When am I using too many watts?

[TheGreenFog]

Great post Al B. I'm starting to like ya already.

Yea, I think another way of saying what onequickmove was saying is...

if you were to put the same replace your 400 watt HPS system (~55,000 lumens) with 400 true watts of CFL lights (~26,000 lumens), you would be drawing the same amount of power/electricity (400 watts), but you would be giving your plants less than half of the lumens than you had with your HPS. This means that the HPS is at least twice as efficient as the CFLs.

As was already stated, CFLs are mainly used when (a) you have a small startup capital and need to buy cheaper lighting fixtures...or (b) when you are trying to combat heat in a place where you would not be able to cool a large HID lamp. CFLs run cooler, but cannot compete with HPS in terms of penetration, quality and efficiency. CFLs penetrate a maximum of ~6 inches. A 400wHPS should penetrate ~18 inches. Big difference.


Just some info. Maybe a little clarification? Be cool.


The Fog :rastasmoke:

[PharmaCan]

There's also the hassle factor. To have good light you need a lot of cfl's and, if you are using them properly, the lights constantly need moving because they are only a couple of inches from the plants and the plants are growing that much everyday.

I just moved from a box with cfl's to a cabinet with MH's and the cabinet is soooo much easier in terms of dealing with the lighting.

But.... I have the cfl box all set up with timer and fans and everyhing so I'm sure going to keep it and I can have an isolated growing environment anytime I want.

[TheGreenFog]

More good points, Pharma. Definitely. The moving of the lights if you are using multiple CFLs is a definite hassle. They're great for cloning...decent for veg & mothers, but not ideal for bloom.

Hey, Pharma. You can use that box to flower males and then harvest the pollen...pollinate one of your females...stock up on seeds incase anything ever happens that makes you break down or get rid of your mothers. *knock on wood*


The Fog :rastasmoke:

[PharmaCan]

More good points, Pharma. Definitely. The moving of the lights if you are using multiple CFLs is a definite hassle. They're great for cloning...decent for veg & mothers, but not ideal for bloom.

Hey, Pharma. You can use that box to flower males and then harvest the pollen...pollinate one of your females...stock up on seeds incase anything ever happens that makes you break down or get rid of your mothers. *knock on wood*


The Fog :rastasmoke:

You know, Fog, I was thinking of this but, where the hell am I going to get a male of the same strain? Are herme seeds viable? I suppose I could stress the hell out of a plant and try to force it to go herme. The two strains I have now produce killer weed. I've smoked bud from the same mothers. I would want to keep the strain pure, so seeds are a bit problematic - at least in my limited knowledge.

And I'd have to move the box far away, like to a different address, because of the potential for the pollen to get into my ventillation system.

[TheGreenFog]

Yea...you could force it to hermie but like you said, I would be weary of using those seeds and being confident that they won't go hermie. However, if it is stress that is causing the hermie to show and not the genetics, then you should be pretty safe when you get the seeds. They will theoretically be feminized as well.

I'm sure you could get ahold of some seeds for your strains and find a male, though. I forgot what you're growing. Master or Bubba or OG Kush or something, right? You should be able to get some seeds somewhere. Or get a different strain and cross the bitch. :weedpoke: Either way, it was just an idea to use your spare box. And on the subject of CFLs, you don't have to have strong light to flower a male for pollen...so CFLs are ideal for that.

I hear you about the possible pollen contamination...and since your vent system is so pimp imp:, using the house a/c and all, you would want to be careful for sure.


The Fog :rastasmoke:

[PharmaCan]

I hate to hijack this guy's thread, but he's only made one post soooo....

I've got MasterxBubba and White Widow.

I would want to keep males far, far away from any grow. But once one has some male pollen collected it appears easy enough to fertilize a select number of buds for seeds.

Well, right now I need to master the art of growing but, as time goes by, I'm sure experimenting with seeds and genetics is just a natural step in the process.

[TheGreenFog]

Yea, true. And I think it's no problem about the hijack. Basically it's a spin off of the CFL/efficiency/how many watts...subject, so it's all relevant. Not really a jackhi...plus...he needs to come back and post! hehe

So how's the weather? lol


The Fog :rastasmoke:

[AsianStoner420]

lol dude ur getting paranoid as flock

[Al B. Fuct]

PharmaCan, I'm not so sure that the rigamarole of getting pollen to make seeds is all that necessary to an ongoing, continuous output op. I'm not otherwise sure of your purposes for doing this.

I sprouted 5 Sweet Tooth #4 (Spice of Life seeds) beans about 5-6 years ago- and have been using the stock ever since. I replace mother plants with one of their progeny about every 4-6 wks.

Here and there, I've seen cautions about taking clones of clones of clones forever and ever- but I've had no problems. ST4 still produces like it always has, since the first batch I flowered many years ago.

TGF said:

if you were to put the same replace your 400 watt HPS system (~55,000 lumens) with 400 true watts of CFL lights (~26,000 lumens), you would be drawing the same amount of power/electricity (400 watts), but you would be giving your plants less than half of the lumens than you had with your HPS. This means that the HPS is at least twice as efficient as the CFLs.

Spot on. Well said. BTW, thanks for the compliment,

However, even 26K lumens of CFL is still low intensity light. Suffice it to say that a CFL lumen is not quite equal to an HPS lumen; kinda apples and applesauce.

Here's a 250W HPS rated for 28K initial and 25K avg lumens. Remote the ballast outside the op airmass and I can't see how this would put more heat into the op air than 400W worth of CFL. Could very easily be cool-tubed for a micro op.

I'd put a 150W HPS (avg 14K lumens) up against 300W worth of CFLs in a small flowering situation any day of the week.

The purchase cost is similar, the running cost of HPS per lumen is much less, and HPS tube replacement is MUCHO cheaper at $20, compared to the cost of big self-ballasted CFLs.

Yes, CFLs have a purpose- but flowering isn't the best use of them... and the REALLY BIG CFLs (80-100W actual consumption and higher) are simply not a good choice compared to HPS or MH. If you think you need a huge CFL, what you probably need is a small HPS!

[PharmaCan]

PharmaCan, I'm not so sure that the rigamarole of getting pollen to make seeds is all that necessary to an ongoing, continuous output op. I'm not otherwise sure of your purposes for doing this.

I'm not a real greedy kinda guy, in fact quite the opposite, and it would please me no end to be able to share a good strain with others. Seeds would be the easiest way to do that. Not any kind of commercial venture but just sharing, giving good strains to nice people who will grow them. That would be one motivation.

Also, having any kind of a grow op pretty much means that you are married to that op 24/7/365, unless it is completely automated. Anyway, with the amount of time one devotes to this hobby, I'd think it might be fun and interesting to cross some strains and seeds would be about the only way to do that.

But, who the hell knows what the future will bring. It's all pretty much speculation until you get there and do it.