CFL's

[BobBong]

So.. there's alot of pro's and con's about CFL's. Alot of people think that if you have a 150w CFL that only pulls 45w you're only getting.. 45watts. This is wrong.... YES it only uses 45watts.. so in reality it IS just a 45watt CFL. But CFL's are designed to put out more energy than they pull. So your 45watt CFL will give you close to 150watts of Incandescent lighting without the heat.
Over time, they'll degrade. losing the light intensity until eventually the bulb just burns out.
Incandescents can be used for growing...the problem is the heat, and the light spectrum.. it's hard to find an incandescent that is "cool white" or puts out 5000k+.. with sufficient wattage.

I've used these CFL's for my past 3 grows. using even.. 3 of my original bulbs. I've had great success.

You don't need these massive Growing CFL's that pull 125watts..although they are nice.. and obviously you'll do well with them. it can be overkill for someone who's just trying to get 1 plant off the ground. As those bulbs can run fairly pricey.

I found a nice link to CFL info, also there is some LED lighting info at the bottom, although not very informative for growing.
CFL (http://eartheasy.com/live_energyeff_lighting.htm#3c)

What are some con's about CFL's?
They're pretty weak in comparison to HID,HPS and MH lighting..But those types of lighting aren't necessarily needed to grow properly. Ideal? maybe.. but not needed.

For those of you with limited space, limited money, limited..anything..but still feel the urge to grow your greenthumb.

CFL's might be the way to go...

Cheers guys,
Hope this helps some of you.

Bob.

P.S. Each bulb cost approx. 14$ Canadian. and about 3$ for the light socket.

[Garden Knowm]

NICE bob... what happened to the meat??.. I mean dead cow?

Good job.. I think your plants are very impressive for your set up and I hope you won't mind me using your pics in my next book/dvd ? : )


I would love to get high res copies of your pics..

[email protected]


very very nice... simple baby ...simple

i love you

[BobBong]

You mean the doggie steak? hahah he's still kickin around.. It was good steak :D

I'd be happy to provide some pics for you man...infact, i can post some nice pics i've gotten over the last 9 months

[BobBong]

Pic Post#1.

All Done via CFL.

[BobBong]

Pic Post #2

[Garden Knowm]

I think it is so great for new growers to see how easy it is to grow.. how inexpensive a set up can be... CFL growing provides a great introductory to growing.. there will be obstacles.. ph issues.. nut deficiencies or burns.. etc.. and overcoming these obstacles is what LEARNING is all about..

cfls require less spac, less airflow, less money... etc

all the "problems" big growers have with out the pressure ....

and then when they graduate fromcfl growing they can use the cfl set up for CLONES!

thanks
tatto, old guy, meat guy.. bob

[BobBong]

Hmm... a few more?

[BobBong]

I think it is so great for new growers to see how easy it is to grow.. how inexpensive a set up can be... CFL growing provides a great introductory to growing.. there will be obstacles.. ph issues.. nut deficiencies or burns.. etc.. and overcoming these obstacles is what LEARNING is all about..

cfls require less spac, less airflow, less money... etc

all the "problems" big growers have with out the pressure ....

and then when they graduate fromcfl growing they can use the cfl set up for CLONES!

thanks
tatto, old guy, meat guy.. bob

Thanks man i totally agree! i'm so glad i started with CFL's because it gave me the chance to learn about other things..while still having a properly gorwing plant. Alot of people don't get past the first few weeks.. let alone get to run into Ph issues and nute lockouts.

The lighting portion of growing .. is only the beginning.

[Completely Stoned]

bob, on pic post #3 on the last pic of your empty grow room, is that a regular light bulb at the top? If so, whats it for?

[Completely Stoned]

And, I guess it's in most of your pictures too. What's that for man? For some Red Spectrum?

