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...
5 CoolWhite CFL's @ 45=150w,2800L.
5 WarmWhite Incandescents for an added red haze. notice the red hue in the pictures,the wall should be off-white not pinkish orange.
Incandscent isn't ideal obviously.. they create a lot of heat...
Yes, i'm sweating like a dog, but my plant has great airflow...:stoned:
VERY nice thread allive done several grows myself and have never tryed a cfl grow from what i can see it looks great...props too all and bob love ur threads....garden knowm was wondering if i could possible get a link or and info u may have on ur book? ty all for ur info and support
Very nice buds, BB. Im very happy with mines, very good quality, but yours are so compact!:dance:
I think maybe the incans make the difference. Ive heard that in the "golden years", when HPS and MH dont exist, people growing with fluos supplement them with incans to increase yield, but ive never seen this put in practice. But what ive heard is that only with 25w incan bulbs is enough. I will try it, or maybe try with 730nm leds, because the question is the fluo's lacking of far red.
bob i have been checking your thread out and you have do a good job growing using cfl's. you helped me to grow using cfls, now i have 4/ 125w reds in now. hope to do well with cfl's.
NICE!
GG23
Bong, how do i install the sockets when i cant plug them in the wall?
nvm Bong, can i see the pictures of how you installed your lights please? thank you
this is a great thread, i think this convinced me to not use an hps just yet, just a bunch of cfls
I'm happy! sometimes , not all the time.. but sometimes people get way in over their head thinking they need an HPS and heavy duty equipement to grow successfully. sometimes the best thing to do is start small, and get larger.. this i believe apply's to all horticulture.. after all.. they do start as seed.Quote:
Originally Posted by keeko
Here's some more pics, it's pretty dry, been hanging for 4 days..i'm going to be removing the buds from the stem and bagging the harvest for another week.
smells...good in here...
yes, my camera sucks for super close ups, but you can clearly see the sparkle of crytals on the bud.
Cheers,
Bob.:stoned:
GREAT work, Bob ... :thumbsup:
How many CFL's (wattage and lumens) do u you recommend on one plant....
I have a 30w CFL=2000 lumens 125 equivalent 6000k
Will that work?
im impressed
BobBong, why didnt u reply to my post?
Sorry Mikey, i missed your replies on at the bottom of the 2nd page there...Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikey The Pothead
I've wired the sockets as a parrallel circuit, so that i'm able to turn on individual lights as opposed to having to have all on at the same time
The configuration of the bulbs will vary.
You CAN set it up in a series circuit, but i do not suggest this, as you'll need to have all the lights on in order for any of them to work. Similar to some christmas lights...
Hope this helps.. and remember to excercise caution when working with 120vAC but especially if you're in europe where the voltage is 220v . When wiring anything please use common sense... don't have any water around, make your work neat and proper...make sure that leads do not contact eachother anywhere and USE A POWER BAR WITH A CIRCUIT BREAKER ON IT.
this is helpful if you do have a short.. the powerbar will recognize the short and cut the power to your setup.
And of course.. please.. invest in a fire extinguisher... even if it's a 2lb one.
I finally bought a fire extinguisher this year... the day i bought it, my uncle had to use to an hour later.. as some idiot had thrown a lit cigarette butt over their balcony and it landed in an open box on our balcony..
Fire...is more dangerous than anyone of us tend to believe...please don't burn your place down...
Happy and SAFE constructing..
Bob.
The switches in the Parrallel Circuit are optioinal switches... this can be from the on/off on your power bar..or...if you buy on/off light sockets with a chain.
many of my lights are simply directly powered on by the power bar.. but i can turn off any light i wish by simply pulling the chain
Don't simply wire up a light socket to a cord and plug it into the wall... this is proabably not the best idea...and if you're not sure that what you've done is 100% correct before powering on, then you should BE sure...you're dealing with electricity and high enough voltage to serious harm or even kill people...so simply use common sense.. if you can't do that then you shouldn't be growing anyway
That's the proper bulb to start out with, but you'll need more than one if you expect a half decent plant out of it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pothead4204life
try 3..and see how one plant does, then if needbe add more
i thought about doing cfl's exclusively...but the wiring problems sort of turned me off. The 4ft shop lights at home depot are $7 and twopacks of bulbs are $3 and they plug right into an outlet strip. I asked around about utility string lights like latewood suggested but no one has heard of them. The closest thing anyone at HD could hype me to was 'clamp lights' that are a socket connected to a plug in cord with a large aluminum (sp) reflector. they were about $8 without the bulb. i'm going to get some cfls just to strew about the grow room during flower......when i get some scratch.
(i found a joint named 'the light bulb depot' on the side of the road, i'm excited to see what kind of wattage they have.....weird how growing changes the topics of your interest)
BobBong, thanks.. i have one more question how many plants are you growing under those 6 cfls, and if you use a fan what kind?
BobBong, i remember we studied Series and parallel circuits in grade 9 science, but i don't remember anything from it, so if possible can you please explain to me how do i connect my bulbs as a parallel circuit? thank you
just adding to the cfl show
[attachment=o69633]
[attachment=o69634]
about to harvest my first grow this week bob, how much did that cfl grow yeild for you im thinking about following a setup simmilar to yours for my second grow
BobBong, have you notice differences adding the incans or you never grow with CFL without incans?
Yes.... yes i have. I've notived a heat difference too :PQuote:
Originally Posted by knna
incandescents can only assist the light spectrum in achieving a more red ambience
On another note though... I've completed the grow.. bringing my present farming career to an end. It was good and i feel i've gained enough knowledge to be able to grow under many different circumstances.. using.. any kind of light. Perhaps i will grow again.. perhaps.. i doubt this will be my last grow.. but for now...
:smokin:
Post cut.
when purchasing CFL's the package gives a
x watt amount but only uses x amount watts
when i see people posting they are using a 125w... are they using the lights that say "125w but only uses 65w" lights?
basically is the 125w the actual watts or is say the 65w the actual watts
hapapride, the way i understand it is that the 65watts is the amount of energy being used by the light, but the output is the 125w, so thats how much your plant is getting from that one bulb.......somebody correct me if im wrong though.
When someone says they are using a 105 watt CFL, they are actually using a 105 CFL..its Equivalant to a 400 watt incadescent
keeko thanks for the info
Pothead4204life so are you saying... for example, the package would read 400w but uses only 105w? I am not sure if you understand the question, maybe you do and i am just not understanding you
If the package says 105 watt CFL, they are actually only using 105 watts....if you look around the package, it will state the equivalancy to an incandescent
^^ ok ok ... gotcha... so it is being compared to if you were to use a incandescent.... thanks!
Im pretty sure I read somewhere about infrared light increasing resin or thc later in flowering, was wondering if incadescent would be good for this purpose as incandescent puts out alot of light in the infrared spectrum.
any coments on this