Only CFL and Fluorescent Spoken Here!

[Ghostwolf]

This Sub Forum I have started at the request of a new member inpain0013 who had a good idea about a sub forum for new members to get answers to questions about using CFL's & Fluorscent's from the long time members and other new members that have experience using them. So this forum is dedicated to and for inpain0013. And this is inpain0013's story. (I was tickled pink when I found this thread on this forum! I have fluorescents right now. But, have thought about going to CFLs. I couldn't find any place on any of the other forums that I belong to where I could ask any questions about the CFLs or fluorescents. Well, I could have asked questions. But, I would have rund a high risk of being heavily scoffed at or having my head bashed in by the Halide Heads and the Sodiumites (not Sodomites... Sodiumites)! I've even had a few of them tell me outright that MJ won't grow at all under fluorescent lights. Please.... I know you will never get a ton off of the fluoros. But, fluoros did exist long before any of the HID lights. And, pot was being grown under them!!!

I haven't had a chance to read all of this thread yet. But, given some time, I will. I just wish that the powers that be would consider making a subforum of the Micro Grow forum. It could be something like "CFL and Fluorescent Only Spoken Here." Does anyone think they'll ever do such? For new members like me, it sure would make specific information so much easier to find!)

 

[virago420]

I think this is what your looking for....

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=78046

Thats a link to the CFL club. All the info you could ever want should be in there. Good luck. Peace

 

[DankHank]

 

[inpain0013]

This Sub Forum I have started at the request of a new member inpain0013 who had a good idea about a sub forum for new members to get answers to questions about using CFL's & Fluorscent's from the long time members and other new members that have experience using them. So this forum is dedicated to and for inpain0013.

DUDE!!!!!From all of us who had the "goofy" idea that a subforum would be a good idea.... THANK YOU!!!!!

And, as you requested in the CFL Club thread, I will ask my questions in both forums for the reasons that you stated!! Again, Thank you!!!

 

[inpain0013]

Alright, here goes my first CFL question. I want to keep a Northern Light mother and clones in a cloning chamber. I made a relatively small chamber from a cardboard box. But, I need a bit more room than the box allows. So, I am in the process of making a new one out of a 10 gallon plastic tote. In the box, I had a single 26 watt CFL. But, I had to be quite careful because heat sometimes became an issue. In the new 10 gallon chamber, should I go back with the 26 watt CFL? Or should I use two 13 watt? I have both onhand... so cost will not be a factor.

Thanks in advance for your input!!

 

[mean mr.mustard]

Two ballasts generate more heat than one that equals that same wattage.

 

[inpain0013]

Two ballasts generate more heat than one that equals that same wattage.

Thanks for the input, mustard. I thought that might be the case, but didn't know.

 

[mean mr.mustard]

That's why i'm here

I've been blown away by CFL's this year! Check out my album

 

[ninja1]

CFL temp question

CFL temp question

alright I'll bite - Just started my first indoor grow! very excited!! so I have a whole mix of bulbs on hand available to me, I have searched extensively and never seem to get a straight answer on the temp/color of bulbs to use and when. DR Bud says warm temp all the way through and many othersay only 5500k and higher for veg and switch to 2700k for flowering, others still say a mix of color/temp bulbs all the way through. SOOOO confused it makes my head hurt/
Heres what I have at home for use -
2 - BIG 68/300watt 2700k's
4 - 5500k 23watts
2 - 23 watt 3500k

 

[mean mr.mustard]

I would worry less about the temps and more about the distance you are keeping your bulbs! I use warm all the way through with great results... I'm also the guy that says MH should be used in veg when using HID's though. It's all about the spectrum at one phase vs the other, not the entire grow. Blue good is good for veg. Red is good for flowers.

I think you may be pushing your plants too hard too fast.

Use smaller pots, transplant a few times before flower, and don't get those bulbs down as close as they are in the first pic till they have two or three times the amount of vegetation on them.

 

[ninja1]

I would worry less about the temps and more about the distance you are keeping your bulbs! I use warm all the way through with great results... I'm also the guy that says MH should be used in veg when using HID's though. It's all about the spectrum at one phase vs the other, not the entire grow. Blue good is good for veg. Red is good for flowers.

I think you may be pushing your plants too hard too fast.

Use smaller pots, transplant a few times before flower, and don't get those bulbs down as close as they are in the first pic till they have two or three times the amount of vegetation on them.

Thanks for responding so fast! I just have all these temps already and wanted to make sure I wasnt missing something, or worse hurting the plants by not using them right.
That pic was last week and I did move the bulbs so they are about 4'' away from the plants. Youre right, they were definately stressed from the repotting. So, I am best to keep on the 2 68watt 2700k's right now as well as the 4 23watt 5500k's right now and when its flower time just use the 2 68watters?
Also , judging by my space, how much longer should i let them grow before going 12/12?
Thanks for your help by the way, I need it!

 

[inpain0013]

I've been blown away by CFL's this year! Check out my album

Nice!! I have to assume that the hang 'em high pic was not of bud grown under cfls thought, right? The one photo that was labled about cfl was still nice. It's amazing, isn't it? I was told that pot wouldn't even grow... much less produce buds under fluorescents or cfls!!!

