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CFL Questions

crazy8

crazy8

OK so I have been doing some searching and cant seem to find many answers. I have searched the forum and cant seem to find what I am looking for although I'm certain this subject has been beaten like a dead horse so I apologize.

Now that I have that out of the way here is the deal. My lighting setup I have consists of 2-4' dual bulb florescent fixtures and I have been thinking of maybe passing them onto my brother and start a CFL setup. This would allow me to work in confined space but as a budding pepper head I have some questions about it.

First off I know that each plant should have about 30-45 watts and that lights should be very close, but this also depends on what kind of lighting you use. So here are my questions.

1) If I were to get a CFL 8U bulb (im thinking 200w) how far away should it be from the top of the plants?

2) Based on the 30-45w theory you could use a 200w CFL for about 4-6 plants but based on how far a way the bulb needs to be from the plants could you fit that many in the ligtht hat gets casted?

3) I think I know the answer to this but do the higher powered CFL's (200w, etc.) generate much heat? Im assuming not and based on pics I have found I could use this bulb in an enclosed container without worry correct?

4) If I were to get a 6400k for growth and a 2700k for flowering, how long would I use each bulb for?

I think thats all I have for now.

Thanks for the help
 
I use 8 40 watt standard fluorescents (4 red and 4 blue - too lazy to look up the color number for them) and 18 42 watt (150 watt equivalent) CFLs for a 4' X 4' area...got a total lumen output of about 60K...

now that I read your questions again, I see I didn't answer a single one of them...more later...
 
I put 6 plants under a 23w cfl for two months to grow them until they can be planted outside. Thats all you need unless you want to grow them inside.
 
I have a 250 watt CFL and it does generate heat, enough to dry out seedling soil fairly quickly. I have it about 15 cm's above the seedlings without damage however one or two have dried out. If you enclose one you will need some ventilation. I don't bother with a heat mat because the heat from the bulb is enough to keep the soil warm.

Here is my setup and without a side on it is already almost too warm.

P1070585.jpg


P1070596.jpg
 
Very nice. Well my thought is to have them inside for about 2-3 months then put them outside. So assuming I do a lot, could I have as many as you have for that period of time buggedcom?

Just a little side track. I noticed your using two cups does the ones holding the soil in them have holes for drainage into the other cup?
 
Yeah, it was a little trick I picked up from Pam (I think) on here. It works really well, especially as you can see how dry the soil is.

I should add I grow solely inside as I live in a shitty urban apartment and the 250 watt provided enough light to grow 7-8 plants before they all got seriously ill.

sorry didn't see your question. Assuming you do it like me then yes you could have. I actually only intended to grow 6 plants but planted 4-5 per pot and got an unexpected 90-95 germination rate. admittedly the seeds were from a fresh chili I had just brought in the supermarket, but still that's pretty good. They germinated inside 4 days which was also unexpected.
 
Yeah I think I will be planting another 25-30 plants at my house next year and I will have the 8 winterized ones joining them along with about another 36 or so plants at my girl friends (which by then she will be my fiance ;) )house. Maybe with that in mind I should get two 200-250w 6400k CFLs. I wont need to worry about flowering bulbs Since they will only be inside for 2-3 months correct?
 
I'm just wondering why you'd spend all that money on a bulb when you could get away with $10 on bulbs. It's not as hard as it seems. They just need some light so the grow and don't become leggy. The higher watt bulbs are if you want to grow them inside all year.
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Well I know light is important and I just want to make sure that if I am going to seed 60-70 plants that I have enough "good" light to do it.
 
chillilover said:
I'm just wondering why you'd spend all that money on a bulb when you could get away with $10 on bulbs. It's not as hard as it seems. They just need some light so the grow and don't become leggy. The higher watt bulbs are if you want to grow them inside all year.
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I agree. For what you are going to spend on one fixture and 200w bulb, you can have several bulbs and fixtures and provide more of a spread of light than you will get from just one bulb.
 
So then your guys think I would be just as good if not better off sticking to my two dual bulb 4' 35w florescent setup for the 2-3 month period? Would the growth/maturity of the plant be the same as if I used a CFL or other type of light source?
 
crazy8 said:
So then your guys think I would be just as good if not better off sticking to my two dual bulb 4' 35w florescent setup for the 2-3 month period? Would the growth/maturity of the plant be the same as if I used a CFL or other type of light source?
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Maybe 2 of those for the amount of plants you want. You can buy them cheap.....like $15 or so.
 
Well I already have the two dual bulb 4' fixtures in place. I just wanted to verify that you guys think I'm just as good or better off using that instead of replacing it with CFL's.
 
crazy8 said:
Well I already have the two dual bulb 4' fixtures in place. I just wanted to verify that you guys think I'm just as good or better off using that instead of replacing it with CFL's.
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Those will do fine.:)
 
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