Am I missing something/ CFL

[Tom O'Bedlam]

Sorry, but CFLs are not the bomb--this is most likely part of Tom's stretching problem.

Tom, you need ventilation regardless of what type of lighting you are using. If you have enough CFLs in there to do the job, they are putting out more heat than a HPS would....What are you doing to make sure your girls are getting enough fresh air?

I have a little two-way fan on a timer. I KNOW MY SET-UP IS HALF-BAKED, but it does seem to be working and has worked in the past. And you are right, it's a bit warm in there.

Part of my current issue is that this is a different strain from my last grow and I naively expected everything to be exactly the same.

I think what I could do is run the ventilation conduit right through the door...easier than taking out brick. God, not another remodel. BTW the temp hovers right around 80 with humidity in the 50's with a dehumidifier running, 75%+ without the DH (and cooler).

I'll post more pix as the flowering continues.

thanks everyone

 

[MrBobMarleyJr]

:48: Hey everyone
recently got back in town havent been on the site for a bit.....
O'B just wondering how far away you kept your cfl's away from the plants during veg,
i also grow with cfl's they work great but mine are very tight plants not as spread out as yours,
I just wanted to kno the distance you kept your lights thanks

 

[Tom O'Bedlam]

:48: Hey everyone
recently got back in town havent been on the site for a bit.....
O'B just wondering how far away you kept your cfl's away from the plants during veg,
i also grow with cfl's they work great but mine are very tight plants not as spread out as yours,
I just wanted to kno the distance you kept your lights thanks

Veg: I kept one 125W bulb on a reflector at a nice 6 inches or so, but was unhappy with how things were going (see beginning of thread), so I added smaller bulbs (25-42W) with reflectors, etc., for side lighting.

Flowering: pretty much as close as possible, which explains the jury-rigged chickenwire leaf guards (maybe you can see 'em in the later pics), the pain-in-my-*** constant remodeling/repositioning of lights and the inevitable leaf burn from the plants growing into the lights. The 125 W big bulbs I keep 3 inches away or so, the rest are moved as needed. I think I'm dialed in for now, but this has seriously been a high-maintenance project.

Size-wise, I should have been training the plants way earlier, but I had 9 plants and didn't know the boys from the girls and didn't want to waste time/soil/space on a pant that might turn out to be male.

Nuff said

 

[HemperFi]

I'm having a little trouble bending my mind around how CFLs put out more heat per watt than HIDs. CFLs produce the same lums using 25 actual watts as one 100w lightbulb. I have 5 lights -- 4 that use 25 watts and one that uses 125 wtts. That's 225 actual watts being used and producing the same lums as 525 watts of light. THG keeps saying that they produce more heat than HIDs -- I can put my hand ON the CFLs and the light a half inch from the plant without any damage -- I just don't get it --what heat?

 

[HemperFi]

Having said that: I do agree that HIDs are preferable and will work better than CFLs for growing plants. I got the CFLs for two reasons -- they are cheap (and I was attempting to do this as inexpensively as possible) and because I watched many videos of fantastic grows using CFLs. You are right.CFLs are not the bomb, but they are nice sized fire crackers I will use them for seedlings, clones, and a bit of vedging. I believe they will work every bit as well as a T5 fixture -- at half the price. Don't mean to be going against the grain here -- just voicing my ever changing opinion. Technology is amazing -- CFLs have come a long way in the last few years. I wouldn't use "soft white" or regular house CFLs, but the full spectrum bulbs work well.

 

[Hick]

http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=54867
they may not be as "hot" as t5 or incandescents .."bulb for bulb".. but, I don't think there is much room for doubt, that they ARE lumen for lumen.
They perform well, if you supply the proper lumens and spectrum. BUT in order to supply those lumens, you have to run more watts, consume more energy, More energy = more heat.

 

[KaptainKush]

Oh My God here we go again lumen for lumen watt for watt GET OVER IT PEOPLE

 

[Roddy]

We all learn one way or another, some learn by reading and some by trying....good luck with your experience!

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

Having said that: I do agree that HIDs are preferable and will work better than CFLs for growing plants. I got the CFLs for two reasons -- they are cheap (and I was attempting to do this as inexpensively as possible) and because I watched many videos of fantastic grows using CFLs. You are right.CFLs are not the bomb, but they are nice sized fire crackers I will use them for seedlings, clones, and a bit of vedging. I believe they will work every bit as well as a T5 fixture -- at half the price. Don't mean to be going against the grain here -- just voicing my ever changing opinion. Technology is amazing -- CFLs have come a long way in the last few years. I wouldn't use "soft white" or regular house CFLs, but the full spectrum bulbs work well.

We are not talking watt for watt, we are talking lumen for lumen. And that is truly the only way to compare lighting.

I don't want to sound harsh, but those of us that are telling you this have grown for years and years and year and this is your first grow. You can believe and do what you want, but we are correct--this is not opinion. CFLs will not work as well as T5s, regardless of what you believe. Given the same wattage, T5s WILL produce more usable light for your plant and give you better veggy growth. Given the same lumens, CFLs WILL cost more to operate and run hotter. m I can lay my hand right on my T5s without getting burned, too. While you may have purchased them for 1/2 as much as a T5, there is more than the initial investment to consider--you are going to pay about 33% more in electricity every single month to get the same light from a CFL as a T5 produces. CFLs and LEDs may have improved in the past few years, but they have not improved enough. I wouldn't even call them fire-crackers.

Take EVERY grow video you see with a grain of salt.

 

[Locked]

Sometimes the only way to truly learn is through first hand experience. Once you get enough cfl's together to reach the needed lumens per sqr foot you will see how much heat they produce. And if you decide to flower with said cfl's you will need to bump up the amount of cfl's to reach 5000 lumens a sqr foot and it will get even hotter.

 

[Tom O'Bedlam]

I'm flowering now and the room is definitely warm, 80 degrees. I have to cram so many CFL's into and around the plants that it's just ridiculous. Cords and reflectors everywhere. I'll post pics of the final harvest.

 

[Hushpuppy]

The problem with CFL is that the manufacturers have tried to take a long flourescent light and pack it into a small space. To do this, they had to curl the bulb which is inherently less efficient than a straight bulb as some of the light is dispersed within the coil. This light does not travel out very well because of the rest of the bulb being in the way. Not a big loss but it is a loss. The other problem of cramming a floro into a small package is that the ballast becomes inefficient and must be driven harder. So if you have 23w that is being used by the light, only 80%(roughly) is being emmitted as light energy. the other 20% of the watts used are lost in the little plastic base that has the vents in it to release the heat. You don't see similar "heat sinks" on T5 fixtures as they are more efficient(95%) at transferring all of the energy to light.

 

[Classic]

Oh My God here we go again lumen for lumen watt for watt GET OVER IT PEOPLE

It's hard to argue with science and mathematics. Some people do it anyway.

I finally purchased a 2ft 4 lamp T5 fixture about six weeks ago. It saved my outdoor grow. After losing seedling after seedling to the withering heat, I was able to veg a few weeks in my air conditioned house. No grow room, just set the lights right on top of the plants. I now have three plants blooming outdoors.

I also have a couple of very short autos that are happily blooming under the T5s. A mere 96 watts of electricity and they're cool enough that the leaves can touch the lamps. I'm sold on T5s.

 

[Locked]

T5's rock....period. Nice breakdown on the cfl Hush.

 

[bho_expertz]

hush is doing his homework

 

[HemperFi]

well, all I did was put my hand up under there and wonder, "WHAT HEAT?" I'm learning, and YES, you do sound harsh THG. MY "perceptions" have kept me alive as I have wondered through this adventure of life (The jungles of Vietnam come to mind first) I haven't grown weed a long time, but I know what I feel when I place my hand under my lights. My 600w HID will be here any day now, and I'm sure I'll end up buying a T5 fixture as well. I'm just saying, "What Heat." I'm studying -- every night for weeks I have been up until 2 or three AM reading and taking notes. I want to do this right -- and I will. Hampster is right, and I will make mistakes I'm sure, but I am determined, and confident that I can grow as well as anyone no matter how many years they have been pumping out vast quantities of dank. No disrespect intended. I truly appreciate everyone's input, and I AM learning. Everyone makes mistakes in the beginning -- It's a learning process -- excuse me as I grope around for a style of my own I will get this lummen/heat thingy understood. Hush has helped here -- thanks

Peace

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

We are telling you the things we are telling you so that you CAN get your space dialed in and so you CAN grow as well as anyone else, so that you CAN produce great dank bud. We are not being mean, we are truly trying to help you here....

When I was an apprentice tradesman learning my trade, I had a journeyman working with me a lot of the time. He taught me the things I needed to learn to become a journeyman and then a master at my trade. There were many times that I disagreed with him, but I found out as time went on that there is no substitute for experience and I could best learn by taking advantage of his many many years at the trade. While many times there are multiple ways of doing the same thing, almost always there is a way that is better than the rest.

 

[Tom O'Bedlam]

So it's getting close to harvest time. Lots of popcorn buds with some slightly larger ones. I had pruned the tops early on b/c I wanted shorter plants. My book suggests a flush about 7-10 days prior to harvest. I've snipped some bits off and looked at the trichs under a 30x lens and they look clear to me. Would this be a good time to flush? THey've been under 12/12 for 5.5 weeks now. I also include a pic of the 2 surviving clones just for fun.

Thanks all

 

[Hushpuppy]

Those buds don't look ready yet. You said 5.5 weeks in flower, they will need most likely at least 8 weeks. The buds look real nice but as the next few weeks pass they should thicken up and get fairly dense. I am not seeing any tric production to the naked eye yet so there is no need to start watching too close yet. When you to 8 weeks and you can see a lot of frostiness on the leaves around the buds, then you will want to zoom in with a scope or 30x eyepiece to watch the trics develop :icon_smile:

I used to flush as I always heard that it helps the bud taste better, then I had to harvest without flushing, and after curing it tasted just as good as any that I had flushed. If you come to a point that you know that you will pull them within 5 days, you could switch to straight water for the last 4-5 days to allow the plant to use up the last of the nutes within the system.

 

[Roddy]

:yeahthat: :yeahthat: