Lighting CFL Vs HPS

[Skute]

Hey guys .. I had been growing for maybe 12 years or so under HPS with the last 5 or 6 using hydro. My kiddies were growing up so i took a break (they were getting to the age that my explanation of tomato plants was quickly becoming unrealistic) and that break has lasted about 5 years. My kids still live at home but the urge to grow has come back so i'm going to set up a 80cm x 80cm x 2 meter high (32 x 32 x 78 inch) cabinet in my scorpion room (i keep, breed and sell desert scorpions).
I've still got 3 x 400 watt HPS's but those guys kick out a lot of heat and i don't fancy having to install extractor fans and the such like just to keep the heat down. It's going to be a stealth setup so i want to be able to contain the whole setup within the cabinet and with that in mind i've been thinking about going for CFL's instead of HPS's....It will still be a hydro setup.

My question is...would CFL's be ok for about a yard square SOG? I'm thinking about using a single or maybe 2 x 250 watt CFL as they are the largest i've seen for sale in my country.

If you guys think that won't work does anyone have any ideas how i can maintain a stealth setup using HPS's and at the same time keep the heat down.

Any and all suggestions will be appreciated.

Oh yeh, sorry if this subject has been discussed before but i've not been able to find anything similar to it by searching (only looked for 10 minutes or so).

 

[Muddy]

Welcome to AFN. Either CFLs or LEDs would work very well for what you want to do. While CFLs have a lot less heat than HPS, they do still give off some due to be ballasts being attached. LEDs, while more expensive up front, do give off less that CFLs and use even less electricity. With either you would still need a small exhaust fan for air exchange. I run an area about that same size using LEDs and a 4" in line extraction fan. I have the fan hooked to a variable speed controller and am able to run it at the lowest speed most of the time, there by reducing the noise greatly.

Are you planning on running photo sensitive strains again or are you going to give autos a try? Autos grow very well under both CFL and LED.

 

[Skute]

Hi Muddy and thanks for replying...I'd like to give AF's a try although the only concern i have with them is that i don't know if i'll be able to cover my SOG before the spurt of flowering growth is over .. although having said that i have no experience with them so i don't know if my worries are founded in fact. By using hydro i know i'll be able to get a slightly faster rate of growth than using soil (or at least i used to but i'm no soil mechanic) and maybe this slightly faster rate of growth would allow me to get good coverage across the screen but again I've not tried AF's before.
I used to leave them on 18H until i had almost covered the screen and then switched over to 12H. This generally gave me great yields.

I discovered one super advantage with AF's though after reading your AF guide and that was i'd be able to keep the light/s on 18H throughout the flowering period allowing me to get either cuttings or seedlings ready in the same cabinet...Maybe this quick turnaround would balance out any decline in yield

 

[Mr Piggy]

If you are an old hand at hydro you should check out some of the LED DWS grows people have on here. Some members grow in the same sized space with one auto and can get the suckers 8-10 oz, no kidding. Sounds better than a scrog or sog for the cab.

 

[Muddy]

We've had some successful SOG and SCROG grows using autos but in all honesty, they are not popular techniques with auto growers. You can have more plants in smaller pots, like 1.5 or 2 gallon or fewer plants in larger pots, 3 gallon, and your yield in a given space will be about the same. About the same when you look at autos vs. photos over an extended period of time, say a year. While the photos will yield more, you can grow more autos in that same time frame. Autos are great for small, stealthy grows. When you start talking about big grows, then photos, mothers and clones make more sense. In your case, the type of hydro setup you're using will factor in. I'm setting up a Current Culture system that will have 25" plant centers, so will be growing fewer, larger plants. If you're using something with closer plant centers, then SOG makes good sense.

Hi Muddy and thanks for replying...I'd like to give AF's a try although the only concern i have with them is that i don't know if i'll be able to cover my SOG before the spurt of flowering growth is over .. although having said that i have no experience with them so i don't know if my worries are founded in fact. By using hydro i know i'll be able to get a slightly faster rate of growth than using soil (or at least i used to but i'm no soil mechanic) and maybe this slightly faster rate of growth would allow me to get good coverage across the screen but again I've not tried AF's before.
I used to leave them on 18H until i had almost covered the screen and then switched over to 12H. This generally gave me great yields.

I discovered one super advantage with AF's though after reading your AF guide and that was i'd be able to keep the light/s on 18H throughout the flowering period allowing me to get either cuttings or seedlings ready in the same cabinet...Maybe this quick turnaround would balance out any decline in yield

 

[Skute]

I'm a total loser when it comes to using correct terminology....I've been saying SOG when i should have been saying SCROG!.

My plan is to use a single plant starting out with a drip system and then going over to bubble once the roots have reached down to the reservoir. I remember them really taking off once they get those roots down into the nutrients. Then i'll allow the plant to grow until it gets a few inches above the screen after which i'll pull it back under the screen and start training it out, trimming as necessary. Once i've got a good spread i'll take a few cuttings off the branches that are still below the screen and then switch over to 12/12.
Those cutting will be placed in rockwool cubes and placed in pots with clay pellets, hand watering them until needed. Once the 1st grow is done i'll then change hydro systems so that the next grow will be pure drip using as many of the clones as i need. Surplus nutes will run off into a reservoir placed under the pots and pumped back up to the drips. This grow will more than likely be a SOG.
If i'm impressed with the smoke i'll take more cuttings and repeat...Otherwise i'll start a new SCROG with a new variety and start the procedure all over.

I'm actually started making another cabinet (should be finished this weekend) and starting an AF grow using drip and bubble. I picked up 3 AF seeds yesterday, a variety called "The Quick One" (Sativa: 10% Indica: 60% Ruderalis: 30%) with a finishing time of 7-9 weeks...This'll hopefully give me some smoke fairly quickly while i'm waiting for the 1st SCROG to be finished. I'm using an old HPS for this grow so that'll allow me to experiment with methods for heat reduction. I'm not to worried about yield with this grow as whatever i get it'll probably be a decent smoke considering i haven't had a toke for the last 5 years or so and i just want it to be done asap.
The only downside to all this is the initial outlay....Went into the headshop yesterday with the thoughts of getting a few seeds and some hydro nutes and ended up walking out with 2 huge boxes of kit...

It's weird.....haven't really thought about this for years but now that the urge has come back it can't happen quick enough lol.

 

[Rinse]

I've had similar questions as I'm worried about the heat from hps, but I would stick with the hps if you can, I think CFL are good for veg but hps give the best results in flower, also hps have the most efficient power-light ratio.

 

[midowo]

HPS trully are the best but in small areas CFL and LED lights are more convenient as you don't need as much cooling, but if you can properly vent the heat out then go with HPS.