Lighting T5/CFL only thread (the manual)

[gearheadz]

hello there im new to indoor and auto , ive only done outdoor as i prefer organic and never really had the ryt place to do indoor . i just recently got sum dinafem critical jack auto , and have a nice cuboard / wine seller , ive used cfls for vegging photos in the past but in my new place i wanna try them throughout on the auto , as i think its too bait for an hps and i dnt wanna shellout a huge lekky bill. anyone give me sum ideas , currently potted in horizon peat free soil in a 3 gallon bucket and under sunlight during day and 2 warm 20w cfls at night with roughly 4 hours off at early morn.

 

[Duck Commander]

first ever grow im using cfls

Hi guys just a quick question on cfls im currently growing purple kush and mi5 i have them in a secret jardin ds90ii what is the best way to position my 300wdual spectrem with reflector and my 125w dual with only hanging lead u.k plug. here is a pic of how they are at the moment but for my next grow i want to do 4plants so want the most coverage as i can get from them

 

[Duck Commander]

Anyone got any ideas?

 

[jaspercane]

Been waiting on my seeds from the store here for some months for my guerrilla grow. Doesnt look they are make it in time for a outdoor grow. Ive never done a indoor grow but so this is my first. Got my hands on 3 creme carmel autos. All 3 popped and transplanted them into soil 2 days ago. Not being setup for a indoor grow I just grabbed a few items from the hardware store to get them started and hopefully with help here change over to better lighting. Got a 48" 4 bulb fixture. All they had was 4500K 40watts each but got it all setup yesterday. The 3 plants are in 1 gallon pots and the fixture is about 12 inches above them. Seeds popped soil and are two inches tall today. Now comes the questions... Is it okay to go 24/7 on the lighting and will the 4500K bulbs work for now or do I need to immediately replace them? Any and all help appreciated.

 

[Username]

Hey, I'm preparing to begin my first grow soon, but I still need to buy lights. Now I just came across this listing on Ebay LINK and I was wondering if it's a good set to use for the complete grow process. It's quite cheap I think, and I initially was about to purchase 4x 26W Soft White LINK which is about the same price.

Should I buy the Ebay listing or just the 4x 26W Soft White? I know the latter isn't ideal (as well), but I'm trying to keep it on a low budget for now..

 

[Username]

Been waiting on my seeds from the store here for some months for my guerrilla grow. Doesnt look they are make it in time for a outdoor grow. Ive never done a indoor grow but so this is my first. Got my hands on 3 creme carmel autos. All 3 popped and transplanted them into soil 2 days ago. Not being setup for a indoor grow I just grabbed a few items from the hardware store to get them started and hopefully with help here change over to better lighting. Got a 48" 4 bulb fixture. All they had was 4500K 40watts each but got it all setup yesterday. The 3 plants are in 1 gallon pots and the fixture is about 12 inches above them. Seeds popped soil and are two inches tall today. Now comes the questions... Is it okay to go 24/7 on the lighting and will the 4500K bulbs work for now or do I need to immediately replace them? Any and all help appreciated.

I'm quite new to this, but after reading material on CFLs (I found particularly this one very informative LINK), I think they are okay for the first two weeks (max?), but you should get others soon, best off ranging in the 5000K - 6500K range, which are good K's for growing. For blooming you should use CFLs in the range of 2700K - 3000K.
Comparing these two pictures, you can see that the effectiveness of 4100K bulbs is low compared to the others, for the purpose you will be using them:

These are some informative places about the Color Temperature lights and CFLs:

LINK 1, LINK 2, LINK 3

But like I said, I'm quite new to this. These are just my Good luck with the grow!

Hi guys just a quick question on cfls im currently growing purple kush and mi5 i have them in a secret jardin ds90ii what is the best way to position my 300wdual spectrem with reflector and my 125w dual with only hanging lead u.k plug. here is a pic of how they are at the moment but for my next grow i want to do 4plants so want the most coverage as i can get from them
View attachment 101562View attachment 101563View attachment 101564

Yo dude, like I said above, I'm quite new to this, but I think you have them positioned quite well. Maybe you could swap the hanging 125W around from left to right every week, so you're not spoiling only one side with this sweet light. With CFLs it's important the light spreads evenly and the plant is surrounded by light. You probably already figured something out yourself after 10 days, but I just thought it might still help.

Good luck with the grow bro!

 

[mr_dontsweat_it75]

Nice to finally feel home brothers.:smoke: I Love My T5's!!!!!

 

[mr_dontsweat_it75]

HTG Supply 4ft T5's 160 with 8 bulbs both spectrum's!!!! I m sure that would do what you need and then some bro good luck!!!!

 

[Username]

Hi everyone, I changed my plans on lights and am willing to spend a bit more. When everything goes to plan, I will order 2x 40w 5000K, 2x 23w 6500K, 1x 40w 2700K and 2x 26w 2700K. I will use 2x 40w 5000K and 2x 23w 6500K for vegetative state and 3x 2700K with 1x 5000K for blooming since I read this worked well for some people. I also read a minimum of 100w per plant is recommended, and having three plants I know I won't reach that with this set up, but it's a bit of a slippery slope (?) for my budget. Will I still get a decent yield with these lights? Thanks again everyone!

 

[Username]

So I just got a small little big reply from 1000bulbs; I can't use their bulbs. In the Netherlands we use 220-240 voltage bulbs, 1000bulbs only have 120v bulbs. If anyone knows a good spot to get CFL bulbs in Europe, please let me know. The max Watt they sell in my hardware stores is 23W, and they cost 8 Euro (about 10 Dollars) each.. Now imagine buying at least six 2700K and six 6500K bulbs for that price, and still only having the minimum Watts. So I'm really starting to think I should just get an HPS light... Which would really suck because I was really hoping to grow with CFLs.