Feelings on CFLS?

I'm a mostly organic soil grower, I moved very recently and unfortunately am having to downgrade from a small grow room to a closet grow set up. I would really like to continue to grow perpetually with both vegeatative and flowering areas. I will be using one 400 watt MH/hps for my flowering area, and I would really like to be able to use another MH/HPS lamp for the vegetative but I'm worried about heat becoming an issue as is, even with some ventilation. A few friends who grow have suggested CFLs, as they are both affordable and provide less heat, and are supposedly suitable for vegetative periods but I have some reservation abouts the CFLs, as I have always been a MH/HPS user. What are some pros and cons? I just don't want my girls' yield or flavor to suffer. Thank you kindly for any help.

6500k CFL's are great for vegging as long as you are not growing trees, they are also great for side lighting. You have already mentioned the 2 main advantages (less heat and electricity).

The biggest disadvantage of CFL's is poor light penetration (hence the tree comment) which makes them less effective during flowering. They can add 2 or 3 weeks to your flowering time.

I have a friend who grows with MH/HPS, he borrowed two of my 125w CFL's to veg for his last grow (he normally uses his MH/HPS lighting) as he wanted to veg while his grow finished flowering. He has now cropped that grow and he got his best yield ever. I don't think vegging with CFL's increased his harvest, but it certainly didn't decrease it. He is going to borrow them again.

PhatJay is right.

Another pro is that using multiple smaller CFLs they add more points of light. Which does help with getting them bushier as well as making up for their lack of penetration.

Also if you use the smaller watt ones like 26w or 42w you will have to bring them down closer to the plants. They put out much less heat than your MH but they can still burn the plants if they are too close or the ventilation is poor.

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Originally Posted by achemicalmind

I'm a mostly organic soil grower, I moved very recently and unfortunately am having to downgrade from a small grow room to a closet grow set up. I would really like to continue to grow perpetually with both vegeatative and flowering areas. I will be using one 400 watt MH/hps for my flowering area, and I would really like to be able to use another MH/HPS lamp for the vegetative but I'm worried about heat becoming an issue as is, even with some ventilation. A few friends who grow have suggested CFLs, as they are both affordable and provide less heat, and are supposedly suitable for vegetative periods but I have some reservation abouts the CFLs, as I have always been a MH/HPS user. What are some pros and cons? I just don't want my girls' yield or flavor to suffer. Thank you kindly for any help.

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Just typed a ton to explain the cfl's for veg and was booted. Anyway i grew 4plants using these lights and was happy with harvest. If you keep them about 2-3'' away, your plants will grow many branches for your hps to finish. These lights have 4 26 w cfl's in them which each will put out 7,000 lumen per set. I finished 4 plants with 279w of cfl light. I believe they would serve your purpose very well. My grow is in the Sig, or if you have questions i have my outdoor thread going. Just stop by and post there with anything you need. Good luck:thumbsup:

:rasta: