are High Output Fluorescents worth it?

[FlaDankster]

T5's are a Must and the T8's make Great side lighting...

Burning the T5's @ 7500K and the T8's @ 3500K...

Here's a Happy Mother and her Clones at different stages...

And that should be the nail in the coffin......

 

[paOol]

thanks for all the responses everyone.

i currently have 6 - 42 watt CFLs which i grew and am now flowering with.
rather than spend $200~ on a veg light, i think i'm going to get a 400 watt HPS for flowering and use the CFLs i have to veg with instead.

 

[Chief Rbud]

T8s are good to light your workbench T5s are excellent for cloning and early veg if money is that tight maybe you should find another hobby

for keeping mothers and clones and for veg growth, ANY flourescent will be just fine, for the money, get the lights you can afford. i was using regular old flourescent shoplights in the eighties and moved up to VHO's in the nineties for keeping moms and clones. they worked great for that purpose. i veged and flowered outside, but a friend did a test to see if the VHO's would flower the plants, and yes they did, but low yields and wispy airy buds compared to outside. don't listen to people who tell you you can't use them, they don't know what they are talking about. t-8's are way better than what i was using in the late eighties. these are the same types of people who will tell you you can't grow herb with cfl's, but many on here myself included have proven that wrong. im using a 400W 4000K metal halide for veg right now for the 1st time, and honestly, i liked the way my plants looked under flourescents a lot better. and i dont have any heat issues. i had more heat issues when i used CFL's because i didnt have the inline fan i have now.

 

[Chief Rbud]

thanks for all the responses everyone.

i currently have 6 - 42 watt CFLs which i grew and am now flowering with.
rather than spend $200~ on a veg light, i think i'm going to get a 400 watt HPS for flowering and use the CFLs i have to veg with instead.

that will work just fine, just make sure that in veg you have mostly 6500K bulbs with some 3000K, maybe a 3-1 ratio, and in flower just the opposite. you can play with the mixed spectrums to see what you like best, its what i loved about CFL's honestly, even though i have the digital ballast and a 4000K metal halide for veg, and a 1800K hps for flower, i am going to hang several 6500K CFL's vertically amongst my canopy because i want some blue light during flower. the light from flourescents is a better quality than HID, the HID is just waay more intense and has penetration power. check my sig for some cfl grows.

 

[Ember1]

T5's are as about as cheap as they will get, at least for some time. I run reef aquariums and got into T5 when they first hit the market, and they were very $$$. They have come down in price quite a bit since then.
The Tek lights are very nice. They actually overdrive their bulbs, so they are really a VHO compared to many other T5HO on the market.

I have grown some very light demanding corals under T5. They have to punch through the water to get the usable light to the corals, so giving your plants enough light will not a problem.

I have only used my T5 for vegging, but I would love to try a complete grow from start to finish with them.

If you decide to try T5, make sure each T5 bulb has individual reflectors. If they don't you are wasting a LOT of usable light.

 

[Hammerhead]

t5

t5

Here is a micro grow I did with 100w of t5. Here is HDF IMPRESIVE FOR ONLY 100W.

 

[milehighmedical]

.

 

[Chief Rbud]

you can get t-5 HO's dirt cheap now, for about the same price as a 400W digital ballast.
check out these high bay fixtures on business lights . com
http://www.businesslights.com/tcp-green-hibay-t5-lamp-prs-fluorescent-fixture-p-2264.html

they also have 6 light fixtures. you can dial in the spectrum now with t-5's also. use a 420-460 nm actinic bulb for veg with some 6500K and 3000K thrown in, and 650 nm rosette bulbs for flower with some 6500K, 3000K, and actinic bulbs mixed in, but mostly the 650 nm. you wont get a better quality of light that targets both the blue and red photosynthetic peaks for cannabis. here's the links for the bulbs.
http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/242495/product.web
http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/244421/product.web

but the 650nm and actinic bulbs are like 18 dollars each. i was thinking of doing it this way, but the lumatek ballast and bulbs and the cords etc. was about the same price after buying all the bulbs so i went with it, and i couldn't find an old cedar wardrobe anywhere big enough cheap enough for the fixture, it is a half inch bigger than the biggest wardrobe i could find. so i just went with the digi ballast and HID. but i still would like to try that exact set up for a grow to see if the buds are more potent.

 

[supermanlives]

if you got the cash buy em .when i used em plants were way shorter and compact. now i am back to regular ones and miss my old setup

 

[Ciscosfa]

What about the red/blue spectrum cfls 125w/200w/250w ? they go for anything between £20-£50 its what i use and was amazed with the results !!

Thats an auto i flowered with a 125w !

 

[ddrew]

T5's better in my experience then T8 or T12, T5's will cut way down on the stretching you get with T8/T12

 

[!!!]

