CFL vs FLORO vs HPS

One question: Which type of fluorescent tube light are you using; T12, T8, or T5?

honestly im alil to medicated to remember what is what with long tube lights. i used whatever the cheapos are from walmart. i think they are t8s but i wouldnt bet much on it.

th3bigbad said:

honestly i alil to medicated to remember what is what with long tube lights. i used whatever the cheapos are from walmart. i think they are t8s but i wouldnt bet much on it.

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Chances are they are the T12 lights.. not worth the box they came in. T5's have a much higher efficiency and Lumen output. Although, I doubt they would be very good for the flowering stages as compared to a HPS or HPS/MH set-up.

Fluorescents just can't match the Lumen capacity of these HID's.. but with enough T5's you can come closer.. and even closer to the plants.

Enigma

looking forward to hearing the end results

Just found this:

Grow Marijuana FAQ, Cannabis cultivation - marijuana growing tips & photos

Bigbad, if you're still listening, did you switch to red CFLs for flowering or stick with the whites the entire grow?

I don't know much about lighting but it seems like if you flower with mostly red CFLs, a couple whites for good measure, and add a couple small UVB flourescents(not heat bulbs, just UVB) you could work up some pretty decent buds with CFL only.

And bigbad, you only had 3 CFLs above your plant? Would you imagine that a few more places around the sides would have really improved the result?

Thanks.

Since cfl's need to be placed so close to the plant, and there is inevitably an uneven canopy or worse, the bathroom panels need to be ditched, or supplimented.. A method I've adopted uses single core electrical wire (not sure about guage, its used for pig-tailing so it can handle 15A @120V anyway), and if you double it up, it supports a cfl perfectly in place, and is very easy to adjust positioning.. This wire is only support.. I fold it accordian style into 2-4' lengths depending on size needed, bind one side of the accordian (not like a paper fan, on the other axis) then I pull out the other ends of the folds like a spider, and tape the 2 wires that comprise each fold (spider leg) together for stability.. Now you just fasten your socket/wiring to each spider leg, and you can spread the bulbs around the plant whereever needed, and move them anytime as easily as adjusting a gooseneck desk lamp..
Granted copper wire isn't cheap if there isn't a roll in your shed, and the reason I spidered it rather than cutting then binding is reusability, but clotheshangers are too hard to move imo.. Obviously lots of other things could work, but I'm telling ya two lengths is the perfect maleability..

how effective do you think a fluro tube and a UV blacklight tube would be for vegging/flowering?

+ Rep bro... Clearly shows that CFL's are never a bad option.

just found this great thread

great thread. read the whole thing start to finish in one sitting. very informative. i love my 1000 HPS/MH for flowering. but CFL a nice alternative for vegging in regards to saving electricity

Si. I found this post very interesting. I would howevr like to see the same trials run with a lumen/watt at the same frequency run. R.O.Y is bad in veg. G.B.I.V. is good. In flowering, all spectrums are good as the metabolism of the plant changes. The bulbs used in your experiment are all very different. I do not mean to knock what you have done, accolades. As a smoke hound I just want to know what light source made the plant produce more delta-9. Thanx again for all your thought and hard work.

Thats wassup, nice experiment! i wasn't goin anywhere with a 70w hps, so i got 6 26w(100w eq.) and 1 49w(150w eq.) and they seem to be helping a lot. +rep

skunkman98536 said:

sweet thread

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Love it! Really good thread!

th3bigbad said:

ok guys im haveing to cut things a bit short on this grow. i got alil to cocky and didnt check on stuff as much as i shouldve, long story short i didnt have time last week to check on them and when i checked on them today i found some black mold on the walls of my grow room. there isnt much mold there but im not chanceing it. so i ruff cut everything today just to get it out of the way.
ill sum everything up for every1 right quick.
i started flowering @ 5 weeks old on 3/22. i kept everything as near the same on all the different plants as best i could, other than the lights. 6 weeks into flowering i got mold and had to stop everything, and heres what i learned.
#1 cfls rock
#2 floros blow
#3 i have to start keeping a better eye on my grows

the total wet weight of each light(remember thats 3 plants per light.)
CFL= 5.25oz/ light and fluffy but pretty sticky
HPS= 9.5oz/ rock hard and very sticky
FLORO= 3oz/light colored and has almost no smell
heres a few pics of the best plant from each light.
pic1- main colas CFL-HPS-FLORO (LEFT TO RIGHT)
pic2- CFL main cola
pic3- HPS main cola
pic4- floro main cola
pic5- 1 CFL plant

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Totally awesome... .. .

A 1000 watt HPS verses a 2 tube T12 fixture is kind of a joke dont you think?

bigv1976 said:

A 1000 watt HPS verses a 2 tube T12 fixture is kind of a joke dont you think?

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Well to be fair it was just an experiment. Of course the T-12's aren't going to come close. And really anyone that has vegged with CFL's know how well they work. They don't compare really when it comes to flowering for yeild all things even. I have LST'd the same strain under both 300 watts of CFL's and 300 watts of HPS for flowering (dual 150 hps) and all things being the same the HPS out yielded the CFL's 40% in dry weight..... Both were the same as far as potency in which the light has no bearing really.

I use a T5 4 foot 6 bulb start to finish and yeild 8-13 oz. from a 2x3 SCROG.

Well T-5's are another story, never tried them but I have friends that run them for their mothers and veg stage. Pretty impressive flower numbers though....

Hi everyone, I am new to this site and I am wanting to start a grow of my own. I have never really grown before and I am probably gonna go with cfl's. I have a small extra bedroom that is about 10'X12' and about 7' in height. Question is how many cfl's would I need to grow 5-6 plants efficiently?