What's new
  • Happy Birthday ICMag! Been 20 years since Gypsy Nirvana created the forum! We are celebrating with a 4/20 Giveaway and by launching a new Patreon tier called "420club". You can read more here.
  • Important notice: ICMag's T.O.U. has been updated. Please review it here. For your convenience, it is also available in the main forum menu, under 'Quick Links"!

CFLS! What should i use.

I

iGrow 4 Me

Member
im a newber to growin. me and buddy are growin outdoors this summer for the first time and we bought some seeds that we wana grow outdoors but when it comes time that they are able to be cloned we would like to bring a clone or two in and give indoor growing a go since we live where there is only one grow season:( I have an old speaker that i would like to design into a stealth grow box its about 4' tall 16 inches wide and 16 inches deep. i would like to use cfls because of the cost and im not lookin to grow massive plants just an o or two at a time. IM just confused on which cfls to buy? what wattage and lumens? and also which ones i should use for vegging and flowering? Thanks for any advice!:tiphat:
 
Anti

Anti

Sorcerer's Apprentice
Veteran
For vegging, you want 6500k. For bloom you want 2600k. I prefer a mixed spectrum that uses both for both.

An issue: my cabinet (see my sig) is 17 inches wide and 17 inches deep. But it's only 23" tall. Yours is twice as tall.

Unless you're planning to have some PLLs running up the sides, about HALF the space you have in that speaker is going to be empty.

You can't grow 4 ft tall plants with some CFLs at the top. I mean, I'm sure you CAN, but you're going to have some long internode spacing... like 8 inches. And then everything below the top 1.5 ft is going to be a waste of time as far as bud production/harvest.

I recommend you use the 40-42w bulbs and use about 6 of them. I recommend you put the bulbs in at a height that is about 12-16 inches ABOVE the soil line of your pots. This will give your plants 12-16 inches of growth under "good" lighting conditions.

I also recommend that you flip your plants to 12/12 as soon as they have roots.

Here's what I do in my cab using the advice I've just given you:

 
I

iGrow 4 Me

Member
Thanks alot for the clear up on what bulbs to use! Im actually thinking about dividing the speaker on the inside. this would leave me with easily 12-16 inches of space for a top and bottom would this be a reasonable idea since it would kinda of be a waste of all that space. i could have a vegging half and a flowering half or have a a helf for a mother either would be great! Sorry for asking but im not real familiar with PLLs im a noober like i said lol but thanks for the pointers hope to grow some plants that look as damn good as yours!
 
yesum

yesum

Well-known member
ICMag Donor
Veteran
I will say if you want to save money,bother, just use a 2700k bulb for veg and flower. I have, and no issues at all. Short internodes if you keep the light within an inch of plants, even half an inch. Keep your plants 1 foot tall at most when they finish flower, so flower at 6 inches or so.

I use 26 watt bulbs and think they give the best bang for buck. Look up blynx in microgrows, thank me later. Also look up pll, you can fit them vertically in corners of cab with reflector and grow some 2 foot plants.
 
hippydan

hippydan

Member
If you can, get PL-L's (the fluorescent tubes) instead of CFLs. CFLs are massively inefficient in the way the light has to come out of the spiral glass. Not to say you can't use them, people use them for whole grows to great effect. I just think PL-L lights are hands down much better in nearly every situation.
 
M

Moots

Member
Pl-ls also cost more, and are a more costly investment to get set up.

One of your best investments if you go CFL, would be a way to either raise the plants, or lights as they grow. CFL's don't have the most efficient light out put, so keeping them very close is ideal. It does keep node creation compact.

It also means you'll need to check on your plants regularly so they don't touch the light, which isn't a bad thing at all.(I had been doing this, but had a growth spurt 2 days ago. Went to work for 8 hours and the plant put on almost an inch and a quarter, burnt a few tips, but nothing horrific.)

Also make sure you make the most of your CFL's using reflection. Even, if it is painting the walls and ceiling flat white.

You may also want to consider LSTing your plant. It will increase yield, keep plants short, and is extremely gratifying.

This is my Blue Mystic(A week or 2 ago), LST'd using 2 40 watters, and a 23 watt. In a poorly jimmy rigged cab, and some cheap soil-less mix. Looks happy and healthy. You should have no problems. It seems daunting at first, but keep it simple and you can't go wrong.

SDC10964.jpg
 
S

sman

Member
i grew with 450wats of cfl. heat was a big issue i had to solve, i should have just got a 250 or 400 mh/hps
 
S

Space Ghost

If you must go with cfl's I'd get 4 68w (300w incandescent equivalent) bulbs from home depot, they are MASSIVE and throw off a lot of light

But if that was my space id rather use a 150-250 sodium for all stages of growth...
 
I

iGrow 4 Me

Member
hippydan said:
If you can, get PL-L's (the fluorescent tubes) instead of CFLs. CFLs are massively inefficient in the way the light has to come out of the spiral glass. Not to say you can't use them, people use them for whole grows to great effect. I just think PL-L lights are hands down much better in nearly every situation.
Click to expand...


if decide not to divide the inside in half i might give a couple pls a try since my box is 4 foot high. could i use a combination of pls and cfls??
 
