After introducing the light from Thomas Alva Edison, a significant change has occurred in the lighting industry. Now, we have a CFL bulb, and interestingly, this bulb is widely used in indoor gardening (apart from the household) today. Many amenities like ease to use, low cost, little heat works as the trigger of that popularity. But, using CFL for indoor planting isn’t easy; instead, many hacks still need to know for the newbies.
Instead of giving in-depth ideas on CFL in indoor gardens, we discuss a demanding question like “how many CFLs per plant and its setup position.” Also, we enlist some amenities of CFL for the indoor plants, so let’s get started.
What are CFLs?
CFLs or compact fluorescent lamps are popular for their energy-saving features. This bulb’s energy consumption is less than the traditional bulbs. Now, let’s move into the construction material. Well, the manufacturer uses a glass tube that contains a low pressure of noble gases and mercury. Besides, a fluorescent material (typically phosphorous) is used as the inside coating.
Interestingly, you can get service from it for a long period (approximately 10,000 hours), and you can buy CFL from any of your nearby hardware or grocery shops.
Benefits of growing with CFLs
Now, let’s see how the CFL benefited you in growing plants.
- Energy-efficient
CFLs offer a great service in the energy-efficient segment. Plus, it will emit very low heat, which is considered safe for plants. Notably, the initial cost is lower than other lighting systems.
- Easy to Place
If you have an indoor flower garden, you can use CFL to ensure enough energy for the plant. This bulb allows placing it in any of your desired places to ensure the plants get adequate light. Plus, you can easily fit the CFL bulb into reflectors and can easily hang it horizontally and vertically.
- Ideal for plant growth
A CFL bulb will make your plant’s growth noticeable. Plus, it provides the perfect intensity of light to ensure your plant’s healthy stems and foliage. Another noteworthy point is CFL’s low radiated heat is good for clones and seedlings.
- Ideal for indoor garden
CFL bulbs are considered ideal for the tiny garden, such as in a small grow tent, cupboard, or in a gallon bucket. Plus, the lighting’s full daylight spectrum is similar to sunlight which is good for indoor plants.
How Many CFLs For One Plant
The number of CFLs for a plant usually varies in size. That’s why you need to find out the plant’s lighting demands based on the standard measurement. One of the easiest measurement techniques is using the square foot.
For example, cannabis requires high light to grow healthy, herein per square foot, demand at least 60 watts of CFL bulbs.
But, the ideal measurement of CFL light requirement per square foot is 100 watts.
However, it won’t make any problem if you provide a higher amount of watts. Note: You can’t cross 150w.
Our mentioned amount is applicable only for the flowers. If you want to manage lighting for vegetable plants or for clones or seedlings, you need to make the amount half. You can keep that around 60 watts. That amount is also applicable for the plant with the lower light requirements.
The perfect setup of Compact Fluorescent Bulbs
So, you want to ensure your plant gets sufficient light using CFL bulbs. Here we give a CFL bulb setup position, hopefully, it will ensure lighting from every side.
- At first, ensure the right grows
Interestingly, the owner can control the plant’s growth using some methods. Some plants naturally grow upward like a Christmas tree such as weed plants. But, leaving such a plant to grow naturally may not be good for the owner. If you leave, the scenario may be that one bud becomes big, and the other lies below. Therefore, you may face problems in ensuring sufficient light from every side.
Without having sound knowledge, you may face many issues in providing the right growth of plants. Many pieces of training are available at present; hopefully, you can earn enough knowledge by getting the training.
- Secondly, place the CFL
Hanging CFL below the canopy isn’t necessary for the fat and short plant. Just hang them above (not too high) and ensure the light lies beside the top of the plant.
After that, if any shadow area is left, you need to place a bulb in there to fill the shadow area.
However, the ideal way to keep the CFL bulb is close to the plant, but you need to keep the wattage in mind. For example, if the bulb is 20 to 30 watt, you need to ensure the bulb is hanging within a few inches.
Another important thing is you need to maintain the bearable temperature of the plant. For that, you can do a test like –
- At first, keep your hand on your plant in a way so that your hand’s backside face the light.
- Now, wait for 30 seconds at that position and see what happens. If you feel too hot, you need to back the CFL off a bit.
One word of caution: Weed plant’s growth is rapid (several inches a day) so, you can’t grow that into the CFL bulbs. But, one way still lies, such as keeping the CFL a bit further away.
However, for the tall plant, you can place the bulb from the sides or from the beneath.
More on GardenDelta
How to Build a Grow Room in a Shed
LED vs. HID Grow Lights
COB Vs. Cree LED Grow Lights
Final Thought
Growing plants using CFLs is low cost, convenient and also excellent in result. Therefore, it’s popularity surges significantly among gardeners. Whatever the amenities a CFLs offers, you need to know the right setup and right amount of bulb otherwise the result becomes negative. Hopefully, we let you know the benefits of CFL, how many CFLs per plant and the right setup. If you have any vague points, let us know through the comment section.