Indoor Light

[Beal]

Hi all just asking I'm running a 250cfl blue and the mo I was just seeing to I change to red when they start flowering or can I stick the blue cheers

 

[Truu]

You CAN stick with blue, but, its not the best option. For best results use both, or use red when flowering.

 

[Beal]

So u switch to 250cfl red when flowering and why is this done

 

[AndyBotwin]

You CAN stick with blue, but, its not the best option. For best results use both, or use red when flowering.

There's been quite a bit of discussion and experimentation with this on the lighting forum, and I've never seen concrete proof that adding red spectrum florescent (not talking HID here) lights gives better results with autos. Photos flower in the shorter days of the fall and like the red spectrum, but with their short lifespan autos thrive under the high intensity blue light that mimics the mid-summer conditions that they flower in.

It's worth playing around with if you have both types of bulbs, but many people are getting great results with 6500k from beginning to end. In my last CFL grow I used 6500k side lighting on one plant and 2700k on the other, and the one getting more blue spectrum yielded more and had more dense buds. I've since moved to T5 and had very good results with only blue light.

 

[Beal]

I think I will stick to the blue then I'm running 250cfl at the mo I mite up it to 300cfl blue wat u think will this help the plant cheers

 

[Truu]

In a plants "natural" inviorment aka- outdoors, a marijuana plant will grow in the vegetative state during the summer when the sun is producing a more "blue" spectrum and daylight last longer. Once the seasons change and winter starts to roll around the days get shorter and the sun emmits a more "red" spectrum. Once the plant senses this wordly change it begins to flower, so it can reproduce for survival.

So in theory, when we grow indoors we are trying to reproduce the sun. Blue for the vegetative stage and red for flower. The plant will produce more bud under a red spectrum, because it is naturally wired to do so for survival.

However, the sun does not emmit JUST blue, and only red. It is a mixed spectrum. So the ideal lighting is a mixed spectrum like the sun. So for vegetative stage I normally use, for example, 4 blue t5 4' blue bulbs and 2 red bulbs. And during flower I'll switch to 4 red and 2 blue. It's been said that blue helps with thrichome production and red helps with the density of the bud.

 

[Truu]

Hey Andy I like that, thanks for the info. I think with my next grow I'm going Go back with t5's to try out your theory.

 

[Beal]

So could I go for 300cfl 6400k and use it for the whole grow

 

[Sauce Boss]

Are you serious? Please search next time before posting and cluttering the board. Proper sentence structure works wonders too.

https://www.autoflower.org/f43/lighting-forum-assistants-3240.html

 

[AndyBotwin]

So could I go for 300cfl 6400k and use it for the whole grow

Sure, that would work fine. With CFL I'd suggest getting as much light on the plants as you can. They don't have very good penetration, so more watts is better no matter what the spectrum. If you've got some smaller bulbs (either red or blue) and can handle the heat, throw them in there also to get some side lighting.