New Grower in or out

[autowha??]

I started a late season grow in august, my three plants are royal dwarf, and royal jack, and are fed GO nutrients. my problem is that my plants are outside in a shed and its getting to freezing temps at night,and decreased sunlight, i've been using a space heater with a fan that has kept the soil temp around 18celsius and air temp around 22celsius. they get sunlight through a 2X3 roof panel that i made out of clear plastic. i'm at day 65 and think i have another 20-30 days to go, the leaves have not started to yellow at all. Do i try and tuff it out or make a small grow area in my closet with 10 23watt cfl. What would give better yields ? cfl are the most cost effective by far in my area and the only choice of lighting i have

 

[namvet25]

It would be best to bring them inside under the lights and a more stable temp.Run the lights 18/6 and keep them warm.

 

[autowha??]

thank you for your response, any other opinions ?

 

[Waximus]

I agree with nam, autowha. Rather than risk a hard freeze, at best, and putting the brakes on growth which is likely, you're likely going to get a better outcome under the CFLs. Best to you!

 

[NuteBurn]

Bring 'em in, they'll get coldy coldy custard outside man!

Peace
NB

 

[autowha??]

Thank you all for the advice, do you think that 230 watts of cfl will be more beneficial to the girls than the greenhouse panel in the shed ? do i need more lights ? I've never grown indoors.

 

[derek420colorado]

Welcome to AFN glad to see that you are doing well with your grow. You should stop by the introductions section to say hi to everyone here in the community.

To answer your first question, yes. Normally if it were a quesiton between natural sunlight and CFL's the sunlight would win every time however you have other factors affecting your grow IE Temperature. If there is just a clear plastic hole cut in the celing of a shed then it probably never really gets direct sunlight, which plants need at least a few hours a day of. That coupled with the fact that it is getting cold the plants would defintely benefit more by coming inside and being in a constant state of warmth and light.

To answer your second question, no. Unfortuantely CFL's do not produce suffcient lumens to effectively grow high quality cannabis(this is just my opinon, others think they can be used as primary lighting) it can be used in the early stages of a plants life but after the first couple of sets of leaves it just does not have enough light to produce photosynthisis at the level neccasary for maximum growth.

Just out of curiosity how much are you going to spend on the 10 CFL bulbs? Have you looked into any LED lighting? While it may be more expensive(and believe me I understand if you only have a certain amount of money then it is what it is) your yeild will not suffer a nearly as much.

What confuses a lot of people is that wattage for CFL vs LED vs HID is not the same. Just because you get 230 watts of CFL it is not the same lumen output as 230 watts of HPS or MH.

CFL=Low lumen output
LED=medium to high lumen output
MH/HPS=High to very High lumen output

The only thing that will be different if you use CFL or LED or HID is going to be yeild(potency is also affected just not as much in my opinon) So if you are forced to use CFL's temper your expectations, I would suggest doing some reserach and check out some CFL grows to get an idea of what kind of results you can expect with those lights.I hope I explained this ok and wish you the best of luck finishing out your grow. Sending lots of good grow Karma you way.

 

[autowha??]

I would love either hps or led, however i don't grow indoors and feel it would be a big waste of $$. It will cost me 70$ for the cfl and it would be around 300$ for led, hps won't work because of the set up including fans and exhaust for heat in my temporary set up. The plants in my shed are an inch away from the roof panel and get direct sunlight for a few hours a day, however I have had to keep the panel on for the last month due to the cold weather.Thank you all for the best wishes, opinions & info. keep it coming

 

[Bunny]

Buy an LED and come indoors for winter grows! You know it makes sense and it really is quite a lot of fun.

 

[sabreman61]

Yes bring them in.