CFL Question

[rusbus]

Hi, Im new to growing and wanted some advice about lighting. Im going to be growing two plants and I wanted to use a CFL bulb as apposed to a HPS, but concerned about the effectiveness of the CLF. I see some strains will flower on 45 days, but I assume this is with HPS bulb, but what difference will I be looking at if I use CLF, will it take maybe 55 days for the flowering? What size CLF bulb would be good for two plants? Also is the yield of the plant smaller with CLF?

rusbus Reviewed by rusbus on 11-21-2008. CFL Question Hi, Im new to growing and wanted some advice about lighting. Im going to be growing two plants and I wanted to use a CFL bulb as apposed to a HPS, but concerned about the effectiveness of the CLF. I see some strains will flower on 45 days, but I assume this is with HPS bulb, but what difference will I be looking at if I use CLF, will it take maybe 55 days for the flowering? What size CLF bulb would be good for two plants? Also is the yield of the plant smaller with CLF? Rating: 5

[Roughrider]

Time for flowering will be pretty much the same regardless of the type of light. Once you flip to 12/12, the plants goes into flower mode and uses its own internal clock.

CFLs work very well for small grows. You haven't said how big you want to let your plants get or how much room you have for the grow. This will dictate how many CFLs you use and where you place them. If you've got the room, I'd suggest using two 10" clamp lights from Wal-Mart and get some Y-adaptors and rig them for four bulbs each. One of those over a plant will give you lots of canopy coverage. If you really want to do it right, I'd get a lamp and put a Y-adaptor and use two more bulbs...put that between the plants for some lower canopy coverage during flower. If you buy the Wal-Mart bulbs, the total price for all of this will be around $80 (that includes 6500k bulbs for veg and 2700k for flower). You can get a couple plants up to maybe 3' with that set up.