flowering question

[hanayama]

so i am about to send my 2 plants into flowering.
i kinda need to soon. i have ordered a hps, but its not here yet.
they were vegged under cfl's.
could i start flowering them under the cfls until the hps got here?
what would be the down side of doing that? would it lower my yield if they were under the cfl's for the first week or so?

hanayama Reviewed by hanayama on 01-25-2008. flowering question so i am about to send my 2 plants into flowering. i kinda need to soon. i have ordered a hps, but its not here yet. they were vegged under cfl's. could i start flowering them under the cfls until the hps got here? what would be the down side of doing that? would it lower my yield if they were under the cfl's for the first week or so? Rating: 5

[hybridlove420]

yes, you can flower under cfls in 12/12. however.....

1) the hps will probably provide many times more light for it.
2) i assume your cfls are cool white/daylights, and ideal cfls for flowering are the warm whites.
3)yes, your yield would reduce slightly if its deprived of optimal spectrums and levels of light, but not by much over a week.

if you havent begun flowering yet, id suggest you wait for the bulb. that extra veg. period will only help to increase the yield anyways...:rasta:

[Mr. Clandestine]

I'd imagine that the plants won't flower as quickly in the first week, but if there's going to be an HPS overhead soon, it'll probably make up for any time lost. Wire up the big light as soon as you can get your hands on it, and in the meantime, make sure your ventilation can handle a hotter burning light.

I don't see much (if any) flower production in the first week of 12/12 anyway, even using stronger lights right from the start. Good luck with your grow! :jointsmile:

[hanayama]

on another topic... what should i be shooting for lumen/ft wise for flowering.
for veg i have several cfl's, which seems to be plenty.
but what about flowering?

[Mr. Clandestine]

The more lumens put out by the light, the fatter your buds will be in the end. Your 400W HPS bulb probably puts out somewhere near 45,000 lumens. Depending on how much space you have, you can determine roughly how much you'll be receiving per square foot. That's a good starting point. If you feel that the light isn't strong enough, you can always add more...or upgrade to a larger system. Besides heat restrictions, there is no overkill when it comes to light/lumens during flowering. At least, I've never heard anyone complain of having too much light before. The more you have, and are able to sustain, the fatter your final yield will most likely be. Just remember to match how much you spend on lighting with about how much you spend on ventilation. Do that, and upgrade to your hearts content! :jointsmile:

Here's a website I came across recently. I haven't had the time to play around with it, but the yield calculator looks pretty interesting: Indoor YOR

[hanayama]

i only have a 2x5 area...give or take.
so im pretty sure that a 400 watter will suffice.

have you ever heard of putting reflective material over the top of the bucket, so light is reflected on the underside of the plant?(it would be removable, so air would still get to the soil) worth it?

[Mr. Clandestine]

have you ever heard of putting reflective material over the top of the bucket, so light is reflected on the underside of the plant?(it would be removable, so air would still get to the soil) worth it?

I've seen and heard of it being done, but as to its effectiveness, I can't say too much about it. I can't see how it would hurt, other than possibly creating some "hot-spots". It might also help to keep minor annoyances like fungus gnats at bay, at least to an extent. I just wouldn't make it air-tight, since I don't know what kind of environment it would provide for your soil (or whatever planting medium you're currently using.)

You might think of making another thread inquiring into its effectiveness. I know I've seen pictures around here of people who've used that method. They should be able to give you some insight into any difference that it may make. Good luck to ya!

[hanayama]

gracias clandestine!

the reflective material i am using is on a thin foam board, so it wouldn't be air tight, just resting on top.

[Mr. Clandestine]

De nada, amigo! I could also see that idea working out well if you decided to use low fluorescent lighting along with the HPS later. More reflectivity isn't a bad thing at all. Thank you for bringing it up, now I'm gonna try it!

[Mr. Clandestine]

P.S. - That +rep was supposed to read "You reminded me that I wanted to try this out.", but I'm ridiculously stoned and I think that "You -- is all that I managed to write before accidentally hitting the Enter key. It's taking me 20 minutes just to type a damn paragraph, too. I should probably go, before I do any more brain to my damage...
:S5: