they may be less effecient, but they do put out more light and thats the important thing. i would still pick 4x42w over 8x20w simply because less wiring, less mess e.t.c.
Ed Rosenthal Say's CFL's May be Better than HPS for Micro Growing
- Thread starter Thundurkel
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they may be less effecient, but they do put out more light and thats the important thing. i would still pick 4x42w over 8x20w simply because less wiring, less mess e.t.c.
i did not want to go building a cfl light holder, so just hung clip on light fixings, yes 1 plug per light rofl. the hps was my main light tho, the cfls were just to do spare plants.
at the end of the day tho, its still cfl and its not good enough for me to bother with as a main flowering light, especially when i can get double the yeild from half as many watts when using hps. power consumption is an issue for some of us.
stink.whistler
Member
I just took a look at your gallery, Smokey, and you obviously know what you are doing. Nice stuff.
But some folks seem to be getting pretty decent CFL yields comparable to decent HPS yields (Dr. Bud and Thundurkel, for example). I don't think it is cut and dry that low wattage HPS yields better than equivalent CFL watt.
I'm planning a 400 Watt CMH, myself - using CFL for vegging/moms, mostly because I don't want to take care of so many small plants or mess around with SCROG, but I've really been impressed with these CFL grows and have changed my opinion on them.
But some folks seem to be getting pretty decent CFL yields comparable to decent HPS yields (Dr. Bud and Thundurkel, for example). I don't think it is cut and dry that low wattage HPS yields better than equivalent CFL watt.
I'm planning a 400 Watt CMH, myself - using CFL for vegging/moms, mostly because I don't want to take care of so many small plants or mess around with SCROG, but I've really been impressed with these CFL grows and have changed my opinion on them.
thanks, you may have spotted a 70w hps main cola in those pictures, a good 12" of just bud, and i can get 4 identical colas under that light easily, i could not do that with cfls.
cfler's get bud yes, but decent yeilds is a matter of opinion. i know deep down (and this is from experience) that once they use a hps properly they will never use cfl for flowering again and just use them in veg like me. though i expect a comment from some stuck up fool that will say, ive used hps blah blah i think cfl is better.
Green Smoke
Member
Why not mix the two (HPS, CFL). I hope to do that, and maybe get the best of both. 150w HPS and 4 23w daylight CFL's in the corners of a 24"x 19" NGB style cab. What say you all?
how much did you get off that 12" of bud? cuz i doubt the other 3 will be the same when your 1 light is being blocked by the others. Blynx pulled 1oz under 70w of CFLs you should take a look at that before you say things like that. I'm not stuck up either I just think everyone thinks certain things can't be achieved with CFLs when thats not true and you can do great things with just a few twist bulbs...
well since i had used a 70w hps, it covers say a 1ftx1ft area, if i put cfls there and it was to block the footprint from the hps light, yeild would go down. they may have got some cfl light from the other half of the cab, but since cfls are useless after say 4", their effect was neglible.
it was around 1/2 oz + the rest of the plant. and yes i could fit 4 under that light, the plant was tall, but tied over and grown sideways across the cab.
you see the difference is, if blynx got 1oz and grew the fuck out of his plants to get that.. i did not. a simple tieing over of several plants was all thats needed to get over 2oz. im really not joking when i say you can double the yeild over cfls. as you move to more powerful cfls, the useable distance increases, lower buds grow more, as do the colas. thus closing the gap so its not double anymore, but will still be far more.
you come across as stuck up and extremely defensive to me, like i said people generally know what cfls can do, thats why we dont use them. they are fine for growin in super small areas(PC CASE), but once you get a decent sized cab, its better to use hps.
look for a thread called romantica 70w hps or something like that by a russian, if you want to see how capable a small hps is.
Green Smoke
Member
Dude, I'm a total noob, but in my limited grows I've grown with success farther than 4" from the lights. They reach farther than you think.
amoril
Member
i just thought id throw this out there, since someone said they hoped to do it
I have a 23"x24"x48" box, 150w HPS, and 208w cfls in that space (4x 26w 6500k, 2x 26w 2700k, 2x 26w 5000k UVB 10 reptile bulbs)
i get forearm sized colas. like, retarded. an infants leg perhaps. it really is the best of both worlds, and there DEFINATELY are benefits from CFLs that hps simply doesnt provide alone (notice my mixed spectrum, for example)
I have a 23"x24"x48" box, 150w HPS, and 208w cfls in that space (4x 26w 6500k, 2x 26w 2700k, 2x 26w 5000k UVB 10 reptile bulbs)
i get forearm sized colas. like, retarded. an infants leg perhaps. it really is the best of both worlds, and there DEFINATELY are benefits from CFLs that hps simply doesnt provide alone (notice my mixed spectrum, for example)
Thank you you Green Smoke, this dude acts like I'm new to thiis and don't know what a HPS can do....
Getting bit bored of people banging on about hps over cfl... Yes hps wins over cfl but only if u not got a clue about how to grow with cfl's in small areas... And why most people just bothered about yield?? quality is more to me than yeild and if everything else is perfect then u will get better quality smoke from cfl than hps end of!!
that is about their maximum reach, 5,6,7" away they do very little.
cfl bud looks good, but it does not smoke any better than when grown under a hps. they smoke exactly the same.
knna
Member
A 70w HPS emits 6.6Klm on best cases, drawing 80-85w. A 55w PLL emits 4.8Klm drawing 54w.
