Any cfl guys or gals or any knowledgeable person

So I’m running 6 100w cfl bulbs in with my leds for more and different lighting. So is it better to run all 6 2700k or all 6 6500k or a mixture of both? I remember reading on here somewhere that the 2700k is better am I remembering right?

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During Veg or flower a mix is better at start of veg then 6500 followed by 2700 for flower

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I grew them with 6500k and just put in the 2700k tonight when I turned my timers to 12/12 should I put some of the 6500k back in? The 6500k grow a nice compact plant in veg

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I don’t think anybody actually makes a 100 watt CFL. They make 25 watt CFLs that claim to put out as much light as a 100 watt incandescent bulb. So I think you are really running 25 watt CFLs and they don’t do much compared to your LEDs. Two of those 25 watt CFLs with reflectors per square foot would probably be adequate if you were running no LEDs. 6 of them would light 3 square feet, which is a tiny grow room.

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I’ve seen 100w cfl they are Huge like 12in long,but they do make em,

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I think that he means the round house models? 40w, 60w, 100w, ?

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If you were growing CFL only, some mixing of the spectrums wouldn’t be a bad thing. Or, doing 6500k for veg and 2700k for flower then adding 6500k for the last couple weeks.

Your best bet is going to be supplementing whatever your led is short on. If the blue/red ratio is something like 1 blue per 3-4 reds, add the 2700k cfls. If it’s like 1 blue per 5 or more reds, mix the 2700k with 6500k.

Your in flower, so the added reds will help with bud development. And you’re not as concerned about stretch anymore. You don’t want to totally ignore blue wavelengths as they will still promote resin production. Hopefully that makes a little sense.

Yes it does I’m really not sure of the ratio but they are galaxy hydros 300w and I know they have a good red and blue spectrum once I put them on my other girls they made all the difference I just wanted 1 more wattage per sq ft 2 to try to coverify more of the color spectrum I appreciate your time for answering the questions and dumbing
It down for me lol

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If you think the blue to red ratio is pretty good, maybe try 4 2700k and 2 6500k?

I’m not recalling what size your grow is, but I’m thinking maybe 2 2700k on each side lengthwise, and then the 6500k on ends. Or however it works to get the best balance really. You’ll just want to make sure you don’t shadow your led any.

You would need 8 of those 100 watt CFLs to light a 3 by 3 tent to the same level as a 400 watt HPS lamp. They would cost 304 dollars but they also need mogul base sockets, which adds another 46 dollars. You can get a 400 watt MH + HPS grow light from home depot for $200 with free shipping.

If you really want CFLs, you can buy a 4 pack of true 23 watt (100 watt incandescent equivalent) curly CFLs for about $10 at home depot. These put out almost as much light as that $42 bulb. (6400 lumens versus 6900) You would need 8 of these 4-packs for about $80. Your fixture would look pretty cool with 32 curly CFLs on it!

It would consume 736 watts, which is almost twice the electricity of a 400 watt MH or HPS lamp. This is why growers stopped using CFLs in favor of MH and HPS lamps long ago.

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@1BigFella yea that’s why these are just Xtra lights I have 2 300 galaxy hydro led lights and a 200w cob no name brand led with the other 6 bulbs I’m putting out around 90tru watt per sq ft. I had it figured low but finally did exact measurements I just waneed to have a different kinda light with the led to see if it would help increase yeild the led I got grow super dense buds just a experiment to see if adding this kind of light will increase the bud size considering cfl like to grow big airy buds and the led being dense I was hoping for a mix of both a big ass nice full buds if that makes aNY sense I was just curious which was better for flower the 2700k or 6500k I read it’s the 2700k but I’m not 100% positive. But thank you for your input. I did veg them with the 23w 6500k cfl house bulb and they made beautiful plants

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I had to delete my pics so my daughter could take my phone to school for a project but there are pics in my grow journal

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HA! Hope you didn’t miss one…

Yes you want warm white for flowering and cold white for veg. The only real exception to that is that you would typically see a little more resin by still having a good amount of blue wavelengths present during the last couple weeks of flowering.

I bought true 85 watt 6500k photography studio bulbs (first photo) for about $17 a piece somewhere on Amazon. I bought $125 watt 2700k bulbs for about $20.

The 125 watt really need to be mounted horizontal to get the best light out of them.
@1BigFella @Nug-bug @dbrn32

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Horizontal, and they need a good reflector since most of their light is not headed toward your plants. That is one thing LEDS have over HID and CFL: All the light is pointing down at your growing area.

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Yep horizontal is the best, and I agree about the reflector too. You can diy them out of quite a few things if need be.

Yep. you can get fancy with shiny aluminum or mirrored mylar, but even cardboard painted flat white is surprising is good. Anything so the light all goes down toward the plants instead of lighting the top of your grow room.