CFLs going bad?

[johnny cottonmouth]

ok so iv had the same 6 cfl for my last 5 grows and for the first 3 they were fine but in the last 2 the plants look real limp and not good, but both of these were from the same bag of some fire fire fire kind bud. i know its not over watering b/c i let the media dry out b4 i watered again. and i noticed that for every grow since the first the plants have taken longer and longer to grow and finish. so my question is does it seem like its the lights going bad or the seeds or the enviroment. ill try to get some pics in the next day or so.

Thanks,
JC

johnny cottonmouth Reviewed by johnny cottonmouth on 02-15-2007. CFLs going bad? ok so iv had the same 6 cfl for my last 5 grows and for the first 3 they were fine but in the last 2 the plants look real limp and not good, but both of these were from the same bag of some fire fire fire kind bud. i know its not over watering b/c i let the media dry out b4 i watered again. and i noticed that for every grow since the first the plants have taken longer and longer to grow and finish. so my question is does it seem like its the lights going bad or the seeds or the enviroment. ill Rating: 5

[Tokudai]

Personally, I'd guess temperatures, but CFLs will lose lumens over time. 6 grows using the same lights throughout veg and flower? if so then

veg @ 36 days x 24 hours = 864 hours x 6 veg periods = 5184 hours
bloom @ 60 days x 12 hours = 720 x 6 blooms = 4320 hours

Add in some wear and tear for turning them on and off and you're at about 10,000 hours on those cfls - getting pretty old. I would imagine the output is significantly less than when they were new. Get a new bulb and compare them side by side. Or just get all new bulbs and rule that factor out - they are cheap and the ones you have seem to have done plenty enough to be "retired" or used as spares

[Mrs. Greenjeans]

What Tokudai said.

Yeah, use them as house lighting, and get new ones for your grow.

[johnny cottonmouth]

thanks thats what i was thinking about doing just buying all new ones. i also thought it might be temps but its winter time and snowing so the temps stay in the 70s which is nice compaired to the 90s my first grow went threw. thanks for the quick replies. im a gonna go get me some new lights after urban forestry class.

Thanks,
JC

[Mrs. Greenjeans]

Urban forestry? That sounds like a really cool class.

How did your first grow turn out with temps that high? I'm struggling with temps myself.

[johnny cottonmouth]

actually it was the best out of all of them. since it was my first i wasnt sure of when to harvest so i took a couple small ones so all in all i got about 2.5-3 oz off one plant. all i did for the temps was to open the door a crack at night while the lights were still on ( not smart when you got people walking around) but i keep a good enough eye on them in order to shut the door b4 they got to it. but after that i added an intake fan and vented the out take outside. but like i said each grow has gone down in quantity and quality. and yes urban forestry is quite fun but i prefer my plant prop. class

[Mrs. Greenjeans]

all i did for the temps was to open the door a crack at night while the lights were still on... but after that i added an intake fan and vented the out take outside.

I do the same thing. I leave the door open, I added an intake, and an exhaust, and it's still 81-85 in there. It's ridiculous. I also have 3 fans blowing on the plants themselves.

[johnny cottonmouth]

here are the pics. sry it took so long i coulldnt find my camera. the plant is 5-6 weeks old from seed and has not had any ferts. so does anyone have an idea what might be wrong?

[johnny cottonmouth]

Bump. Any one wana take a shot at whatmight be wrong?

[twocamaros]

whooaaa. kill that lol.. its prolly a retard plant.. unless ur thumbs are brown instead of green lol