cfl grow questions

I'm growing in a small cabinet. My 4 babies are only a week old. Right now, they're under 6-26w cool whites. The pots are placed right up an inch or two from the lights. Evertything is happy. I plan to lower the plants maybe an inch at a time as they get bigger. My question has to do with the distance from the lights. I realize during veg this is needed. Should I plan on to keep trying to have the plants a close distance during flowering too? I plan on LSTing them. The reason I'm wondering is that I'll be flowering using 4-42w bulbs, plus a couple cool bulbs in clamp lights, and the 42w bulbs get pretty warm so being close to those bulbs might get too hot for the plants.
I also have this grand idea of taking clones after sexing this first grow. Then vegging the clones slowly in a seprerate box. Then scrogging those clones in my original cab once the first grow is finished. I know I've gotta be flexible and I'm not sure this is do-able, but I wanna try something like that.

If you're worrying about having your fluros too close to your plants, maybe you should consider getting a fan or a ventilation system to eliminate the possibility that the plants will get burned.

Fluros aren't the same as hps, hps produce a lot more heat while fluros produce a lot less. It shoudn't be a problem to have the fluros close but be sure to have some kind of air flow bringing in fresh air so the plants wont be in a stangnant, stingy hot place.

Cheers

Total

You want to put the lights as close to the plants as possible without creating a heat problem. I hold the thermometer at the highest point of the plant to get an accurate temp reading. You will need to hold it there for a liitle while until the temp settles. Like I said, the closer you keep the lights the better they'll grow. I would suggest keeping the top of the plant around 80 degrees. So check the temp at the top of the plant and move the lights accordingly.

I put the cool lights for veg less than a half inch from the plants. The plants were very small and young and it didn't bother them cause the temps around the plant was ok. The more light the better without overheating. That's the main reason why you see alot of stretched plants on here. They use a strong light and put it far away to keep the temps down and then the plant stretches in attempt to reach the light source. :smokin:

Yes, keep the lights as close as possible without burn for the entire grow:thumbsup:

I understand the closeness thing, but I'm wondering if it's as important during flowering as it is during veg. Since I'll be using warmer bulbs during flowering, and also hopefully the plants will be much bigger, I'm just wondering if its as big a thing, then.

Yeah those 42 watt CFLs can get hot I am using those too.
I have found that the distance on those are around 3 to 4
inches with a fan running. Still not as hot as Hps and Mh bulbs.
And keep an eye on those because with CFL's you will be
adjusting the light distance a lot. I had my plants grow into
the lights twice.

I would say it's important during the entire plant process. They need to be close because they cannot penetrate the canopy of the plant as well as HID or MH.

Yes, it applies to both. I'll say even more so for flowering. Give the buds as much light as possible without stressing them with heat.