CFLs and Big Buds
I am broke and want to grow a crop. Can I use a compact fluorescent lamp (CFL)? What is the minimum amount of light necessary to flower a plant?
I am broke and want to grow a crop. Can I use a compact fluorescent lamp (CFL)? What is the minimum amount of light necessary to flower a plant?
I am broke and want to grow a crop. Can I use a compact fluorescent lamp (CFL)? What is the minimum amount of light necessary to flower a plant?
Dave
| It takes a lot of light to penetrate the dense foliage in a garden. Small wattage lights cannot keep up with a 600w HP sodium. |
Cannabis needs quite a bit of light to grow dense heavy buds. It is considered a "high light" plant, which means that it requires a lot of light - full sun - to reach full genetic potential. In other words plants under a 400, 600 or 1000w lamp will produce the biggest tightest and fullest buds providing the plants receive all the other necessities they require - nutrients, air (CO2) above ground and oxygen below ground, heat and a suitable substrate to anchor the roots.
When plants receive less than optimum amounts of these necessities they do not reach full genetic potential. A 65w compact fluorescent lamp, CFL, supplies right at the minimum amount of light to produce "respectable" buds. But it does not supply enough light for most sativa-dominant strains to reach full genetic potential.
This year I grew two plants in 11 liter containers, one sativa-dominant and the other indica-dominant under three 65w CFL lamps. The buds were nice and resinous, but the weight was low, about 30 percent less than if grown under a 600w HPS.
S
Soft Secrets