T8s are good to light your workbench T5s are excellent for cloning and early veg if money is that tight maybe you should find another hobby

Cannabis can be a cheap hobby. The OP should start off small, sell 90% of his harvest and upgrade. Sell 90% of his next harvest and upgrade, and repeat this until s/he's well off. I can't think of many other hobbies that let you do that.

 

[HooT]

T5's = more lumens per watt. Extreme compact growth, and are amazing lamps for any use. They do throw heat but a small fan will do just fine. I change the bulbs every 12 months of 24 hour use. The 1\4 in node spacing should say it all. Sunlight supple makes a 2ft 2 bulb that is perfet for cloning with a tray and dome and the 2ft 4 bulb is perfect for 2 bonzi moms or 1 decent sized mom. it is worth the initial investment. I promise you you will be glad you did not skimp out on the 30 bucks or so. I have a couple pics in my album of a little box I use to use.

Hoot

 

[the gnome]

since i got my T5 HO 6-bulb set up Ive never had seedlings looking this good.
they grow short and compact. I loved it so much I bought a 8-bulb fixture.
Ive used it to veg plants up to 24" tall and they looked great,
they do put out some heat but as said above a small fan does the trick which you want anyways to have strong stems.

can't say enough good things about T5 HO

 

[420ish]

PaOol,

I started with the 4' T8 or T12 fixtures/bulbs from Home Depot...I used to have like 6 or 8 4' fixtures but the penetration is nil and you can expect lanky, scrawny, crap plants. They worked alright while I was learning but I now use T5s exclusively....And wish these old lights weren't taking up space on the shelf. 4' 8-bulb Tek Lights over a 2x4 tray...Working MAGIC! Supposedly these lights are good for a 4x4 light pattern. Plants that are bushes and can veg with 30 plants in a tray up to 24" tall with no issues and thick stems. REALLY good penetration with virtually no heat.

As for PL-Ls: I have also owned a 96wx4=384w PL-L and anyone that says PL-L is better than T5 is both seeing and reading the #'s wrong. This was a three foot aquarium specific fixture that I used to grow with...Basically four 6-foot bulbs, bent in half, at 96w each. 6500k bulbs just like my new T5 bulbs but crappy penetration compared....and more heat! Works for clones/small plants ok, but T5s are IT! I hated buying them at about 450 a pop but my plants thank me every day!

ps If you are strapped for cash there are a bunch of cheaper versions of T5 instead of "Tek light". Sun Blaze's are only 230 for a 4' 8-bulb. If you go cheap in the veg room it will effect you in bloom!

SS

55 watt pll run cooler and more efficent then the 96 watt.for growing 55 watt or under are the best choice of pll.i use a homemade 4 bulb 55 watt fixture and i get great penetration and good growth with minimal heat.if you are a handy person i recommend making one .if you arent i recommend 4 to 8 bulb t5.i have used all three and like the pll 55 watter best ,then the t5 and the t8 last

 

[StealthDad]

PL-L custom fixture

PL-L custom fixture

55 watt pll run cooler and more efficent then the 96 watt.for growing 55 watt or under are the best choice of pll.i use a homemade 4 bulb 55 watt fixture and i get great penetration and good growth with minimal heat.if you are a handy person i recommend making one .if you arent i recommend 4 to 8 bulb t5.i have used all three and like the pll 55 watter best ,then the t5 and the t8 last

^^ this is what I did for my last grow. Pretty simple to make your own fixture with PL-Ls and a ballast. Easy to custom build a fixture to fit your growing area.

I was very happy with the results. YMMV.

 

[pearlemae]

T5HO 8 lamp 2 ft by 2 ft grow area. Proofs in the pics took these this afternoon plants are unk strain, 7 weeks old from clones in a coco ewc and stuff mix with air stones in the res in the bottom a dwc/soil fusion sorta. all organic feeding bio thrive vegan bloom. love this shit!. Bud site up the wahoo. for a low heat which is what I needed I can grow as good a smoke as a buddy that has 2200w of hid. In fact he likes to smoke my weed when I give him some. T5's Rule in the right set up. Smoking Elvis Diesel and drinking barlywine and getting fried. GO DUCKS WOHOO!!!!!

 

[VIKINGtrich]

For veg, i have used HID, T-8's, T-12's, all of that shit...THEN, I got a nice 8 bulb, 4 foot long T-5 setup....best light I have ever used for veg.....Its a hydrofarm light...it cost about 200 or so..something like that.... I can fit a good amount of plants under it, and the growth is very short and very compact...its the best light for vegging plants....Its well worth the mony...im talking, after 4 weeks of veg, 24/0 schedule, my plants are bushes, LST style, and no taller than 12-14 inches....thats how compact they are....Then when they hit 12/12, they stretch, and have tons of bud sites.....I love my T5's.....

 

[SMOKE-ONE]

What are PL-L's?And which produce more lumens per watt? VHO's or VH's?

 

[Green lung]

I love my t5 for veg