Flowering with GE Daylight fluorescents

[BONG0]

Im buying a HPS kit later on, obviously fluorescents cant top HID bulbs, but i was curious to howmuch of a yeald one could achieve with fluro's? as far as i know back in the 60s and 70s this was one of the only options to a home grower, so does anyone have experiance with flowering with thies lights?

BONG0 Reviewed by BONG0 on 11-06-2006. Flowering with GE Daylight fluorescents Im buying a HPS kit later on, obviously fluorescents cant top HID bulbs, but i was curious to howmuch of a yeald one could achieve with fluro's? as far as i know back in the 60s and 70s this was one of the only options to a home grower, so does anyone have experiance with flowering with thies lights? Rating: 5

[kindprincess]

yeild will be higher with kitchen and bath bulbs, two for 5$. they are the yellow spec, however you'll be able to get something with the 6500k bulbs, but i'm not sure what you could do...

have an old friend who uses cool white tubes the whole gro, has for 40 years... i don't know about his yeild, but he never runs out.

love, kp

[the image reaper]

I used Daylight fluorescent tubes for years, entire grow, worked OK, but I liked the flowering results I got from the GE Kitchen & Bath better , get them cheaply at WalMart, etc ... :smokin:

[jamstigator]

I've tried CFLs a couple of times. Yield was about half what I got later with better lighting, in terms of grams/watt. So, look for 0.25 to 0.5 grams per watt of CFLs you use during flowering. If you're a pessimist (0.25 grams/watt), then for every 30-watt (real watts) bulb you use, you might get a quarter ounce.

If you're looking to yield a quarter pound or more every 2-3 months, you should probably get a 400w HPS light or better. If you can live with less than that, then CFLs or flouro tubes would probably work fine.

Once you get a routine dialed in with a 400w light, you don't have to buy pot again, unless you smoke like a fiend. My last harvest (lighting was 400w light + eight 30-watt CFLs) was 12 ounces of bud and 4 ounces of leaf. If that had been 640 watts of just CFLs, the yield would have probably been about half that, maybe 2/3 of that (for the same cost in electricity).

Depends on your goals, really. If you want enough to smoke whenever you want, with some leftover to sell to friends to cover your costs in nutes, electricity, soil, hydro stuff, whatever, then get a 400w light. If you don't care about recovering those expenses, and are glad to pay them just to have something to smoke, then CFLs or tubes alone might work out great.

[Shovelhandle]

yeh well, the CFL 150watt HiMax avail 2700K or 5000K
and that is 9200 lumens (61 lumens/watt) not the best. I've seen no name guys claiming 3800Lu from 42W (79 lu/W)

Standard T5 HO in 2700K, 4500K or 5000K (or others) have a
92 lumens/watt. Very good!

Reg 48" 34 wattmiser T8 flourescent about 85 lu/watt. Cool, and fixtures are out there for cheap.

As I mentioned on anotherthread, HPS usually around 65Lu/watt for the low watts, 100 for the higher and as high as 150Lu/watt for premium grow lamps.

Then the decissions about heat byproduct, layout and other aspects. But, CFLs don't have much over florescent tubes and with quality reflectors I'd deff choise the tubes.

Shovlehandle

[Bree1978]

yeh well, the CFL 150watt HiMax avail 2700K or 5000K
and that is 9200 lumens (61 lumens/watt) not the best. I've seen no name guys claiming 3800Lu from 42W (79 lu/W)

Standard T5 HO in 2700K, 4500K or 5000K (or others) have a
92 lumens/watt. Very good!

Reg 48" 34 wattmiser T8 flourescent about 85 lu/watt. Cool, and fixtures are out there for cheap.

As I mentioned on anotherthread, HPS usually around 65Lu/watt for the low watts, 100 for the higher and as high as 150Lu/watt for premium grow lamps.

Then the decissions about heat byproduct, layout and other aspects. But, CFLs don't have much over florescent tubes and with quality reflectors I'd deff choise the tubes.
Shovlehandle

I have the tubes...what do you mean high quality reflectors...do I need to build something...? My ballast is white and shiny...should I improve upon that? My goal is 2 oz (obviously personal, and a low goal). I have the tubes, another small tube 650 lu only 15w, 2 26w CFL (not operating yet, can take back). What should I do?

[Shovelhandle]

they are hyped as "German engineered, 95% blah, blah, blah...or 95% Specular Enhanced Aluminum, or open specular reflector...etc." They are mylar (mirror) like. The 2-T8 lamp 4' fixtures I have use these reflectors. At the time, 12 years ago, the cost of the "T12 to T8 upgrade kit" (ballast, sockets and reflector) was like $90 ea, mostly because of these reflectors. I don't think you can buy these without the fixture, but these reflectors don't seem to add to the cost of the fixture like they used to.

[Shovelhandle]

..well, yes, of course you can find reflectors for your flourescent fixture, brain fade....
just FYI.... http://www.specialty-lights.com/plantgrow.html
these people have an e-catalog of lighting stuff.


Shov

[midlifecrisis]

You can do just fine with cfl's, just make sure you have enough...I just built a new cab and packed it with 8 - 4' t8 tubes, 32 watts ea. and 3 - 43 watt cfls for spot lighting...works great for 2-3 plants.