70w HPS=82.5 lm/w
55w CFL=88.9 lm/w
The HPS emits 11.6 micromols of photons on each 1000lm, while the CFL emits 12.5 uE/1000lm. Thus,
70w HPS=0.943 uE/w
55W CFL= 1.111 uE/w.
The CFL emits near 17% more light per watt burned than the 70w HPS. And spectrum is, at least, equally good (probably, better).
If you can use a 150w HPS then things are different, but i dont see the point of using 70w HPS. You get slighty better penetration at the cost of less light avalaible (on watt burned basis) and reduced area covered and worse light distribution. None of those lights allows to grow tall plants.
On my experience, CFLs may produce nice buds at 10", up to 1ft. If light density is enough, at least.
These two plants were flowered under 2 55w PLLs, that drawed 108w (measured), on 2.5 sq ft:
I think they clearly shows that CFLs reach more than 4-5". At the same time, they shows CFLs dont produce well farer of 1ft. Thats why I harvested the upper buds and let the bottom ones fatten during ten days more:
70w HPS=82.5 lm/w
55w CFL=88.9 lm/w
The HPS emits 11.6 micromols of photons on each 1000lm, while the CFL emits 12.5 uE/1000lm. Thus,
70w HPS=0.943 uE/w
55W CFL= 1.111 uE/w.
The CFL emits near 17% more light per watt burned than the 70w HPS. And spectrum is, at least, equally good (probably, better).
If you can use a 150w HPS then things are different, but i dont see the point of using 70w HPS. You get slighty better penetration at the cost of less light avalaible (on watt burned basis) and reduced area covered and worse light distribution. None of those lights allows to grow tall plants.
On my experience, CFLs may produce nice buds at 10", up to 1ft. If light density is enough, at least.
These two plants were flowered under 2 55w PLLs, that drawed 108w (measured), on 2.5 sq ft:
I think they clearly shows that CFLs reach more than 4-5". At the same time, they shows CFLs dont produce well farer of 1ft. Thats why I harvested the upper buds and let the bottom ones fatten during ten days more:
Green Smoke
Member
Green Smoke
Member
I think they clearly shows that CFLs reach more than 4-5". At the same time, they shows CFLs dont produce well farer of 1ft. Thats why I harvested the upper buds and let the bottom ones fatten during ten days more:
If they didn't, I wouldn't be able to grow at all. Science!hey Thunderurkle great thread I'm finding it to be very enlightening....I just moved and had to put away my 3000w system and have been wondering what I can do in a 2ftx4ftx6ft area and this has helped me greatly. just wanted to thank you for opening my mind to other alternatives. keep doin what you do mane and don't trip on those fools, they're just bustin balls.
A 70w HPS emits 6.6Klm on best cases, drawing 80-85w. A 55w PLL emits 4.8Klm drawing 54w.
70w HPS=82.5 lm/w
55w CFL=88.9 lm/w
The HPS emits 11.6 micromols of photons on each 1000lm, while the CFL emits 12.5 uE/1000lm. Thus,
70w HPS=0.943 uE/w
55W CFL= 1.111 uE/w.
The CFL emits near 17% more light per watt burned than the 70w HPS. And spectrum is, at least, equally good (probably, better).
If you can use a 150w HPS then things are different, but i dont see the point of using 70w HPS. You get slighty better penetration at the cost of less light avalaible (on watt burned basis) and reduced area covered and worse light distribution. None of those lights allows to grow tall plants.
On my experience, CFLs may produce nice buds at 10", up to 1ft. If light density is enough, at least.
These two plants were flowered under 2 55w PLLs, that drawed 108w (measured), on 2.5 sq ft:
I think they clearly shows that CFLs reach more than 4-5". At the same time, they shows CFLs dont produce well farer of 1ft. Thats why I harvested the upper buds and let the bottom ones fatten during ten days more:
tis abit unfair that you mentioned the ballast may be inneficient and using 85w and not comparing to multiple small cfls. if you went on bulb only, its 94lm/w. then stepping up, 150w 106lm/w 250w 112lm/w.
the typical 20oddwatt cfls that most people use will penetrate less and they dont have reflectors, meaning half the light is lighting up the ceiling. the penetration issue from low watt cfls is easily shown by the fact only the colas will produce well with lower budsites growing very little. hps will always penetrate deeper.
and we both know a PLL is far far better than a cfl. id like to see colas done with 20w cfls kept 1ft away at all times, it would be pretty pathetic no ?
and you can grow a very tall plant under ANY light, but it will only produce where the light can penetrate down to, but as long as the main cola is right up there, then it will do the best it can. that is why SOG and scrog are used.
your pictures dont work btw.
and how about lm/w of typical 20-30cfls ??
Well Smokey that right there was 13" cola and the top of it was always 4"-6" away from the bulbs meaning those nugs down by the soil line were using CFL light at half it's power since it was more than 12" away so explain your penetration theory there.....
