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Growing cannabis with a compact fluorescent light, or CFL, is a controversial option for many growers. There is no denying that CFL’s offer very little power or light penetration, but they are certainly not useless when it comes to growing cannabis. A first time grower looking for a cheap entry into cannabis cultivation can learn a lot, at an affordable price, by using CFL lighting in their grow.









When you do your research on setting up a cannabis grow, everyone will tell you that you need HID or LED lighting to get any results. These lighting systems are not only expensive, but can seem overwhelming when trying to learn the process of proper set up and ventilation for such systems. CFL lighting is much more forgiving in its setup, and has a much lower initial cost, as well as a lower operating cost. Cannabis can be brought to a successful harvest using this lighting system, but it is important to know CFL’s limitations and how to use them effectively.









If you are going for huge yields, with a commercial sized grow, CFL lighting is definitely not the right option for you. If you are conducting a small grow, and don’t require large amounts of cannabis regularly, CFL can be the perfect option. If you are growing a single plant, and want to keep it discreet, with a small grow space, CFL’s can offer a huge benefit over HID lights. A CFL bulb emits very little heat. This means you can get away with a very basic ventilation system, and temperatures will be much easier to control. CFL lighting also doesn't require an external ballast like most other grow light systems, which can make them a very discreet option for lighting.









CFL lights biggest downfall is its weak penetration capabilities. With that being said, you can still set up a very successful CFL grow system. Since they don’t emit a lot of heat, CFL lights can be very close to the plant canopy. In fact, they NEED to be very close to the canopy. You will want to keep your lights as close to the canopy as you can without burning the leaves. For a CFL to burn a cannabis leaf it pretty much needs to be touching it, so just keep an eye on your grow, and raise your lights a little bit at a time as the plants grow taller.









For best results with CFL’s, you will want to use a different spectrum for the vegetative stage and the flowering stage. When purchasing CFL’s, you will notice they have a Kelvin rating, this is a scale to describe the spectrum, or colour of the light. During the vegetative stage, you want to mimic the sun during the spring and summer months. For this you will want a CFL that is between 5000K and 6500K. These lights are often labeled as “daylight” or “bright white” on their packaging. For the flowering stage, you want to mimic the sun in the autumn months. For this you will want a CFL bulb with a lower Kelvin rating. Bulbs between 2700K and 3500K are the most common for the flowering stage. They are often referred to as “soft white” CFL’s.









To get the amount of light required for cannabis to grow properly, you usually need multiple CFL bulbs. Growers that use CFL’s often get very creative in their set ups. Since CFL’s don’t penetrate the canopy very well, you usually need lights above your canopy, but also around the sides for optimal growth through the entire plant. If you are only growing one plant, you can usually get away with a few decent sized CFL bulbs, but if you are growing multiple plants in a larger space, you will want higher wattage CFL’s above your canopy as well as CFL’s around the plants for supplemental side lighting.





In my opinion, CFL lights are a great way for new growers to learn the fundamentals of growing their own cannabis, while not spending a fortune on equipment. You will never get record yields with CFL lighting, but you can certainly grow some nice personal cannabis, and spend very little doing it. After achieving a few harvests with CFL lights, you can always invest in a larger lighting system, and use your left over CFL bulbs as supplemental lighting, or even just use them around the house!













































































This article contains affiliate links. If you click one of these links and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission of that purchase, at no extra cost to you. When you choose to use these links, you will help support our website and allow us to continue providing the majority of our content to you and others, for free!