Any CFL growers out there?

Manjinken

Manjinken

Well-Known Member
ive decided to screw the halides and HPS's and the electric bills, and wiring, and expensive ballasts and cops pointing radar guns and hot bulbs.

Im going CFL baby. Modest like the man.

any CFL growers out there? So long as im gonna be CFLing hows the best way to do it? so far my plan is several(3 or 4) CFL's as high wattage as i can get(true wattage not compared wattage), so far ive found 32 watts at 150 comparison. Im also going to switch the spectrums for the flowering stages.

whats the best i can hope for with CFL's if i do everything correctly.
 
I suggest looking into envirolites :) Theyre basically massive CFL's designed for horticulture. Im using one of the 200w Red spectrums alone to flower two of my Strawberry Haze and its doing a great job. How ever if you can i would suggest having as many of them as you can lol. Good luck with your grow, obviously with HPS you would get a much better result however its not always possible like for my grow i had heat issues, but not with my envirolite.
 
thegigglepimp said:
I suggest looking into envirolites :) Theyre basically massive CFL's designed for horticulture. Im using one of the 200w Red spectrums alone to flower two of my Strawberry Haze and its doing a great job. How ever if you can i would suggest having as many of them as you can lol. Good luck with your grow, obviously with HPS you would get a much better result however its not always possible like for my grow i had heat issues, but not with my envirolite.
Click to expand...

send him a link to some bulbs so he knows exactly what youre talking about. That way there will be no confusion.
 
thegigglepimp said:
I suggest looking into envirolites :) Theyre basically massive CFL's designed for horticulture. Im using one of the 200w Red spectrums alone to flower two of my Strawberry Haze and its doing a great job. How ever if you can i would suggest having as many of them as you can lol. Good luck with your grow, obviously with HPS you would get a much better result however its not always possible like for my grow i had heat issues, but not with my envirolite.
Click to expand...

link me to this...envirolite.
 
well while im waiting for the link i managed to find online.....

CFL bulbs

85 true watts
350 watt comparison to incandecents.
4200 lumens each
spectrums from 3000-5000-6500


i think 3 or 4 of those would be pretty decent for a grow despite them being "insuperior CFL's"
 
I'm using some cfl's for now...until I get my mh/hps setup. Get the hps atleast for flowering man the buds from cfl's cant touch HID. They're ok for veggin, and I guess if you have A LOT during flowering that might do the trick. But HID offers an untouchable amount of penetration:hump:
 
hey just finished one up myself..all i can say is a lot of light man or envirlite...these are the best ones, blue and red spectrum bulbs
 
Sorry guys i should have posted a link my bad was in a bit of a rush.

This is their official website: Envirolites indoor growing envirolite grow lights reflectors

it has all the info on their range and i imagine it would have distributers. I however live in the UK, and i imagine your a US resident so you would need to purchase from a separate retailer. :) Hope that helps!

It cost me just over£40 for a 200w envirolite and reflector unit :)
 
Check out T5's too..that way you can get the red spectrum bulbs too.. 22" or 4'....HTG SUPPLIES
had pretty good prices...won't ship to Canada though..Luck
 
Here's the envirolite link:
enviro-gro-lites Online Shop

The good thing with CFL grows is that because of the lower temps/ box sizes, you can use 12V PC fans to cool your grow and also use PVC ducting which is much cheaper than the metal stuff. Personally I recomend using a combination of horizontal high voltage bulbs, and a few vertical hanging lower powered bulbs to combat any problems with light penetration as well as being sure to use a good reflector and reflective covering for your box walls.
Hope this helps.
 
assrabbi said:
I'm using some cfl's for now...until I get my mh/hps setup. Get the hps atleast for flowering man the buds from cfl's cant touch HID. They're ok for veggin, and I guess if you have A LOT during flowering that might do the trick. But HID offers an untouchable amount of penetration:hump:
Click to expand...

your simply comparing the words CFL and HID. you have stated nothing about spectrum, lumen output or wattage.

i was planning on going 400 watts with mh/hps myself but if you havent done it yet, you will realize how difficult those set ups can be. i finally came to the realization that i dont own an environment ideal for rigging extremely hot, bill jacking, expensive ballast rigging bulbs.
 
well for light penetration i shouldnt have a problem with several bulbs in multiple positions all free to be adjusted anytime i see a certain plant not getting enough light. Im also planning on using some good mylar for reflection to line my box, probably the ballast as well since im going to build it myself.

any other odds or ends i should be on top of?
 
I use cfl's. I have one of those 200w jobs. You can get them for about 80 bucks from a place called servicelighting.com . I started using them also, because of heat. My grow area was only 3'x3'x3'. I was growing in soil. I had 4 plants that grew nicely, to about 14" tall. I did a lot of pruning, to get lots of side branching. The plants were only about 14" tall but they were about 10" in dia. I used a 5000k for veging and then a 2700k for flowers. Both 200w. NOW for the bad news growth was slow, and the buds were light and not real big. But they do work. In using them again in my new grow room, this time Im using the 200w and 6 42w around the 200. I have 6 plants about 2weeks old there about 4" tall and about to start their 5th leaf set. Again there working but growth is slow. I have a total of 400w of cfl, and Im pretty sure if I was using 1 400w mh growth would be faster. But now my grow space is larger and better ventilated. As soon as uncle sam sends my stimulus check Im switching to mh.,and hps. Like I said they work, but hid's are much brighter.
 
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seeing as everyone supports the HID's. I do as well, i just happen to have certain restrictions, i will ask this.

what about a low wattage HID. like if i used a 100 watt HID. would it impact my electric bill nearly as much? do the 100 watts produce heat as dangerous as the 400 watts? and do the low wattage HID's below 100 still need specific ballasts?
 
I dont have a whole lot of experence in this area, but everyone tells me, watts is watts is watts. A 100w mh should cost the same to run as a 100w cfl but the mh puts out more lumens, and thats what you need.
 
The lower wattage HPS, or MH HID lights will be hot, but say a 250w HPS will run cooler than a 400w HPS. My 400w MH is much cooler than my 400w HPS. No temp issues with the MH, but its about 5-10 degrees hotter with the HPS. Keep in mind I am growing in a closet 4x2x6, with no intake and exhaust just two fans. And with the hps im in the mid 80's and still thriving. I hope this helps or gives you some kind of idea.
 
a 40 dollar fan some and ducting from the hardware store. voila your hot ass HID is cool, and a bunch of those cfl's will start to be a pain in the ass, they will get hot themselves and will be harder to cool than one central light. go to htg supply look for a 400w and get a forced air coolable hood. Wow man that was a huge bridge to cross. and compared to a dozen cfl's one 400w isn't much hotter. cfls have their place but it's 2008 give those girls what they need (if you can that is)
 
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