Compact Fluorescent Light Discussion

[lovetogrow]

thats all great and i used to grow with cfls but i went to hps and ill never go back you try hps and you will see huge diff

[BobBong]

thats all great and i used to grow with cfls but i went to hps and ill never go back you try hps and you will see huge diff

Of course... HPS is considerably better than any fluorescent lighting, this is a given... but this is not what the goal of this thread is. People ... a lot of people are unable to make their grows into something larger than they can reasonably handle. a 400 or 600 hps would be ideal of course.. but a little unorthadox for a one bedroom apartment....

For those that are unable to go that extra step into HPS or MH... this thread's for you.

[altec3]

I just bought some 25w 6500k cfls at walmart for 4.84 a bulb. Will these do well for seedlings? I plan on getting them as big as possible and then planting them outdoors when I go home for the summer. BTW this is a great thread

[teledingo]

Those should be great for seedlings.

6500K (cooler, whiter light)= best for seedlings and vegetative growth.

2700K (warmer, redder light) = best for flowering.

[Moose101]

Are lights like this any better? http://www.bltdirect.co.uk/item783.htm
The glass is coated. Me wonders if the coating changes the wavelength. Will it all be red/blue light or is the light going to be absorbed in the bulbs color and produce crappier light?

[knna]

A coloured glass absorb more light. All the coloured bulbs ive seen are far less efficients than normal one. If you want a very especific spectrum, try the special color wich some brands have (reds from Osram and Phillips, as well as blue; in CFL, Osram have the DuluxS 9W in both and Dulux L 24W in blue).

When using CFLs, as large the watage per tube wich form the bulb, best efficiency. CFLs below 26w have very poor efficiency (less than 65lm/w in 830 color). Higher ones give from 65 to 75 lm/w. And the more efficient CFLs are of type L (they are like a fluo tube bended by half, forming a twin tube), wich reach 87lm/w. They have other advantage, they are no integrated CFLs, so you can put the ballast outside the cabinet, reducing heat, and they achive a more even lighting, better when grow SCROG and SOG. And when you replace it, only must buy the lamp, not the lamp and ballast.

I grow in 5 sqft with 4 DuluxL 55w /830 with very good results.

All brands type L CFLs are compatible between (Osram Dulux L, Phillips PL-L, Sylvania Linx L, GE Biax L ...) and higher watages (>36w) need electronic ballast (they are relative cheap, a good investment, paid itselves in 1-1,5years).

[Ausguy]

BobBong, what CFL watts are those that you use? :stoned:

[BobBong]

Great info knna, glad to see i'm not the only one having good success with these bulbs (even a year after purchase and hundreds of hours of use).

The bulbs i use are 45w each and put out approx. 29000 lummens in total.

Picture was taken today, actually.. just now... i'm looking at a week from my first harvest.


Happy toking
Bob.

[BobBong]

I decided to harvest early i guess.. well, more of a haircut really...

On with the flowering!


....mmmm stinky...

[BobBong]

Here's a few of the plant post-cut. she's pretty much leveled off like a hedge

we'll see how she recovers from her haircut...