[BobBong]

well..in short. Yes, for red spectrum. It's a 100w bulb. For Flowering (in my last grow) i used a number of incandescent lights for the red spectrum. my main problem was heat...this grow, i'm thinking of going with red spectrum CFL's.

It was just filling an empty light socket but now it's coming on with the rest of the lights because i'm down to 14/10.
once i'm in 12/12 i'll add some more to make do.

[coolman73]

hey, do you know what strains those are?

[BobBong]

BlackJack
Black Domina / Jack Herer cross
heavy indica approx 80/20 .
nice couchlock stone :D

[turtle420]

I won't be growing with CFLs... but a quick idea came up...

For the light underneath the plant... you know, that many times people put white rocks (magic rocks), reflective materials, etc... Well, when you have a small plant, why don't you put a circular CFL on its base?

They come in 8", 10" (I think), 12", 18"... etc. I know I didn't just discover another moon of Mars, but this might be usefull to some of you guys.

When the plant is growing, you can turn on that lower CFL and give it light all around... ??? :confused:

Carry On!,

-turtle420 :cool:

[Garden Knowm]

turtle.. get out of this thread!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[Absolut Chronic]

Bob... I want to say THANKS! Thanks for the hope you've just given me because I was about to build a grow box and debating what type of lights to use... I don't want to fit my MH/HPS switchable in a small area so I was thinking of CFLs... but of course the negative feedback on those is never-ending... those pics and plants are amazing!!! What are the dimensions of your grow box or cabinet? And how many plants did you have growing in there? And last question... how many lights in the veg stage and how many lights in the flower stage? Again, those are some amazing plants and hopefully I can follow in your footsteps... thanks for the thread!!!

[Garden Knowm]

AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - you can masterbate to this thread BOB.. we won't tell anybody!!!!!

[BobBong]

To late...

[WeedyBoyWonder]

I hate to be a dumbass but...

Would a 55 watt Fluorescent light be ok for about 2 - 3 weeks of growing 2 plants?

[Rezinator]

Bob,

All the other crap aside, this is/was a great thread and I gotta say thanks very much.

Rez

[sMOkeY bOB]

nice buds bob hope my lil clones turn out to be as tasty lookin as these honeys

[Haggiz]

here, i'm growing with cfls aswell nd things seem orite. Those plants look minted how much of a yield did you get?

[Marks324]

So.. there's alot of pro's and con's about CFL's. Alot of people think that if you have a 150w CFL that only pulls 45w you're only getting.. 45watts. This is wrong.... YES it only uses 45watts.. so in reality it IS just a 45watt CFL. But CFL's are designed to put out more energy than they pull. So your 45watt CFL will give you close to 150watts of Incandescent lighting without the heat.
Over time, they'll degrade. losing the light intensity until eventually the bulb just burns out.
Incandescents can be used for growing...the problem is the heat, and the light spectrum.. it's hard to find an incandescent that is "cool white" or puts out 5000k+.. with sufficient wattage.

I've used these CFL's for my past 3 grows. using even.. 3 of my original bulbs. I've had great success.

You don't need these massive Growing CFL's that pull 125watts..although they are nice.. and obviously you'll do well with them. it can be overkill for someone who's just trying to get 1 plant off the ground. As those bulbs can run fairly pricey.

I found a nice link to CFL info, also there is some LED lighting info at the bottom, although not very informative for growing.
CFL (http://eartheasy.com/live_energyeff_lighting.htm#3c)

What are some con's about CFL's?
They're pretty weak in comparison to HID,HPS and MH lighting..But those types of lighting aren't necessarily needed to grow properly. Ideal? maybe.. but not needed.

For those of you with limited space, limited money, limited..anything..but still feel the urge to grow your greenthumb.

CFL's might be the way to go...

Cheers guys,
Hope this helps some of you.

Bob.

P.S. Each bulb cost approx. 14$ Canadian. and about 3$ for the light socket.

Hey Bob how many of them lights do you have per plant ? and are they the 45watt cool white ?