Soft White CFL's

[Stylus]

pass that shit they do tell you on the package if the bulb is cool warm or soft... sometimes there showed by a lil bar that goes from red to blue on the top of the package there will be a line in that bar tellin what kind of light it puts out. if the line is in the blue side its a cool light. same rule applies for the red side
stylus

[whitestalkslongwalks]

Good Q kamikaze...

The A...the sun, that is, what of its wavelengths are visible and not visible to us, are all there at one time. The sun doesn't shift from 6500K during the day down to 2100K toward the time it dips under the horizon.

The atmosphere filters some colors making others more prevalent during sunrise and sunset...but thats just to our eye's limited capabilities. Otherwise, all it's colors are being cast...all the time.


A growing plant utilizes the blues (cool) more effeciently for vegatative growth than it does the warmer colors, (ambers and reds)...the flowering stage utilizes the warmer colors for the process of blooming.

Nearly any color temperature will get a grow by, this game though is best played using the right color light for the stage of growth at hand.

strangely enough, when the sun is setting/rising, the reason it looks more orange is because light on the more red side of the spectrum IS what's getting through. light more towards the blue side of the spectrum has a shorter wavelength (i think) and not as much of it makes it to earth. so, actually, in winter you probably do get a higher proportion of red light as there is less full daylight


so, even thought the sun itself is still putting out the same amount of light, across the whole visible spectrum, less blue light gets through at the beginning and end of the day. the reason is that as the earth tilts away from the sun, we become farther away from it, and it's harder for blue light to make it that far.

so, actually, i'd say your logic is flawed; still, i think the reason plants flower in the wild is not because of the color but the amount of light per day

[Lord Dangly Bits]

So what's with all the soft/warm/cool white discussion? Is this simply optimizing the wavelengths, or it is completely necessary. I only ask because I've been searching but have only found warm white CFLs, which apparently aren't the recommended veg lights. I mean, the sun doesn't magically shift its spectral output, so how does that factor into decreased yield if say I used warm white CFLs throughout the entire process?

The Sun Does magically Change the light spectrum as the seasons change. With a little help from his friends. As the Earth Rotates around the sun, and the axes of the Earth pushes the North Pole Away from the Sun, The Sunlight hits the place you are at, at more of an angle. The light has to tavel through more atmophere to reach you, and is not as direct as during summer months. So here is you change of light spectrum from the sun.

Also, As I always thought, Soft light, and cool light are the same. As I know CFL's they go Cool/soft light, Warm Light, and Day Light. The three levels. You know, no one who sells these lights seem to know anything about them, which is true of most items in any store now a days. I miss the old days when you could walk into most Hardware stores and they would know where something is, and also know how to use it and connect it and such. Now they most likely do not evne know what it is for.