can veg and flower with the 4500 lumes. I always get decent weight with cfls average about 2.5 ounces with 250 watts. I'm still stuck on the theory that watts equal weight regardless of how many plants. But I've never done more then 2 at a time. Seems like I always get the same no matter how many plants. One plant under 250 watts gave me 2.5 ounces. 2 plants exact same watts was only 2.5 also. Personally I would use 4 of the 125's rather then 2 of the 300's. For room size, I had one of the 50 gallon fish tanks that I grew in and could only fit 2 plants. I still believe you can do damn well with cfls. Good luck friend, let me know if I can help you with anything.

i kind of have the same question.... Im also thinking of going either the 125w or 400w rout. i want to stay w/ CFL's but im not sure if i should do HPS. the MAX plants i'll be growing are 2. Maybe 3 inside of my closet. But I really dont need to do 3..lol
Im wondering if someone could help and post some links to some bulbs i can get for veg and flowering??

These dual spectrum ones are pretty good. I have 1 of these 125w http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270757018490 - Also got a 125w and a 150w Warm and a 300w Cool It shouldnt be a problem using the Dual Spec throughout the whole grow. But as a rule the cool is mainly for veg / root development and warm for flowering time CFL's are great if your grow space is limited or heat would be an issue. A lot easier to control the environment with CFL's

mc260377 said:

These dual spectrum ones are pretty good. I have 1 of these 125w http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270757018490 - Also got a 125w and a 150w Warm and a 300w Cool It shouldnt be a problem using the Dual Spec throughout the whole grow. But as a rule the cool is mainly for veg / root development and warm for flowering time CFL's are great if your grow space is limited or heat would be an issue. A lot easier to control the environment with CFL's

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That's exactly the bulb that I'm looking at. I notice that Basement Lighting are also selling 160w dual spectrum bulbs on ebay, although they don't have them on their website yet. I tend to grow mixed varieties together, which means that they enter the flowering stage at different times, hence the interest in dual spectrum.

mc260377 said:

These dual spectrum ones are pretty good. I have 1 of these 125w http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270757018490 - Also got a 125w and a 150w Warm and a 300w Cool It shouldnt be a problem using the Dual Spec throughout the whole grow. But as a rule the cool is mainly for veg / root development and warm for flowering time CFL's are great if your grow space is limited or heat would be an issue. A lot easier to control the environment with CFL's

Click to expand...

thank you very much! im going to check out that one. Is this one just for Veg? or can i use it for flowering also?

It has half cool and half warm so you can use it through the whole grow gonna be getting a few more myself soon

would that cfl work in the states? im not sure if that plug would work/is compatible here. i cant find any dual spectrum's anywhere online that are being sold in the states at least . it would save me from buying X number of each thats fo sure.

I cant see why it wouldnt work in the states. You would just need a states version of a E40 hanger or reflector. The only other thing you need to bear in mind is that they are fragile as hell so if you were ordering from abroad, make sure you ask them to package it really well

http://www.1000bulbs.com/product/8255/FC105-S27OD.html best deal I've found on 105w clfs. This is also the highest wattage you can fit in a standard (US) edison socket. They have them in 5000k temp for veg too. Solid lights. I use 'em as side lighting.

mc260377 said:

I cant see why it wouldnt work in the states. You would just need a states version of a E40 hanger or reflector. The only other thing you need to bear in mind is that they are fragile as hell so if you were ordering from abroad, make sure you ask them to package it really well

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I'm not convinced that's right. These will be 240v bulbs for the European market. If you were going to use them in the US you would need a step-up transformer and an E40 socket to plug them in to. I think they are all imported from China anyway, and I believe they will also do 110v versions, but it will be a matter of tracking down an importer.

Arrr yep, I see ur point - I forgot about the voltage change :S