setup with cfl's

[smokeallday]

hi i have 5 seedlings, 1 is a week old, lightened with 2 X 23w cfl (100w equivalent) soft white, and i have one 23w cfl for the other 4 which are only 2 days old. is it enough, would getting another 23w cfl for my one week old one be too much, or not even enough. is it better to use more 23w cfl or buy just one 100 or 125w cfl. Is it even possible for a plant to get too much light (lumen)


thank you guys

[chonged]

ignore the wattage of the bulb....look on the side of the box the light bulb comes in...it will tell u how lumens that bulb is......ideal lumens is 6,000 per square foot.

[kenbev40]

I've been using CFS for a year now they work out to
70 lumun per watt or in other words 10500 lumun /125 watt bulb.
Most folks I've talk to tell me
10'x2' space needs about 140k lumun
which you can get from
1 /1000 watt,
2/600 watts
3/400 watt units
or 14/125 CFS'S
I'm now in the markit for few 400 watt units myself reduced heat.
Don't get me wrong their good for cloning/seeding and as some added lighting but for Veg./Flower they work only half ass
You'll get bud but to grow the best your stuck with
High Pressure Sodium for flower and
Metal Halide for veg.
But if you still want to go with CFS's let me know

[HARDDON]

DOes this mean you are selling your CFL's?

I would be interested :)

[HARDDON]

hi i have 5 seedlings, 1 is a week old, lightened with 2 X 23w cfl (100w equivalent) soft white, and i have one 23w cfl for the other 4 which are only 2 days old. is it enough, would getting another 23w cfl for my one week old one be too much, or not even enough. is it better to use more 23w cfl or buy just one 100 or 125w cfl. Is it even possible for a plant to get too much light (lumen)


thank you guys

The longer you veg the plant the more light you will need. The lights you have will work for about 2 weeks.

I would upgrade to the 125W (true watts not '=' watts).

Also more important as lumens with CFL is the Kelvin temp of the bulb. you want at least 6400K.

The lumen issue you can help address by placing theCFL within an inch of the surface of the leaves.

But you cannot help or otherwise improve on the Kelvin of the bulb itself.

[smokeallday]

alright, thank you guys, ill stick to the cfl for the first 2 weeks like harddon said, then ill get a metal halide or hps. would a 250w hps do the job for the veg cycle, if used with the cfl's. thanks again for your precious help you guys.

[Derby]

Well, I may be incorrect but this what ive known, I prefer to use a Metal Halide for the vegging, its the supposed right spectrum of light I believe, for your flowering stage, your going to want to use a high pressure sodium.
www.insidesun.com
they have good deals on a 400w HPS with a 400w MH conversion bulb add on.

[HARDDON]

alright, thank you guys, ill stick to the cfl for the first 2 weeks like harddon said, then ill get a metal halide or hps. would a 250w hps do the job for the veg cycle, if used with the cfl's. thanks again for your precious help you guys.

Even 3 weeks is fine.

It will be difficult to mix HID and CFL....

The CFL need to be so close to the plants, the HID light wouldnt be able to light up the canopy. The CFL would block the light.

If you can manipulate the light positioning you can do full veg under CFL.

[smokeallday]

ok thank you guys

[HARDDON]

P.S. You dont want to HPS in veg anyhow.

Unless its strong indica dominant.

YOu can use the MH and CFLs if you reposition the CFLS on the sides without burning the leaves :) That would be great and ideal even :)

[BILL THICK]

If you have cfl's that are 3500 kelvin will they work, like two 3500k =7000k to get the 6500k you mentioned?? I have boxes of 32watt 3500k four foot flourescent bulbs, been thinking of a scrog attempt with them if I could figure a way to put like a bunch side by side . How many could you run off a single ballast. Have 4 bulb fixtures in the garage and each has one ballast. If you could how would you connect a dozen side by side without the fixture ??

thanks
bill

[BILL THICK]

could you scrog with HPS I have 2 1000w hps and 1 400 watt MH or are they too hopt for scroing?

[HARDDON]

Well Mr. Thick....

You cannot achieve improving kelvin by the method you mentioned. Adding two 2700K bulbs will still result in a kelvin of 2700 no matter how many you have.

Scrog is the one grow I have not attempted to do so I am not qualified to answer about the "hopt for scroing" :)

Your 400W MH would be just fine for a scrog...it doesnt need to be CFL's.