thats all great and i used to grow with cfls but i went to hps and ill never go back you try hps and you will see huge diff
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thats all great and i used to grow with cfls but i went to hps and ill never go back you try hps and you will see huge diff
Of course... HPS is considerably better than any fluorescent lighting, this is a given... but this is not what the goal of this thread is. People ... a lot of people are unable to make their grows into something larger than they can reasonably handle. a 400 or 600 hps would be ideal of course.. but a little unorthadox for a one bedroom apartment....Quote:
Originally Posted by lovetogrow
For those that are unable to go that extra step into HPS or MH... this thread's for you.
I just bought some 25w 6500k cfls at walmart for 4.84 a bulb. Will these do well for seedlings? I plan on getting them as big as possible and then planting them outdoors when I go home for the summer. BTW this is a great thread
Those should be great for seedlings.
6500K (cooler, whiter light)= best for seedlings and vegetative growth.
2700K (warmer, redder light) = best for flowering.
Are lights like this any better? http://www.bltdirect.co.uk/item783.htm
The glass is coated. Me wonders if the coating changes the wavelength. Will it all be red/blue light or is the light going to be absorbed in the bulbs color and produce crappier light?
A coloured glass absorb more light. All the coloured bulbs ive seen are far less efficients than normal one. If you want a very especific spectrum, try the special color wich some brands have (reds from Osram and Phillips, as well as blue; in CFL, Osram have the DuluxS 9W in both and Dulux L 24W in blue).
When using CFLs, as large the watage per tube wich form the bulb, best efficiency. CFLs below 26w have very poor efficiency (less than 65lm/w in 830 color). Higher ones give from 65 to 75 lm/w. And the more efficient CFLs are of type L (they are like a fluo tube bended by half, forming a twin tube), wich reach 87lm/w. They have other advantage, they are no integrated CFLs, so you can put the ballast outside the cabinet, reducing heat, and they achive a more even lighting, better when grow SCROG and SOG. And when you replace it, only must buy the lamp, not the lamp and ballast.
I grow in 5 sqft with 4 DuluxL 55w /830 with very good results.
All brands type L CFLs are compatible between (Osram Dulux L, Phillips PL-L, Sylvania Linx L, GE Biax L ...) and higher watages (>36w) need electronic ballast (they are relative cheap, a good investment, paid itselves in 1-1,5years).
BobBong, what CFL watts are those that you use? :stoned:
Great info knna, glad to see i'm not the only one having good success with these bulbs (even a year after purchase and hundreds of hours of use).
The bulbs i use are 45w each and put out approx. 29000 lummens in total.
Picture was taken today, actually.. just now... i'm looking at a week from my first harvest.
Happy toking :)
Bob.
I decided to harvest early i guess.. well, more of a haircut really...
On with the flowering!
....mmmm stinky...
Here's a few of the plant post-cut. she's pretty much leveled off like a hedge :D
we'll see how she recovers from her haircut...