is this sufficient light?

[FunkMeister]

i found a good deal at home depot for 10 x 26w CFL's. 1600 lumens a peice, 6500k, just 30 bucks!

im using all of those, flat white paint, and 2 x 27 watt CFL's at 1300 lumens a peice, 5500k, with tin flood dishes around these two

so at the math, its 18,600 lumens, bassically mostly a 6500k, and at 314watts.. is that good enough for one plant on a veg stage?

FunkMeister Reviewed by FunkMeister on 11-16-2008. is this sufficient light? i found a good deal at home depot for 10 x 26w CFL's. 1600 lumens a peice, 6500k, just 30 bucks! im using all of those, flat white paint, and 2 x 27 watt CFL's at 1300 lumens a peice, 5500k, with tin flood dishes around these two so at the math, its 18,600 lumens, bassically mostly a 6500k, and at 314watts.. is that good enough for one plant on a veg stage? Rating: 5

[TurboALLWD]

I've grown with 10 26w cfls and it can do two plants pretty nice for veg, althought i'd highly suggest a 250w for flowering.

[FunkMeister]

I've grown with 10 26w cfls and it can do two plants pretty nice for veg, althought i'd highly suggest a 250w for flowering.

why do u say that? i was assuming i could just swap out the bulbs for 2700k CFL's and be just fine (itd be more watts then 250..?)

[jdsoil]

Hi FunkMeister,

For one plant you should be fine with running all those CFL's. I am on my first grow and am using 18 -23 and 26watt bulbs and am getting buds. I might not yield as much as I could if using a HPS but I am still getting a lot of buds. When I vegged I used 12-26 watt 6500k, now in flowering I am using 12-23 watt 2700k and 6-26 watt 6500k bulbs. In regards to the 250 watt hps, it will put out more lumens then your CFL's, thus more usable light with less power.
My suggestion, grow it out with the cfl's if your new to growing, get used to it, see if ya want to keep growing all the time, if you do (i am sure you will), then invest in a equivalent hps and change all the light bulbs in the house to your leftover cfl's(win win situation right). Your almost at the 400 watt marker with your cfl's, a 400 watt hps puts out 50,000 lumens, compare that with the 28,000 est. lumens from 400watts of cfl's, its almost double the light output!

[FunkMeister]

ah i see, yah my dog as a 600w hps that hes gonna let me use for flowering.. how do i use that light when time comes for flowering? (i.e., how much do i use it for the 12 hours of light, do u need to use other lights with it as well?.. etc etc)

[TurboALLWD]

Im using a 600w hps and it is the SHIT. Its not just about the light output, its also about the penetration, if the lights are not penetrating past the canopy you wont have nearly as much growth as you should under the canopy. 12/12 on the hps.