light help

[PUFF MONKEY]

what the hell are cfl's and what s the best floro to use for the entire life of the plant???? thanks

 

[slowmo77]

a cfl is a compact floresent light. its the light that look like a cork screw that screws in a regular socket. cfls work fine for the whole grow because you can buy them in different spectrums.. 6500k for veg 2700k for flowering.. i hope i explained that right.

 

[PUFF MONKEY]

yes it did ,. thanks. now, do cfl's put out more light than 48" 40watt t-12's ??? i am currently using 12 of them over a 3'x4' grow box but, i have enough ballasts 28 40watt 48". what should i doo.please elaborate on spectrum intensity(bulb arrangement).

 

[ISO2BWELL]

yes it did ,. thanks. now, do cfl's put out more light than 48" 40watt t-12's ??? i am currently using 12 of them over a 3'x4' grow box but, i have enough ballasts 28 40watt 48". what should i doo.please elaborate on spectrum intensity(bulb arrangement).

Squeef:

No, the 48" T-12 will put out less light to your plant than a cfl will if close to the plant. If you are going to use a 48" flouro use a T-5 fixture (different ballast and lamps). T-5's are superb for vegging (6500 kelvin temp), but while they will flower a plant, you won't get near the yield you would get from a HPS.

If all you have is the T-12's, do you kow the KELVIN temp of those lamps? Is there a part number on the lamps that can be cross-referenced to determine the kelvin temp? With 12 of them (t-12's) you might get by.

ISO

 

[slowmo77]

if you have 28 T12 above them id say that should veg the heck out of them. are they cool white or warm white? the fact that they are T12 is over ridin by the fact that you have so many of them. jmo

 

[PUFF MONKEY]

i have a board with 6 48"ott-lights(really blue) and 6 phillips alto cool white plus. i have to say that my sprouts are doubleing in size every 12 hrs or so.i just want to get my game plan figured out ahead of time.the combined spectrum of the 2 different bulbs come really close to natural sunlight. all bulbs/ballasts are 40watt.i guess what i'm trying to ask is ,is there any way to mimic a MH/HPS while using floro's i.e number of lights , spectrum arrangement.

 

[ISO2BWELL]

i have a board with 6 48"ott-lights(really blue) and 6 phillips alto cool white plus. i have to say that my sprouts are doubleing in size every 12 hrs or so.i just want to get my game plan figured out ahead of time.the combined spectrum of the 2 different bulbs come really close to natural sunlight. all bulbs/ballasts are 40watt.i guess what i'm trying to ask is ,is there any way to mimic a MH/HPS while using floro's i.e number of lights , spectrum arrangement.

The difference is wattage and lumens..otherwise you can "mimic" their effects. If the T-12's are in the blue range of light (5000k-7000k), and you get them close to the plants, you can do fine. I keep my T-5's about 3-6" above the plants, and get excellent vegitative growth.

The main difference is "penetration"...the flouro's will not penetrate the plant canopy like a HPS or MH will, so plan to keep your plants short, or add side lighting with screw in CFL's to bolster the light in areas the flouro's don't reach.

ISO

 

[slowmo77]

i think iso got it right, cfls can't penetrate anything like an HPS or MH. but being able to put cfls closer and along the side and bottom helps alot.

 

[massproducer]

if your plants are doubling in size every 12 hours, then they are stretching like mad, which is a sign that you do not have enough light on them. Is it the stem growing more or actual foliage? Because foliage shouldn't grow that fast, especially under fluoros.

 

[PUFF MONKEY]

the stems stopped at 2" and are pretty thick for sprouts. the leaves are blasting out.i'm going out to me brother's house to get my camera this evening. i will post pics of my room as well as pics of his. i'm a novice at the grow thing but he isn't and only has 1 400w MH. you guys can tell me what ya'll think. his are 5' tall and he has about 30 of 'em p.s. as for the height of my garden, i'm attempting a sea of green setup complete with co2 so this should compensate for the canopy penetration(hopefully)

 

[PUFF MONKEY]

if your plants are doubling in size every 12 hours, then they are stretching like mad, which is a sign that you do not have enough light on them. Is it the stem growing more more actual foliage? Because foliage shouldn't grow that fast, especially under fluoros.

even in really good soil mix ???albeit, that rate has slowed somewhat

 

[massproducer]

soil is the slowest growth medium, but I will wait until i see some pics, how many leaf sets do the plants have?

 

[PUFF MONKEY]

2 plus the round ones after 3 days. the last set are still quite small though

 

[massproducer]

so what is doubling every 12 hours, during veg you want the plants to stay as short as possible with as many nodes/leaf sets as possible as close together as possible. Any stem enlongation is a problem and should be taken care of ASAP. If the stems are growing very quick on a seedling then if is a sigh of too much heat or not enough light or the lights being too far from the plants.

How far are the lights above the plants

 

[PUFF MONKEY]

they are getting thicker but not taller and it's the leaves that are growing noticably fast. does that sound right?? i'm going to buy a small fan today as well.

 

[ISO2BWELL]

Squeef:

Yes, they are stretching a bit, but they are also just babies.

The Cotelydon leaves are those little round ones, and they are providing lots of nutrients to that baby right now. Those 2 leaves wil eventualy fade and die off in a few days, so don't get worries when it happens.

As for the stretching....

Make sure you have good airflow under the lights and over the top of the plants...not that's blowing them around, but enough to keep fresh air flowing under there. Next, place those little ones as close as possible (like 4") to the lights..that's 4 INCHES, or closer if you can keep them cool. That will stop the stretching as they begin to grow.

It is natural for a plant to stretch a little at birth, but use that to your advantage! Next time you transplant, cover up more of the bare stem with soil, and then the plant can grow more roots from there...making it even stonger. Transplant it where the bottom set of leaves is just off the soil...bury the rest of the stem.

As for your buddy...yep, sounds like he is stretching them a ton too. There is a certain amout of light (minimum) required per aq. ft. in order to grow right, and that 400W for 30 plants is wholly insufficient to do the job right.

ISO

 

[PUFF MONKEY]

thanks for all the help, i'm a fast learner.i just lowerd the lights to 5". they were at 14".as for my brother, yes, the plants in the middle are looking great. the outer plants arent quite as big but he's flowering after 4 months . his fan leafs are about 10" in diameter.we are thinking of buying 3 more nice switchable ballest and moving the whole works to his house and just using my floro's for vegging.he's got an air conditioned multi-room basement to dedicate to growing. does this sound like a better idea ?

 

[ISO2BWELL]

he's got an air conditioned multi-room basement to dedicate to growing. does this sound like a better idea ?

In a word..YES.

BTW, he might want to check the humidity in his grow room...plants can sometimes grow massive fan leaves to help shed some of that excess moisture.

ISO