Compact Fluorescent Light Discussion

[GrowinGreen23]

incandesants whats is this like a regular everyday bulb or are these the CFL's? only cause you mentioned LIP that it only promotes the stem growth like higher not so much thicker, why is this?

Growingreen23

[SkillzRemix]

hello everyone wassup bobbong actually when i first became intrested in cultivation i spent several nights just reading over previouse grow logs and yours were definietly insightfull i mentioned it several times in previouse post including my first grow log under bkskillz which i recently completed and a continueing i attempted to complete growing with cfls but became sidetracked and progress hungry and switched over to 250w hps but i aggree completely theres relativly no better alternative for the cost friendly grower then cfls and thus far a combanation of cfls and hid's seems to work wonders as well especially if you mix up the kelvins such as my grow which consist of the 250w hps then 2 55w 5000k(blue spectrum) cfl's...i also have several 2700k(red spectrum) cfls but i tend to use those for the week prior to my clones going under the hps...moving on seeing as you did ask for questions i'll start it off with a good foundation point im sure youve already included the brake down of the kelvins chart in your faq(which a cfl faq is way over due in my opinion) but for those first timers can you brake down the spacific differences in light spectrums and there end results with that said great to see you posting in the cultivation section and safe growing!

[NewGrower]

Cool Bob Can't wait to see that FAQ and start a CFL Grow seen the pic's from your last grows and they looked Great most ppl would prob want to know what type of cfls and how much is need per Square foot of space and that type of soil when to switch to diffren't specturm lights for flowering what nutrients you use thats about all i can think of for now

[GrowinGreen23]

you can use the same lights from what i heard it's just a change in the cycle

[GrowinGreen23]

hey bon in your threads i noticed you had CFL's and regular bulbs, don't they just stretch the plants and provide no lumens? what is there purpose

[LIP]

incandesants whats is this like a regular everyday bulb or are these the CFL's? only cause you mentioned LIP that it only promotes the stem growth like higher not so much thicker, why is this?

Growingreen23

Yes, incandesant bulbs are your every day household bulbs, that produce NO lumens, and are the wrong psectrum, therefor rendering them useless.

[postmandave]

Questoin bob.Hw much are these cfls to run as expensive as hps or cheaper?
Thats mty first questoin lol.The Postman.

[BobBong]

Yes, incandesant bulbs are your every day household bulbs, that produce NO lumens, and are the wrong psectrum, therefor rendering them useless.

Hey guys, thanks for the input.. It's helpin make this FAQ come along nicely.

I'd like to talk Incandescent

I found this in my CFL research, thought it'd shed some light on the incandescent issue.
""In a 120 volt, 100 watt "standard" bulb with a rated light output of 1750 lumens, the efficiency is 17.5 lumens per watt. This compares poorly to an "ideal" of 242.5 lumens per watt for one idealized type of white light, or 681 lumens per watt ideally for the yellowish-green wavelength of light that the human eye is most sensitive to.
Other types of incandescent light bulbs have different efficiencies, but all generally have efficiencies near or below 35 lumens per watt. Most household incandescent bulbs have efficiencies from 8 to 21 lumen per watt. Higher efficiencies near 35 lumens per watt are only achieved with photographic and projection lamps with very high filament temperatures and short lifetimes of a few hours to around 40 hours.
The reason for this poor efficiency is the fact that tungsten filaments radiate mostly infrared radiation at any temperature that they can withstand. An ideal thermal radiator produces visible light most efficiently at temperatures around 6300 Celsius (6600 Kelvin or 11,500 degrees Fahrenheit). Even at this high temperature, a lot of the radiation is either infrared or ultraviolet, and the theoretical luminous efficiency is 95 lumens per watt.""

So from this we see that Incandescent, like LIP says is almost useless. The percentage of useable lumen per watt ranges from 12 - 35lm/w Compared to practically any other type of lighting this is poor quality light. CFL's give us about 45-65 lumens per watt.
You can see there also the Overall Efficiency which makes it obvious that for 100watts it's really just not worth the heat and energy. However...It's still better than no light at all.

Incandescent than, should only be used as supplemental light...and that is if you have no other choice.

[BobBong]

but for those first timers can you brake down the spacific differences in light spectrums and there end results with that said great to see you posting in the cultivation section and safe growing!

The temperature of light varies from blue to red. Blue produces the most amount of growth...it is the light that plant utilize the most and is what the plant requires to produce as much photosynthesis as possible. The kelvin temperature for your plants will range from 5500k(blue) - 2200K(red). Fluorescent lighting can be found in varying kelvin temperatures to suit your specific needs. There are different "names" for these bulbs, such as "warm white", "soft white" and "cool white". "Warm white" being much lower on the kelvin scale, thus giving off a "warm" or red tone to it. "cool white" being the opposite of "warm white" and "soft white" being between the two to give a combination of both. Do not use "Soft white" this is between the red and blue spectrum, specifically designed to be easier on the eyes for some people. Often the lights in your lamp or kitchen fan will be "soft white". Plants do not see the middle of the kelvin colour temperatures.. yellow and green will not be seen by the plant...hence the whole Blue/Red conversion when it comes to flowering.

[BobBong]

Questoin bob.Hw much are these cfls to run as expensive as hps or cheaper?
Thats mty first questoin lol.The Postman.

There are many places that you can acquire these CFL bulbs. Home depot,Canadian Tire,Target,WalMart and MANY other places are carrying these bulbs now as they are becoming increasingly popular for workplace environments...and growers.
You will also be able to find many places online that will shop worldwide with reasonable prices...
Online maybe the best source for many people for these lights.. you will be able to find exactly the colour temperature you'd like (from 6000k to 2200k). Often the bulbs you find in your local hardware store will not be as good quality as the bulbs you can find online. These stores will not carry bulbs with specific kelvin colours.. rather advertise them as "warm","cool" and "soft" white.

These bulbs will range from 10$ -25$ and up(USD) depending on where you get them from..and the size you wish to go with