I

iGrow 4 Me

Member
Space Ghost said:
If you must go with cfl's I'd get 4 68w (300w incandescent equivalent) bulbs from home depot, they are MASSIVE and throw off a lot of light

But if that was my space id rather use a 150-250 sodium for all stages of growth...
Click to expand...

i was looking at those at Lowes actually both the 68s and the 250 sodiums i might give the sodium a try sometime but im a noober so i wana take some baby steps lol i would be putting it in my basement so im thinking the little heat the 68s would give off might make my box stable.
 
Anti

Anti

Sorcerer's Apprentice
Veteran
Space Ghost recommends the massive CFLs, but I go the other way. Once you get bigger than 27w, CFL puts off more of its energy as HEAT than LIGHT. I use 40w bulbs because they are only SLIGHTLY less efficient than 27w but considerably brighter.

The farther you swing away from that 27w pivot, the more you are spending money to heat your environment rather than light it.

That's what makes PLLs better. The ballast is in another room (instead of attached to the base of the bulb) so there's less heat from that. Also, the bulb is stretched out long (instead of coiled around itself) which means that more of the light goes "out" as opposed to bouncing around inside the coils creating HEAT.

You can get a 200w Fulham Workhorse 8 ballast for about $30 bucks and use that to power 4x50w PLL bulbs that will each be 22" long. If you put one of those in each corner of your cab and split your cab vertically like you were talking about before, I think you'd have a great little cab going.

You could also use CFLs (I do) and if you do as your sig suggests, you'll be just fine.
 
I

iGrow 4 Me

Member
Anti said:
Space Ghost recommends the massive CFLs, but I go the other way. Once you get bigger than 27w, CFL puts off more of its energy as HEAT than LIGHT. I use 40w bulbs because they are only SLIGHTLY less efficient than 27w but considerably brighter.

The farther you swing away from that 27w pivot, the more you are spending money to heat your environment rather than light it.

That's what makes PLLs better. The ballast is in another room (instead of attached to the base of the bulb) so there's less heat from that. Also, the bulb is stretched out long (instead of coiled around itself) which means that more of the light goes "out" as opposed to bouncing around inside the coils creating HEAT.

You can get a 200w Fulham Workhorse 8 ballast for about $30 bucks and use that to power 4x50w PLL bulbs that will each be 22" long. If you put one of those in each corner of your cab and split your cab vertically like you were talking about before, I think you'd have a great little cab going.

You could also use CFLs (I do) and if you do as your sig suggests, you'll be just fine.
Click to expand...

i could definitely see myself lookin in some PLLs sometime in the future im kinda cincerned about ballast not the price but more like the stealthness. i still live at home with rents(i just graduated last year freshman in college im not a bum lol) so stealth is an issue but i will definitly look into PLLs if i can make it work but im leanin towrds the 40s that you use.
 
Anti

Anti

Sorcerer's Apprentice
Veteran
iGrow 4 Me said:
i could definitely see myself lookin in some PLLs sometime in the future im kinda cincerned about ballast not the price but more like the stealthness. i still live at home with rents(i just graduated last year freshman in college im not a bum lol) so stealth is an issue but i will definitly look into PLLs if i can make it work but im leanin towrds the 40s that you use.
Click to expand...


When I say the ballast is in another room, I mean that you don't have to have it in the flower chamber where it will add its heat to the environment. It could be right on the other side of the flower room. Doesn't have to be far or obvious. Build a space for the ballast when you build your grow-cab or whatever.

40w cfls are definitely EASIER, but not a whole lot cheaper. The ballast is about $30-40 bucks and each PLL is about $9. The 40w CFL are about $9-11. So you're really only saving $30 bucks not to use them.

The 40w will definitely work for you and in your space, dialed in, you could probably harvest 2-3 oz if you fill it up all at once, or even more if you run it perpetually. (This assumes you split it into two cabs and run flowers in both.)
 
I

iGrow 4 Me

Member
Anti said:
When I say the ballast is in another room, I mean that you don't have to have it in the flower chamber where it will add its heat to the environment. It could be right on the other side of the flower room. Doesn't have to be far or obvious. Build a space for the ballast when you build your grow-cab or whatever.

40w cfls are definitely EASIER, but not a whole lot cheaper. The ballast is about $30-40 bucks and each PLL is about $9. The 40w CFL are about $9-11. So you're really only saving $30 bucks not to use them.

The 40w will definitely work for you and in your space, dialed in, you could probably harvest 2-3 oz if you fill it up all at once, or even more if you run it perpetually. (This assumes you split it into two cabs and run flowers in both.)
Click to expand...

ah now i understand. i think im guna go with the 40s hopefully i get some good lookin buds like you and the big guys. Mass respect for the experienced guys! Thanks for the help!:tiphat:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Latest posts

Top