Hps vs cfl

Hey all ive been searching all over for cheap ish hps light units for my next grow and found a few and whilste searching i came across those big ass cfls used for photography shoots and kind of got me wondering whats worth more to me. So basicaly the hps lights im looking at are 150 watts and the clfs im looking at are also 150 watts(per bulb). Due to the size of the hps unit im thinking getting the cfls instead so basicaly what im asking is whats better for yeild,lush growth,and over all better for the plants to grow at their best and provide me with a good amount of bud 150 watt hps unit or 2 X 150(300watt total) watt clfs? I know itll mean way more watts or lumens(i think) but in the cfls case they are 5500 kelvin and not sure of the lumen output, which ever lighting i decide on will be kept the same from seed to harvest so no changing of lights will be done

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Cfl u will need more veg time or go mh
Hps for flower

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If your useing thw same light for flower and veg go hps but u will get alot of strech in plant

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I use CFL for the first 3 weeks then HPS for the rest of the veg stage

hps lights v cfl that is like saying steak or leaves of a tree hps all the way, ya can get a full kit light hood bulb and ballast for £70 now

I do use a 8 tube t5 for my mothers though, along with day light spec cool tube flouresents.
But you will not beat a hps when it comes to flowering hid if ya choose for veg but i just stick to hps in cool hoods..........................

tyke

Im a bit confused here, lol. The OP is asking if two 150 w CFL's would be better than 1 150 HPS. You guys (girls) are saying going with the 1-150 would be a better choice? Really, i would have assumed the 2-150's would be a better choice if I had to choose (which I wouldn't lol). I too run HO T5's for veg and either 600-1000 HPS for flower. Is there a reason the 1-150 would be better or is just the spectrum being red?

I went from over 800 watts in cfls between 26 bulbs to a 400w hps and you wouldn't think so but helluva lot more coverage with the hps. Even with half the watts they are getting bigger in flower than before. And temps stayed the same. Don't waste your money on cfls, high pressure sodium is the way to go. Even if it is a little 150w it should be plenty for 3-4 plants flowering under.

a 150W HPS lamp would be better than 2x150W CFL for flowering, and it mostly is because of the spectrum. It's high in yellow, red and far red. Yellow is very good at penetrating, red absorbs heavily on the top canopy level, and the far-red causes a shave avoidance effect and quickens flowering rate.

CFL's are usually very low in far-red, and ... whatever the reason is, HPS just flowers better than fluorescent watt per watt.. I've tried similar a long time ago with about 400W of florescent and flowering was shit, even with special plant bulbs. (i just needed to know if it would work)

waterdawg said:

Im a bit confused here, lol. The OP is asking if two 150 w CFL's would be better than 1 150 HPS. You guys (girls) are saying going with the 1-150 would be a better choice? Really, i would have assumed the 2-150's would be a better choice if I had to choose (which I wouldn't lol). I too run HO T5's for veg and either 600-1000 HPS for flower. Is there a reason the 1-150 would be better or is just the spectrum being red?

Click to expand...

I've grown with both CFL's and am currently using a 400 watt MH/HPS.. CFL's don't generate as much heat so venting isn't a problem. Your problem is either way you won't have enough light When I grew with CFL'S I had 700 actual watts and grew three plants at a time in 5 gallon pots. For the past 2 years I've been using the 400 watt MH/HPS.. And with respect to spectrum of your CFL's you want 6500k for vegging and 2700 k for flowering when using CFL's and if using a HPS you want a dual ballast with a MH bulb for vegging and a HPS bulb for flowering.
Yield wise I'd say I get a bit more with the 400 watt bulbs growing 4 plants in 3 gallon Smart pots. The Bud was always good no matter which lighting I used.. So the short answer to your question is You Need More Light for More Bud. .
.

Ok so looking at the answers hps seems to be the way to go but my probelm is that for 1 hps unit it is $250 and for 1 150 watt cfl it is $30 and im big on not spending heaps if i dont need to, ill change my question a wee bit now. Will i get an ounce or so with a 150 watt cfl off of 1 plant

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I might also add that cooling will be abot of an issue with an hps unit as im only using a small grow box and only have 2 small fans on it 1 for intake and 1 for exhaust

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Double the CFL's lst your plant and it may be possible to get an oz.

Realy? Shit and here i thought id easily get an ounce with 150 watt cfl light. At the moment(first ever grow) i have 2 small plants under 72 watts of small cfl bulbs and they are actualy doing eally good staying nice and small like i wanted and since its me 1st grow i dont care about yeild, it was more about seeing if i could do it and if i liked it and would take the risk again and already i can say i do

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You get almost twice as much light from the hps. But as stated before your node spacing will take a hit. You should just get both and full spectrum it.

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Smokinr33 said:

Ok so looking at the answers hps seems to be the way to go but my probelm is that for 1 hps unit it is $250 and for 1 150 watt cfl it is $30 and im big on not spending heaps if i dont need to, ill change my question a wee bit now. Will i get an ounce or so with a 150 watt cfl off of 1 plant

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Click to expand...

You can get a full 1000 watt setup for less than 250....?

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I cant due to the fact that my grow box is fricken tiny lol but might look into converting a book shelf into one in the future but as i already said hps units are way out of my price range, ive already got the wife on my back about spending more time with my plants then i do with her lol

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Most people pick the one with more wattage thinking it's better. I'd say base it on output of Lumens.

And youre going to have to buy a reflector for the cfl unless you're going to light vertically.

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I lookeg it up and appaently these cfls put out 9000 to 12000 lumens each.

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The ountry im in most definetly do not sell 1000watt hps units for as little as 250. Infact our hgdroponixs specialists sell the 250 watters for $260 which is still too much. The way i see it, if i go hps ill need better cooling which is more cash that ill have to spend. The only way i can see that happening is if mt 72 watt grow gives me a good ounce of dry pot and sell it for $350 or 400 bux and use that for buying me a better light unit but also i gotfa mention im not growing to sell, too risky so ill just smoke it myself and share with mates

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