HELP! LED vs CFL

[Ganjaman420]

Hey guys!

I swapped my 50w LED to 5 23w CFLs, the temperature raised from 26 degrees Celsius (78.8 Fahrenheit) to 33 degrees (91.4 Fahrenheit).
I connected my humidifier which brought down the temp to 30 degrees (86 f), and keeps the humidity at 45%.
With the LED connected, I have 18cm distance between top bud and lamp.

My question is: Do you guys think I should run with the CFLs (which gives out more than double the watts), or switch back to the LED (which holds a better temperature)?

Edit: I also have 1 90w LED available that I can connect, but 18cm (7.08 inches) distance between top bud and lamp sounds like it would be too close, and I believe that the LED are too strong for such a small distance.

[dphipps1020]

It looks to me like the LED light is giving you more light. Such a low powered LED, you can probably almost grow your plant right into the light. I have 2x 45W LED panels in a 2x2x4' (60x60x120cm). I recently had a male that I crammed in there so I could collect the pollen. He was so tall he was touching the lights. Had no signs of light burn from it so I think you should be fine to get within a few inches during flower. My thought, throw the other LED in there too and see where your temperature is at. This is all just my opinion of course. I've never used the UFO style LEDs so I can't say from experience. Obviously I wouldn't try it with higher powered LEDs but I think you should be fine with the 90W ones. Worst case, it starts to give your plant light burn, obviously switch lights if that happens. If you don't see light burn, let it ride until you do. Again, just my opinion, but I also like to push the limits of my cannabis plants to see what I can get away with and still be fine. Best of luck and happy growing!

[Ganjaman420]

Alright, i’ll try it out. Thank you for sharing your experiences

[Gjourney101]

CFLs have an effective range from about 2 - 5 inches. Any further and they're honestly pointless. You'll need A LOT of them as the plant grows and you'll need to make sure they are all in that 2-5 inches range. Your temps will only go up with CFLs and electricity costs could actually be higher. You'll need more outlets, even with a 2 or 4 way splitter. Not to put CFLs to shame, they can compete with most other lights, but you'll have to be on top of them every day. With LEDs, costs stay low and temps do too. They can give out full spectrum light, and also don't take any time to get to full capacity.

In my opinion, you'd be better of getting a 150-400 W LED. They are much for friendly and reduce the risk of electric fires and so on.

[Ganjaman420]

The thing is, I read 200+w LEDs needs to be atleast 12 inches away from the plant, because even if they don’t give out heat, they have such a strong light that burns the plant either way.. besides that, I for sure like using LEDs, because of the reasons you mentioned. I’ll try connecting my 90w and see if she can go until harvest without burning. Thank you for the response

[Gjourney101]

Non necessarily. I have a 300W and I'll show you how close ahe is to the light. Some part under 5 inches away. No burning.

[Ganjaman420]

dphipps1020 how do i notice light burn, when most of my leaves already are nute burned? (Maybe a stupid question)

[dphipps1020]

It will all show up at the top, closest to the light. I don't think you have too much to worry about though.

[Ganjaman420]

Alright, i’ll take out the other lights and put in the 90w LED, I’ll update if i suspect light burn. Thanks for the help

[dphipps1020]

Any time.

[Ganjaman420]

Installed the 90w, managed to get 22cm distance between top bud and lamp. Temp at 28 degrees and humidity at 43% without the humidifier, been running for an hour so it probably stays around this. I feel like this might be the better option, thank you dphipps for guiding me in the (hopefully) right direction 😄