envirolites. any good?

[markgreene]

I have switched to the Envirolite, high output, low-cost flourescents lately. The product has not been as good as the old style lighting, though the temperature is more manageable in a small closet. Has anyone had the same experience or solid advice?

[orangeman]

A envriolight is just like a big CFL basically. It can be good for seedlings, and vegitating plants and could also be used for flowering but it's better recommended that you use a HID for that. So you can go through your whole grow with those lights but they wont produce as much yield as a better HID would.

[lowryder]

Envirolites- I have only ever used envirolites. Heard a couple of horror stories where the light goes pop after 266 hours of 12/12 cycles. I tend to keep mine on 24/7. At 30 bucks a bulb its not cheap. They do have to be close to the plant (inches away) But I have had succsess using the blue bulb for growing and red for finishing. I am using 125w. Two of these bad boys allows for 5 plants (300watts!) Some will disagree but they all grew and finished, I thought i did not have enough light for the 5 but they all grew and the lights were somtimes a foot away from the plant. Ok I can imagine the HID is ideal for growing BUT if you are growing small scale (just afew plants) inclosed and trying to save money the envirolite is the one. Other lights were too powerfull for me and i worried about the electric bill. This is perfect for me, an energy saving (77%) bulb that does not get too hot. Most of my growing takes place in a chest in a hallway.1 meter in height. I use one envirolite in there, 3 inches from subject. As far as I am concerned, I would give them 10/10. But if you were going for a grow room, with plants all over the floor then these may not be for you. Closest grower, couple of plants - use envirolite! Got mine new from e bay.£67 for two bulbs and lamp holder. I have not used any other lamp, i researched the light for the grow and this is what i settled on and once my envirolite does die, I will be getting another one the same. Unless.... I have see LED lamps but they do not seem powerfull enough, not yet anyway.

[markgreene]

Thanks. That was my justificatication for envirolites. I have a small grow space, but I do have a 250watt HID, but worry about the temp. It seems to be hot in this summer. I might switch in winter, or when it cooler. I will then compare output.

[MegaOctane12]

I also vouch for Envirolites. They are perfect for the amount of heat they produce and you won't even need a fan for it, provided you have at least a tiny fan blowing on the plants canopy. MH are like HPS they are higher maintenance and also need a ballast. Envirolites you plug straight in. As far as the lifetime of the bulb, I duno about this, do they really explode when they've had enough? Anyway, the bulbs are cheap enough to buy if one goes pop. The good thing is, they usually come in 125w, seen higher, and for the amount you save you can buy 3-4, that's 300-400 watts at a fraction of what a MH or HPS would cost too run, not to mention the heat. Only draw back is you want the lights as close too the bulb as possible which is kind of a pain if you forget, or don't have time to check every day before lights come on that no foliage is touching the bulb, because its just strong enough to burn. Also you won't get much light penetration compared to a HPS or MH. That's the only draw back however.I am considering Envirolites alone in the future.

[markgreene]

I have a closet big enough for 4 10" pots. I use 2 x 125w bulbs. Sound okay? I don't know about exploding, but I usually break 2 a season just by changing in such a small place.

[MegaOctane12]

You can get reflectors if you use more than one environlite, that can hold up to 6 bulbs. Save you buying seperate reflectors per bulb you can get reflectors that hold 6/4/2/Single bulbs. The single bulb reflectors are called bat wing reflectors most commonly. If you have space for more than one but you don't want to install another reflector get a double bulb reflector, the bulbs sit opposite one another so its just an increase in length not necessarily reflector width. Environlite reflectors are a necessity because keep in mind only half of the bulb is hitting the plants so you want to reflect back as much of the top of the bulb as possible. Check out ebay, I reckon you could pick up a double bulb 125w reflector very cheap that would fit perfectly inside your space, assuming your just using the stand alone bulbs right now.