CFL means compact fluorescent lighting. It can be used in cultivating weed as it can provide an adequate amount of light needed by plants. You can take advantage of low energy and heat consumption. Although it doesn’t give intense light, you will still be able to come up with a quality yield.
With more favorable effects of CFL lights for growing weed than LEDs and HID lights, you may want to switch. If you’ve never used it, you need a guide. It’s what this article will do for you.
What You Need to Do When Having CFL lights for Growing Weed
1. Make Sure You Understand Weed Cultivation
It’s always good to start with the basics if you want to succeed in what you’re doing. First of all, know all the growth stages of the Cannabis plant which are seedling, vegetation, flowering, and harvest.
You have to be a responsible grower and provide the plants with needed water, nutrients, and light. During vegetation, only stems and leaves pop up as the plants stretch. They stop growing in the flowering stage and instead, buds are formed. When the flowers ‘ripened’, the harvest time had come.
2. Getting the Supplies to Make a Grow Room
CFL lights are included in the basic supplies that you need to gather. You also need to get seeds or clones, nutrients, a growing medium, an electrical timer, pH test kit or pen, and a place to grow your weed. Choose a light-proof area for this.
You may opt for a closet and add CFL lights for growing weed. It’s not the best option as you need to closely look at the necessary heat and ventilation. You will save some bucks in doing it but it needs a lot of effort and adjustments. Customizing a dresser, closet, or grow box is much better.
A growing tent will also allow you to customize. You can have a 2’x2’x4’ tent which is a perfect size when using CFL lights. A 2’x4’x5’ tent is also acceptable.
3. Growing the Plants
It’s good that you allow the seeds to germinate first. You may also go for clones as they would still be under CFL lights. The lighting schedule should be 18-6 and set it on your timer so the plants receive the specified amount of light. The dark period should be applied during the hottest time of the day. It will make your plants feel comfortable.
4. Vegetative Stage
You will see that Cannabis grows like a weed in the vegetative stage. You will now see the real leaves. Stems also develop. The weed grows like any other house plant and it needs the right amount of nutrients, water, and light.
Watering should be done regularly but avoid doing it often. Adjustments of CFL lights are essential so the plants won’t get burnt. Maintain a gap of four inches. While you try your best to feed it with the right nutrients, you have to check the pH level. You will also be able to discover some issues and apply the proper solution.
The plants will grow flat and compact. A hand test method ensures if your CFL lights are situated at an ideal distance from your plants. Place your hand above the weed for about 30 seconds. If you feel too much heat then it’s the same way with your plants.
Allow some breathing room for your plants to grow well. Even though it’s recommended that you need to keep your CFL lights close, plants don’t like heat. With the right usage of these lights, your Cannabis plants will have optimal yield even if you don’t train them.
If you wish to train them for some reasons like limited space, you can apply LST. Gentle bending and some tying are the steps that you need to do. But you have to do it at an early stage. It’s not good to imagine that you do it with tall plants.
Some tips when using CFL lights for growing weed during the vegetative stage to reach the optimal yield:
- Adjustment of CFL lights must be done regularly. You may need to do it daily.
- Add bulbs to shadowy areas. It’s also possible that you need to train some plants like bending them.
- Avoid moving the plants. If you manually water your plants, see to it that you can remove the runoff water without the need to move them.
- More CFL lights mean a better result.
- You can switch to the flowering stage when the plant is half the final size.
5. Flowering Stage
Apply the 12/12 light schedule when you’re in the flowering stage. Be vigilant with light leaks on periods that your plants are supposed to be in the dark. After two weeks, the plants will begin developing flowers. If you have male plants, they will be making pollen sacs too.
What you need to do during the flowering stage:
- Give the flowering Cannabis plants more light but don’t allow CFL lights to burn them.
- Control the temperature well so your plants feel comfortable. You have to remember that weed is finicky when flowering. So if your temperature is not ideal for the plant, problems can arise from it.
- Aside from exposing your buds to CFL lights, it’s also essential that you give way for a gentle breeze to reach your plants. It’s for mold prevention.
- Never do any major training in this stage as the buds have started growing. But you can slightly bend those stems with tall colas.
If you follow all of the steps above, you will be rejoicing because of the result. When the buds are in their mature state, you can start gathering them to be dried and cured.
Summing Up Important Thoughts
It’s so easy to use CFL lights for growing weed. It’s the basic thing that every grower should do which is checking the lights regularly. They shouldn’t get too close to burn your plants. It may take some of your time daily but it’s also a chance for you to prevent problems to get worse as you can apply the appropriate solution.
