Hi all,

I was looking through some of the posts and noticed that a couple of people are growing with energy saving normal bulbs??!! Does this actually work ok?? I'm sorry if it's a stupid question but I'm fairly new to all this...only ever grown once and that was 7 years ago!!! If so then surely this must be an economical way of growing and would stop the paranoia of 'Big Brother' keeping an eye on your leccy bill?

Bigger lamps are much more efficient - much more pot per kilowatt hour, it also means for many of us that we only need to grow once a year and can take holidays and stuff.

I suppose it depends how much you smoke. Some of us even started out with linears..., but once you've grown with even a small HPS lamp, you'll never go back unless you suddenly find yourself with no headroom.

Big Brother won't notice a 600 watt grow

Energy saving bulbs can be used to grow but there's limited results, But they can be spot on for vegging plants or keeping a mother plant ticking over. I was trying to get a full grow from them but threw in the towel and got meself a 400w HPS , and a new grow drobe.

It all depends what your wanting from your grow ???

Cheers for the replies guys next time I grow I was going to go for the greenhouse option, was just interested as to what sort of growth you could get from them.

They would be a good option to get seeds/clones veged ready for the greenhouse and to keep mother plants going over the winter.

Thanks itsalan

Common CFLs are pretty good but like people say, not as efficient as bigger bulbs.. I was shocked to find today that a 125w enviro puts out more light than 150w of normal spiral energy savers (5x30w). If you want to grow under them anyway, avoid anything below 23w for flowering as they're even less intense than the >30w bulbs.

The best thing about cfls is you can put loads of them in a grow cheaply and there's something about having multiple points of light that plants love. You can also mix the spectrum (daylight with warm white etc)

I'm looking at this myself and can't decide which route to go down. I think using a few energy savers as supplemental lighting to a red enviro or small HPS lamp is probably the best place for them, although micro veg/clone/mum cabs can be done well using a couple of daylight energy savers.

It really comes down to how much wattage you're gonna be using.. if its only for a tiny, sub 100w kind of grow, they're probably the best idea, but beyond that, BIG enviro style cfls or a small CDM-T/HPS lamp is probably the best bet. and this comes from the original energy saver fan..

has anyone got any clue what spectrum light the energy savers put out??

You get cool white and warm white ones - most of the bulbs you will find in BnQ etc are cool white - which are recommended for vegging. Plants apparently need the warm spectrum for flowering - although its probably best to mix the spectrums up a bit - particularly in flower.

I'm sceptical about fluorescent "colours" - except in lifts - bluey light is not flattering to the older chap.
All the ones I've bought recently are warm white - even the 99p ones from Wilkinsons.

Mostly you just want more light. My gut reaction is that "red" is a bonus, rather than "blue" being better.

Not much blue here :-

Click to view attachment


for lettuce, maybe, but not cannabis...

i was thinking about getting my hands on 10 100w house lights (energy savers) and stick them all around a few lowriders to give light from every possible area..........

would this promote growth within the areas of plant that one light hovering abouve seems to miss??
or would this totally mess up the plant??

also if scattered lighting is used, would the overall yield be increased??

help would be much apreciated

they are good for rooting cuts(you probabably wont remember but cheers for showing me the error of my ways about using an enviro compostverte, can always rely on your posts for good info ) but for any serious growing it just sounds like to much messing about only to upgrade in the future because you will tbh.
p:

yeah i know what you mean, but money is an issue at the moment, and its fairly cheap to set up and to run

One option with CFLs is to use them to supplement natural sunlight so as to be able to maintain the photo period you want all year round.

Phillips make a 21watt red spectrum bulb which can be mixed with easier to find white spectrum bulbs for good colours, but as many have said already, you wont get much bud from a plant finished under CFLs, they just don't cut it. Perfect for veg, crap for flowers.

One guy on here some place did a CFL scrog in a fridge box he'd knocked up. It was a crap grow, but he knew that and was just seeing what would happen – I think he pulled about 20 grams dry. It was actually one of my favourite grow diaries.

would you recomend hps then??

what sort of heat do they produce??

im a bit concerned because ive heard stories about growboxes setting on fire and others just overheating...

im only thinking of doing two lowrider diesels at a friends house, and the idea was to use a plastic barrel which is 3ft tall x 2 ft wide, would this be a problem???

cheers for the replys lads

CFL grows are a viable option, if initial setup costs are a limiting factor. I know how it is to be skint, and it really is the mother of invention.

They will never kick out the same lumens per watt as an HPS, but if you get them in nice and close to your plant, the difference is marginal. They are cheap to obtain, easy to manage and replace, and will allow you to grow enough weed to save you some money, if not make you completely self-sustaining.

The money you save can later be put towards an HPS setup, and in the meantime you will have gained some growing experience, and some free weed.

There are some grow diaries that I recommend.

Operation: Bonsai Blabblabberbab's 80 watt cfl grow in a tiny 1 foot square box. The first run through only yielded about 3/4 of an ounce, but the same plant revegged yielded double the second time through.

The "High-Pod" A circular bin with 6 x 65 watt linear CFL lamps surrounding the plant. Yield was 159.6 grams or 5.7 ounces. I have also seen similar bin setups, but with a low power HPS (70-100 w) suspended in the centre, and the plants in a vertical scrog surrounding it.

DrBud's Perpetual CFL SOG 210 watts of CFLs used in a perpetual SOG, with a weekly yield of at least 3/4 of an ounce Lots of effort, but if you don't mind high plant numbers, the payoff seems well worth it.

I also recommend reading "Marijuana buds for less" by SeeMoreBuds. This book details a method whereby the cfls are constantly adjusted to always be close to the plant as it grows, and again, the results are excellent. If you are really poor, grab the pdf from Pirate Bay, then buy the book when you have the money.

Most cheap energy savers are 2700k warm white (red). Cool white and daylight bulbs better for veg are a friggin pain in the arse to find but if you can find some, they will work and work good.. i'm just building a PC case veg cab to hold bonsai mothers, and clones getting ready to go into my small flowering box.. I've got 2 25w daylight energy savers for that one, will work good - the best thing about em being you can get them really close to the plants so they tend to veg up really well..

Some growers have said they find daylight spectrum (6400ish K) stimulates better root growth than cool white 4000k bulbs, but that's hearsay on my behalf.