qibbish
(journeyman)
4/5/01 07:01 PM
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florescent grow experience
[Post#: 113183
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For years I'd always turned my nose up when I heard stories of people growing herb solely under florescents. It stuck me as such a waste to put all that energy into a system I didn't think could yeild anything worthwhile with just florescent lighting, and often felt growers that went that way were throwing away potential (and money) to raise a wasted crop..
Then I came upon some pictures of a florescent garden at http://dabombaybee420.tripod.com/techniques.html
and nearly fell of my seat. Ok, he obviously used seeds with good genetics, and the buds don't look amazingly good.. but better than I would have figured.
My question is this: in order to get a decent crop using this method, what would be a recommended wattage for these kinds of lights.. Secondly (and most importantly) where can I buy florescent lights good for growing ? Does anybody know of a good rigging method to get the lights raisable?
I'm willing to trade off some potential potency for the decrease in visibility (to the electric company and IR imaging devices)... particulary for a personal crop.
now if I could only find a way to take care of oder...
(e)
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sb5
(enthusiast)
4/5/01 07:11 PM
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Re: florescent grow experience
[Post#: 113191
/ re: 113183
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give em about 50w a sq/ft of flor and train the plants to grow the main stalk horizontally, with the side shoots growing straight up ( ===-T---T----T--T--T---T~ ). ive grown some seriously potent dope under strickly floro setups... with a little effort you can yield a "decent sized" crop...
sb5
dont fuck with my fucking pipe
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PurpleDurban
(journeyman)
4/5/01 08:01 PM
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Re: florescent grow experience
[Post#: 113210
/ re: 113191
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I myself have never grown under strictly flouros, but I know that it is possible to yeild perfectly chronic herbs by this method. Just flower early (or train like sb5 suggested). Big drawback-you invariably get fluffier product, hence lower yeild. You also have to continually adjust the lights.I have sampled some top grade indoor from such setups.
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sb5
(enthusiast)
4/5/01 08:35 PM
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Re: florescent grow experience
[Post#: 113220
/ re: 113210
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>> Big drawback-you invariably get fluffier product, hence lower yeild
not exactly true. if you keep the light (in my own experience tested) literaly touching the top of the plants youll keep the nodes centimeters apart... in the end youll have tighter bigger buds (versus a lot of little popcorn buds).
also with floros, keep a light bank on the SIDE(s) of the plants to compensate for the large amounts of weak floro light that is lost in the upper canopy.... that barely or never reaches lowest levels (result, small if any buds down below... side lighting increases these to nice nugs!).
ive only grown STRICKLY with floros a couple times. the rest of the time ive used the floros for veg and cloning only.
>> You also have to continually adjust the lights.
as with any type of lighting you will have to
sb5
dont fuck with my fucking pipe
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kloset_king
(superposter)
4/5/01 08:46 PM
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Re: florescent grow experience
[Post#: 113223
/ re: 113220
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If you want to learn the best methods for growing with fluro's, look into ScroG growing. This is the most rewarding method of growth under this type of light. Hope this helps...K_K
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PurpleDurban
(journeyman)
4/5/01 09:20 PM
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Re: florescent grow experience
[Post#: 113230
/ re: 113223
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I am honestly not saying that flourescents suck-but they surely have their drawbacks-as with any light system. Side lighting is a great way to illuminate your lower growth-but it seems like adding it would just create that much more to adjust and deal with if you wanted to get close to your plants (though they do have those circular flourescents). "Fluffy buds" was a comparison to flowers grown under 50+ watts/sq.ft. of HPS-which can be rock hard-can flourescents do that? I have puffed some pretty kryppie kolas from flourescent rigs, but compared to alot of hydro grown under HPS it was fluffy. This in turn would seem to invariably lower yeild (compared to HPS), because of the difference in relative intensity of the light (flouro vs HPS) and the resulting relative density of the flowers. Am I just too stoned to reason properly...or does this make sense?
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PurpleDurban
(journeyman)
4/5/01 11:44 PM
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Re: florescent grow experience
[Post#: 113278
/ re: 113230
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I have found that if you combine cool whites (blue light) with warm whites (red light), that is the best flouro setup. Opinions differ on how many of each to use, but I think that using half of each is okay-but many recommend one cool white for every two warm white bulb. These tubes and the fixtures they go into are available at most hardware stores, Wal-Marts, or Home Depots...I just bought two of each at HD (they come in packs of 2). Cool whites were like $3.99 a pair, and the warm whites about $6.00 a pair. Shoplight fixtures are about $10.00. Don't be tempted by pricey "gro-bulbs"-they have a better spectrum, but it is ultimately cheaper to just combine the 2 types of regular tubes. Most Shoplight fixtures come with s-hooks and 2 short chains. If you get some extender chains to lengthen those short chains, you can hook those to plant hooks that you screw into the ceiling.Then you can just loop the next link in the chain onto the hook as your babies grow.
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CannabisUrungus
(journeyman)
4/6/01 09:23 AM
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Re: florescent grow experience
[Post#: 113378
/ re: 113278
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PurpleDurban, the name "cool white" is sort of a misnomer-- they actually emit most of their light in the yellow part of the spectrum. The human eye automatically adjusts to make them appear white. They work, but since plants utilize mostly the red and blue parts of the spectrum, I think 100% warm whites may be the best solution. I would mix in daylight tubes as well (which actually do have more "blue" light), but they usually aren't very bright.
Anyway, fluorescents do work. Before HID lights were available, fluorescents were the ONLY way to grow.
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PurpleDurban
(member)
4/6/01 02:40 PM
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Re: florescent grow experience
[Post#: 113480
/ re: 113378
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I must politely disagree, my brother. Cool whites emit mostly blue light-that is why they are called "cool"-blue is a cool color. Hence, "warm" whites emit more red-spectrum light (red is a warm color-so is yellow). If cool whites emit yellow light then they are worthless for this kind of horticulture-which makes it mysterious indeed why Mel Frank and many others reccomend them highly for vegetative growth/foliage production. As for the human eye adjusting the light to appear white, I notice a distinct blue hue coming from closets w/cool white setups-likewise a reddish/orange one coming from closets with mostly warm whites. I know a bevy of growers who swear by using cool whites exclusively to root clones/veg youngsters-and they have some beautiful plants. If cool whites emmited yellow light their plants would probably not survive (or would barely survive-and would thus be discredited and not employed at all).Daylight flourescents have good blue, too, and have been used with success-but I find cool whites are more available (at least in my area). In addition to warm white, you can use soft white or "merchandiser" white for red sources. Peace.
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luckman
(journeyman)
4/6/01 05:04 PM
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Re: florescent grow experience
[Post#: 113550
/ re: 113378
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Mr CannibisUrungus....didnt you just like, start here recently? I dont meant to insult, but do you realize you're not only challenging this person here but also Ed Rosenthal and all the work that dude did, I mean come on its proven cool whites emit enough blue light for the veg stage. They knew it 30 years ago, they know it today and the plants certainly respond. Do what that SanFranGrower cat does and do an experiment with the right equipment and come back and tell me I'm full of shit. But unless you're a rocket engineer that did the russian icbm detectors during the cold war, I doubt you know more about light that any of us.
As always, my opinion.
LuckMan
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