Quick Question about LIGHTING

Obviously, cfl's are not the best way to go for growing. But in a cfl grow, is it more important for the lights to be above the plant, or on the sides?

Right now I have four plants, each a little over a foot high, and very healthy. However, they are starting to get to the point where i'm nervous not enough light is penetrating to the new growth coming in at the bottoms of the plants. I have one 23w (100watt eqv.) above each plant, and one in the middle of all four plants. I also have two 4' tube flouro's above them.

Should I move the cfl's so that they are around the plants as opposed to above them? or are 5 cfl's and two tube flouro's enough light that it wont matter? there are about 154 total watts on all four plants, 12,000 or so lumens.

You will need more light as they get bigger. Aim for 5000+ lumens per square foot of growing space. CFLs and fluoros are only effective 1-3 inches from the plants, so you should surround them all with lights to get the best penetration. Otherwise you can look into LST or Scrog to get an even canopy so you can mount all of your lights on a flat surface above the plants. This makes it easier to adjust the lights as they grow taller.

There's a pic of 2 plants in a 51cm x 51cm scrog. Nice, tight, uniform nugs all throughout.

I've definitely been evening out the canopies, and I've had the lights about 2 inches away for the entire grow so far. I guess what I really need to know is what's more important: a light above the plant or a light on the side? I don't want the bottom to not bud, but I also don't want the top to bend sideways looking for light.

I posted a pic of what I've got. good? bad? what could be better? (besides more cfl's... Im unfortunately out of outlets haha)

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Originally Posted by Faddenator

I guess what I really need to know is what's more important: a light above the plant or a light on the side?

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I'd say ones on the side will give you more penetration in this case. Play around with it a little to see which light positions give the plants the most light. The light above the plants will only give usable light to the top leaves, but on the side it will give light to more leaves...

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(besides more cfl's... Im unfortunately out of outlets haha)

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If outlets are the problem, go to Lowe's or Home Depot and pick up some Y socket adapters. Three for each socket, interconnect them and you can essentially have 4 cfl's for each socket you have now.

Y-socket

Hope this helps. Check out how MonkeyBone did it... http://boards.cannabis.com/grow-log/...ars-green.html

Im using the same kind of setup in my closet with cfl's 2 42w or 150w 2700 lumens each ill have 2 plants under there. i also have 2 120w plant lights not sure on the lumens but there not cfl's. which do you think would work better? or maybe more cfl's? ive seen good results with cfl's and it looks like cheaper pricing then investing into a 150w or 250w hps. I just have a little grow in my closet corner. what do you guys thing?

OK, i changed the lighting as best I could...

My previous setup is a few posts up... is this better? it took me like two hours and a part of a fan leaf (burned it on accident) to get it like this, so i hope it was worth it.

You'll also notice I added a space blanket for wayyy better reflection (all there was was silver spray paint before)

I thought I posted a pic the old setup, sorry here it is.

This picture is of the old setup, not the new one.

Alright, so I actually did post this before, but whatever :stoned:. any thoughts on the new setup??

I'd say that is a much more efficient way to use the lights :thumbsup:

Thanks Bigtops. It's pretty cool how much better the light is penetrating into the stem area... i think the lack of lights caused a whole bunch of tiny off shoots to form but not really grow all that much. Or maybe it has nothing to do with the lights, but either way- they're really compacted and im hoping the increased penetration will help those little shoots bud up real nice and thick... I guess we'll see.

Thanks again. Anyway, I just woke up, so its time to go pack one. peace :jointsmile: