CFL vs. fluro tubes

[windex]

I'm new here!

I've been lurking around reading grow logs and such and have decided to start growing. Everyone here makes it look so easy, although I know it is the opposite, for most.

With that being said, I have started planning on what to do before my sprouts actually start growing. At first I thought I would use fluorescent tubes, and I have one that is 17 w, equivalent to a 75 w incandescent bulb, which I will use for the sprouts. I thought I would get about 6 of these and just put them in a row on a panel and adjust it according to the height of the plant, for vegging. I'm not sure about the CCT of these, as it does not say on the box nor on the company's website. The most I got from them was "we use 2700k on most inside bulbs and 6500k on most outside bulbs". So, if these fluorescent tubes are, as they say, 2700k, I was thinking I would need a different lighting situation...

My second thought was I would get five 30 watt CFLs, equivalent to 100 watt incandescants. I would put the 5 bulbs in a pattern on a panel like the one you would find on dice. The panel will be height adjustable. The CFLs are 30 watt, 2000 lumens, at 6400k full spectrum.

Do you think this lighting situation would do?

I have a small growspace, about 20 sq ft (I'm not planning to use the whole thing if I don't have to, I want to light accordingly, and I'm planning to have about 5 plants.

I have all the fertilizer, soil, veintilation, etc. figured out, I'm just a little unsure about the lighting! Thanks!

windex Reviewed by windex on 12-29-2007. CFL vs. fluro tubes I'm new here! I've been lurking around reading grow logs and such and have decided to start growing. Everyone here makes it look so easy, although I know it is the opposite, for most. With that being said, I have started planning on what to do before my sprouts actually start growing. At first I thought I would use fluorescent tubes, and I have one that is 17 w, equivalent to a 75 w incandescent bulb, which I will use for the sprouts. I thought I would get about 6 of these and just put Rating: 5

[windex]

[I can't edit my first post?]

Instead of 5 plants, I've decided 3 plants for every group of 5 30 watt CFLs.

I also have another question, if I start flowering once it gets around 12" (assuming it looks healthy), will having lights just from above be enough? Or should I have from the sides too, or would that cause leaning? I would think the top leaves would take up most of that light, and a sufficient amount of light wouldn't get to the lower leaves.

[Roughrider]

First off, welcome. I'm still kinda new here too. Great board.

Now the bad news--no, you aren't going to have enough light for 5 plants, at least not in flower. I'm not sure if I'm reading your grow space right...20 sq. ft. is pretty huge. We're talking about needing 100,000 lumens huge. And it's way more than you'd need for 5 plants. 8 sq. ft. would be plenty for five plants; 6 is plenty for four plants.

Five 2000 lumen bulbs will give you 10,000 lumens, which is enough to do a very good job on flowering 2 sq. ct. and a fair job on maybe 2.5 sq. ft. That's enough for, maybe, two plants. But that's just talking about flowering...all the leaf/flower areas really need light then. When you're in veg, the plants are smaller. You can get away with less. You can veg six plants under 150w of CFLs...you could fit six 5â?� pots into a 15â?� x 10â?� area. It would probably be good for a few weeks. But if you plan to flower six girls, you'll definitely need lots more light. And, yes, with CFLs, it's nice to have a few down low for under canopy penetration.

[windex]

Thanks! I enjoy reading these boards, I'm glad I've finally joined.

Anyway, I was planning on using only about 4 sqft for the 10,000 lumens and 3 plants. If I needed the other 16 sqft, I could expand, but I was just saying that was the space I had to work with.

So, since 10,000 lumens is a little skimpy, I was thinking maybe I could use 8 [30w/6500k fullspec/2000 lumen] CFLs? That would be about 16,000 lumens for 3 plants/4 sqft.

For flowering I still need to stick with CFLs, but I was thinking I could use a different spectrum of CFLs, maybe 3000k and under, and increase the lumens to around 24,000. Does this flowering business sound like a good proposal? (These numbers are assuming that I have 3 females, which I probably and almost definitely won't. So with that said...)

I plan to have 5,300 lumens for each plant (vegging), and 8,000 lumens for flowering; with CCT adjusted accordingly (meaning high K/CCT for veg and low K/CCT for flower)

Thanks in advance!

[Roughrider]

10,00 lumens is probably enough for the first few weeks...until your plants get big, you can veg 6 plants with 10,000 lumens. I usually start 6-8 plants under 3 10.5â?� reflector units with Y-sockets at 26w bulbs...it's 10,000 lumens, and it;s fine for the first two weeks. Plants are small, you keep them close together. It';s when they start to get big and have more area to absorb the light energy that you need more light.

Your proposition sounds fine. Change to the warm white (2700-3000k) bulbs. One thing about CFLs is that they're pretty consistent in efficiency. HID lights get more efficient as they get larger; CFL's are almost all between 65-70 lumens per watt. For a normal plant, that means around 70 watts/5000 lumens per square foot. You can flower 3-4 plants with 24,000 lumens. Good luck!

[pudder]

I used 8 4100k CFLs for 10 plants in a rough 4 square foot cab. I ended up with 2 girls and these girls did fine with the lights that I had. The CFLs that I had were the same wattage and were 100 watt equiv. I pulled a half ounce of these 2 plants. I also did nothing to these plants no LST or anything and pulled then at 2 1/2 feet. I really didn't care about how much i git from my first grow. Now I know how to grow and what they need. So this helps in the long run.

Its your first grow man. Use it for a learning experience. Try what you can afford because if you stick with it it will cost you more to upgrade. which is fine like I said use it as a sorta tool, an experience. It will be very helpful for future grows. These plants will grow with the lights you are using. Experiment and you will learn what they need and what works best for you. Everyones experiences are different.

Oh and continue reading eveything you can. This is one of the biggest things that will help you grow.

[windex]

10,00 lumens is probably enough for the first few weeks...until your plants get big, you can veg 6 plants with 10,000 lumens. I usually start 6-8 plants under 3 10.5â?� reflector units with Y-sockets at 26w bulbs...it's 10,000 lumens, and it;s fine for the first two weeks. Plants are small, you keep them close together. It';s when they start to get big and have more area to absorb the light energy that you need more light.

Your proposition sounds fine. Change to the warm white (2700-3000k) bulbs. One thing about CFLs is that they're pretty consistent in efficiency. HID lights get more efficient as they get larger; CFL's are almost all between 65-70 lumens per watt. For a normal plant, that means around 70 watts/5000 lumens per square foot. You can flower 3-4 plants with 24,000 lumens. Good luck!

Thanks, you've helped me much! I know there are a lot of threads/questions about lighting here so I felt a little dumb posting something so...redundant but I just wanted a straight forward answer from someone who has had good results. When I was reading different guides and books they all didn't say much information about CFLs. I look forward to (officially) starting. I think I may start a grow log...I'm still debating.

I used 8 4100k CFLs for 10 plants in a rough 4 square foot cab. I ended up with 2 girls and these girls did fine with the lights that I had. The CFLs that I had were the same wattage and were 100 watt equiv. I pulled a half ounce of these 2 plants. I also did nothing to these plants no LST or anything and pulled then at 2 1/2 feet. I really didn't care about how much i git from my first grow. Now I know how to grow and what they need. So this helps in the long run.

Its your first grow man. Use it for a learning experience. Try what you can afford because if you stick with it it will cost you more to upgrade. which is fine like I said use it as a sorta tool, an experience. It will be very helpful for future grows. These plants will grow with the lights you are using. Experiment and you will learn what they need and what works best for you. Everyones experiences are different.

Oh and continue reading eveything you can. This is one of the biggest things that will help you grow.

Half ounce for each or total? If I got that much (each OR total) I would be satisfied, although from reading what people here have been growing it seems most people expect around 2 oz. per plant...

I've read so much! I found a post, I can't remember if it was here or another place, but it had 20 books (in PDF files) about marijuana-related things, and about 6 of them were about growing. Reading the grow logs here help, too, along with all the other parts of the forum. I've been reading constantly because I feel like I'm going to fxck it up. I'm confident but I have low expectations...I think that's a pretty good mind set to have starting this kind of project :thumbsup:

Thanks guys

[theelectrician]

i like floros myself but they lack depth penatration sooo keep the plants short use 4ft floros for top ltg. and drop ur cfls to light the middle sections of the plant also keep the growing space tight you dont want to waste any of your light