Cfl: Plant ratio

O

OGKush:D

Member
If I am using 2 GE CFL Light Bulbs: 42 Watt, and one GE CFL Light Bulb: 26 Watt, and one GE CFL Light Bulb: 13 Watt. is That enough for one decent plant, or two small plants?
 
depending on spectrum yes thats enough the 13 watt would be a waste of space imo 128w is ideal right now i have 160w in my stealth cab a 125w 6500k and a 35w 2700k those lower watt bulbs need to be really close to make any difference iv seen someone yield 2 ounces with 3 24w bulbs
 
That's enough for one plant.

My rule of thumb. Minimum 100(real)W CFL for one plant, and at least an additional 50(real)W for every extra plant.
Veg uses a 3:1 ratio of 6,500K to 3,000k bulbs, 3 - 4 inches above the canopy. Flower would be the other way around, but I recommend HPS for flower.

I've been using the 23W CFL's from the grocery store, been very happy with the results.

Good luck
 
while in veg mode, use mostly 6500K and some 5000k and/or 2700k....then for flowering use mostly 2700K with some 5000k and/or 6500k.

I would replace the 13 watt CFL with at least a 23 watt...... you have enough light for one decent plant, but you could go with two

The key to CFL's are to use lots of side lighting so they fatten up
 
althor said:
Man, go get a HID ballast and quit trying to be cheap.
Click to expand...

Yep go get ya an HID, and if you live in a non weed friendly state, they may come to your house with a search warrant because your electric bill went up to far!!! It just happened in Kansas, to a couple that was just growing vegetables....
 
hey man i vegged 2 plants for 3 weeks under exact same CFL Watts as you then went and bought a 150 HPS... definitely worth it. but the cfls will work. id still recommend getting a hps bro.:bigjoint:
 
hydrosoil78 said:
they will take longer to get ripe with cfls so the HPS speeds the process up too. Sun speeds it up even more
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It seems unreal, but IMO the closest thing to sun for growing indoors is a bunch whole lot of cfl. That or 1000w HPS bulbs, but price difference with energy savings considered makes the CFL the winner in efficiency. I believe that a WELL CONSTRUCTED CFL fixture will get MORE PRODUCT at the end of the day with LESS COST. I made my own 2000w equivalent running on under 500w of actual consumption! It grows dense buds. I put it side by side with my 600w HPS and it actually produced much more resinous buds (I believe it is because of added UV from the CFL) So cool! Here's a pic from week 3 of flowering under my custom 2000w Mixed Spectrum CFL Flowering LightIMG_7058.jpg
Check out the trichromes building up already.

Hope this helps. Happy smoking. :leaf:
 
Spectrum and the ability to penetrate the canopy without having to adjust bulbs and line the sides of plants with them to avoid the 'popcorn bud' would make the difference at that time, but it also depends on how much you truly want to do with the CFL, if you have many hours to tinker in the grow room and make sure that everything is covered, etc.. instead of just letting an HPS blast through the canopy and do it all with minimal to no side-lighting. To be fair, quite a few love side lighting and I couldn't say I blame them based on the strain(s) they may be running, how tight node spacing is, etc.. which would also directly affect the penetration of the canopy vs wattage.
 
KingDankBerry said:
Really? I think it's the opposite, but then again.... I am 'learning how to roll' HAHA
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I respect your opinion.. was just doing the math - if you put up 15 splitters with 2 in each @ 27 watts a pop.. you'd be pushing 800ish watts total, and that's 4/5 the wattage of a 1000W light, all things the same. As for lumens vs watts, it may work out to more or less depending on the manufacturer, standards, etc.. and then you'd have to safely have said 30 bulbs wired so they're not running off of piggybacked extension cords, etc.
 
Lol, never mind you guys. I don't want to strike up any drama. I've actually done the math and calculations, so I know that my info is accurate :) It is true that the design of a cfl fixture MUST be just right to provide enough light for it to beat out HPS. I'm just in this section to help out others who are open to new ideas... and improvements. Happy smoking :leaf:
 
KingDankBerry said:
Lol, never mind you guys. I don't want to strike up any drama. I've actually done the math and calculations, so I know that my info is accurate :) It is true that the design of a cfl fixture MUST be just right to provide enough light for it to beat out HPS. I'm just in this section to help out others who are open to new ideas... and improvements. Happy smoking :leaf:
Click to expand...

Wasn't going to argue bro, was just stating that to me.. I'd rather have HID lighting for the plants so I can focus on other things grow-related, and other real life things is all. :)
 
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