 

[mean mr.mustard]

I would keep the bulbs you got now until flower and just replace your blues with reds.

I think I've seen that you topped one... I'd wait till that plant has at least three nodes before flowering.

Depending on your strain you may want to utilize some LST if the stretch is too much, just be sure that if you do you stop once budset begins.

PS that hang em high pic was my best haul under CFL's and the last two colas weren't hung till after the pic! That trimming pic was one of those branches... CFL's are kickass! http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?p=2625334#post2625334

 

[inpain0013]

PS that hang em high pic was my best haul under CFL's and the last two colas weren't hung till after the pic! That trimming pic was one of those branches... CFL's are kickass! http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?p=2625334#post2625334

DANG man!!!!! :jawdrop: That impressed the h*ll out of me!!!!! I hope you don't mind... I bookmarked that thread. In the future, if anyone tells me that you can't grow bud under CFLs or fluoroscents, I'll present that, ask that it be marked "exibit ON (for "only needed)," and ask that the case be dismissed; whereupon the opposing side would be committed to an institution for the "Educationally Lacking" for the purpose of retraining... then, be given a link you your post, this sticky, and the CFL club thread!!!

 

[ninja1]

I would keep the bulbs you got now until flower and just replace your blues with reds.
Alright - good answer, thank you for clearing up that, maybe swap out the 4 5500k's to 2700's and keep my 2 3000watters as well..
I think I've seen that you topped one... I'd wait till that plant has at least three nodes before flowering.
you dont miss a beat! yes, as of now both have been topped, it really stressed them though, i thought tey were dying, both plants fan leaves were getting wrinkly and curling up right after, but it seems like plenty of new growth all of a sudden after a week of nothing.
Depending on your strain you may want to utilize some LST if the stretch is too much, just be sure that if you do you stop once budset begins.
the strain is a mystery- just from some really good bag weed that the guy calls "the proffesor"
but i have also gone ahead and tied the tops down and will keep them nice and low.
PS that hang em high pic was my best haul under CFL's and the last two colas weren't hung till after the pic! That trimming pic was one of those branches... CFL's are kickass! http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?p=2625334#post2625334

and i checked this link! nice friggen work! thats a nice pile of bud you got there!!

 

[Ghostwolf]

Alright, here goes my first CFL question. I want to keep a Northern Light mother and clones in a cloning chamber. I made a relatively small chamber from a cardboard box. But, I need a bit more room than the box allows. So, I am in the process of making a new one out of a 10 gallon plastic tote. In the box, I had a single 26 watt CFL. But, I had to be quite careful because heat sometimes became an issue. In the new 10 gallon chamber, should I go back with the 26 watt CFL? Or should I use two 13 watt? I have both onhand... so cost will not be a factor.

Thanks in advance for your input!!

Well you can use the lower watt bulb's, or if you wanted to you could use the higher watt bulb an put in a exhaust fan and a passive intake in the tote, if that is an option for you.
__________________

 

[Ghostwolf]

DUDE!!!!!From all of us who had the "goofy" idea that a subforum would be a good idea.... THANK YOU!!!!!

And, as you requested in the CFL Club thread, I will ask my questions in both forums for the reasons that you stated!! Again, Thank you!!!

Your welcome, it was no trouble at all, just happy to help, that's what we're all hear for to help each other

 

[Ghostwolf]

alright I'll bite - Just started my first indoor grow! very excited!! so I have a whole mix of bulbs on hand available to me, I have searched extensively and never seem to get a straight answer on the temp/color of bulbs to use and when. DR Bud says warm temp all the way through and many othersay only 5500k and higher for veg and switch to 2700k for flowering, others still say a mix of color/temp bulbs all the way through. SOOOO confused it makes my head hurt/
Heres what I have at home for use -
2 - BIG 68/300watt 2700k's
4 - 5500k 23watts
2 - 23 watt 3500k

Nice set up, Mixing your bulb's gives your plants a broad color spectrum. I'm trying to use daylight 6500k to veg and solfwhite 2700k flowering just to see how to turns out at the moment. I'll probably try something else next time.

 

[Ghostwolf]

PS that hang em high pic was my best haul under CFL's and the last two colas weren't hung till after the pic! That trimming pic was one of those branches... CFL's are kickass! http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?p=2625334#post2625334[/quote]
I just saw your bud pic's, and Man they are some killer bud's. What a huge boost to the case for CFL's.

 

[inpain0013]

Well you can use the lower watt bulb's, or if you wanted to you could use the higher watt bulb an put in a exhaust fan and a passive intake in the tote, if that is an option for you.
__________________

Thanks Ghostwolf! Mean mr.mustard said that using two ballasts (two lower watt bulbs to achieve the same watts as one larger watt bulb) would actually produce more heat than using the single bulb. So, I decided to go the route of the single bulb. I may also consider installing a small computer fan (I think I've got one laying around somewhere... just have to find it!) to vent it like you said. Again, thanks for the input!!