lighting opinions please

[toxinn]

so i have read many things about lighting, most importantly that light makes bud. I have a potential heat issue as well as a money issue (i just cant afford an hps light atm) so i have decided to grow using fluoro's, so here is where my question lies. i hear a great deal of talk about CLF's, but i use shoplights so my question is are they the same? is my 4 foot shoplight bulb at 40 watts the same is a 26 watt cfl bulb? i have 5 plants (DP fem power plant) about 15 days into flowering and i'm about to switch them to 3000k shoplites from the 5700k they are on now. my system is a dwc with 3 seperate 1.25 gallon reservoirs using the lucas nutrient system with GH nutes, 6 fluoro bulbs at i believe 40 watts each. so basically my questions are how much will i suffer by not having a hps light for flowering, are shoplights and cfl's the same (because the shoplights cover more area) and will i have enough light to get a decent yield out of my plants. like i said, i have heard of great harvests using fluoro's, so i just kinda want some opinions from experienced growers...i havent grown in about 5 or 6 years...so im a bit rusty. plus this is my first dwc, and it is going really well so far. oh and my total growing space is about 5x6 but the plants only encompass like 5 sq ft or so...your opinions are greatly appreciated.

-B

toxinn Reviewed by toxinn on 11-21-2008. lighting opinions please so i have read many things about lighting, most importantly that light makes bud. I have a potential heat issue as well as a money issue (i just cant afford an hps light atm) so i have decided to grow using fluoro's, so here is where my question lies. i hear a great deal of talk about CLF's, but i use shoplights so my question is are they the same? is my 4 foot shoplight bulb at 40 watts the same is a 26 watt cfl bulb? i have 5 plants (DP fem power plant) about 15 days into flowering and i'm Rating: 5

[socialistpete]

There is a specific forum for lighting you should ask there. I wouldn't grow with out an hps or the equivalent in Lumens. Just not worth the time to grow a nickel bag.

[macnasty]

those 4' shoplights are, in fact, compact flurescents. the difference is in intensity. a 23W CFL bulb will emit its lumens in a very small area, whereas the shoplights will disperse them in a wider range. just do the math. 4' @ 40 watts = 10 watts per foot of shoplight. very weak. 23 W CFL = 23W in one area. in the total space required to fit one shoplight, you can squeeze in half a dozen CFL's. i use a combination of shoplight tubes and cfl bulbs for vegging and mothers, but upgrade to HPS in flower. i dont have enough experience to tell you if it works, or if going straight cfl all the way works either. sorry. but 6 x 40W = 240W CFL. not bad, i'd say, but very few growers use less than a 400W hps, which emits more lumens than 400W cfl's. and you have roughly half that :/ doesn't sound promising. if the math is indicative, you can expect less than half the yield you would get under a 400W hps, and a fraction of what you'd expect under a 1000W Hps.

[oldsanclem]

Lighting has a bottom line , what goes in and what hits the plant. YES everyone would like to have a billion watts.
florsents 4 ft, full service shop light , with full service cool white or warm white.
If you look at a cpl you will see that only a little light comes directly down to the plants. while a FULL SERVICE MAG BALLAST, FULL SERVICE BULBS ABOUT 1/2 OF THE LIGHT LEAVES THE BULB directly. I did a test with some plants and got about 13 grams from 80 watts of florsents.
The bottom line in growing and blooming is .5 watts per gram month.
OR a 1000 watt bulb, in 2 months produces 1000 grams. I have a average of .468 gwm. Now scrogers get as much as .6 g/w/m , But I am lazy and thats to much work.
Some where thers a picture of bushes that are 32 in tall and 2 ft in dia . grown under 2 double full service ballast , full service bulbs ( NOTE NOT WATT SAVORS)
Things that make it work, everything, flat white, lots of air flow, good ferts (POT ferts !!!)
Use the cpf for the closet to keep the boogie man away.
SAFETY FIRST, Be happy and grow for fun