CFL Grow Lamps & Bulbs for Hydroponics

Compact Fluorescent Grow Lamps

What are referred to as Compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) are actually high powered compact fluorescent grow lamps (CFL) that can be used as your main grow light or a supporting light in addition to your main grow light.

They come in shades of blue and red for vegetables and flowers. While they are less expensive to purchase and also less expensive to use, it should be pointed out that they are not as effective as high intensity grow lights. There isn't much necessary to install these lights, as they do not need a separate ballast, but are merely screwed into a standard E40 fitting, which is a lampholder for a normal grow light, and are operated through a mains plug.

Our CFL grow light systems contain from 125W to 300W grow lamps, which are the five power types found most frequently for sale. The main use for 125W lights is for breeding and in small areas for the vegetative stages of plant growth. They are fine when used for flowering / fruiting, but keep in mind that they produce smaller yields than the plants which accomplish their flowering / fruiting while remaining under HIDs.

The 125w lamp posses a cool running temperature making it prefect for use in smaller growth areas where too much heat is in danger of harming plants. This is yet another reason for using CFL's for propagation -- they can be placed very near the plants without risk of harming them.

If growing environment is small, then the temperature can be hard to control. CFL’s operate at a much cooler temperature, making them suitable for the smaller job. This also means that the lights can be placed closer to the plants increasing the intensity. You can also focus CFL’s onto certain areas of a plant without the risk of burning or damaging the plant. This is why many growers use CFL’s in addition to HID’s, to focus the growth development of a specific area.

Still in all, any decent professional grower know that HIDs are the proper grow lights to implement if you wish to get the ultimate out of your plants, and because they are obtainable at higher wattages, they are the best lights to have if you are using a grow room or a grow tent with an area that surpasses 1m x 1m.

If you are just starting out with your growing adventure and plan to start small, CFL’s are the cheaper option. If you are already an advanced grower, you might be looking at HID’s or a mixture of the both. It doesn’t matter if you are growing for a hobby or you are growing professionally. 1Hydroponics have every kind of setup you could be looking for and at the cheapest prices. We are here to help you find what you need to achieve the correct implementation of your grow area.

Make sure you check our expert advise: Growing with cfl's - Cfl grow light setup