Putting in soil tomorrow. Right bulb choice?

[Mikers]

Well, my first plant is going in the soil tomorrow night. I'm doing it in my closet, and am planning on using a 6500K CFL on 24/7 for the vegetative stage and 2700K at 12/12 for flowering. Just thought I would double check with people who know something about this before I do something potentially plant ruining, .
Also, are styrofoam cups okay for sprouting?

 

[Mikers]

I also need to pick up a lamp, and it has to be affordable. I'm planning on going to Home Depot, and most of what I'm looking at is labeled incandescent, but can something like this (http://www.homedepot.com/Lighting-Fans-Work-Lights/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xh8Zaqn9/R-100354517/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053 ) handle a CFL?

 

[meetzu]

Don't use incandescent. CFLs will be fine with that. I have used 68w CFLs in similar fixtures. We have 80w CFLs at my home depot as the largest available. I have never used styrofoam cuts for plants but they should be fine if you punch some holes in the bottom for drainage. I have used styrofoam plates to cover the soil of my plants and had no problems. Your lamp colors for the different stages of growth are correct.

 

[Mikers]

Rad. Thanks, man.
Sorry to be asking sooo many questions, but when exactly do I begin flowering, and is 68W the equivalent of 6500K? I already have the 2700K, and the wattage is 14.

 

[maturesmoker]

Rad. Thanks, man.
Sorry to be asking sooo many questions, but when exactly do I begin flowering, and is 68W the equivalent of 6500K? I already have the 2700K, and the wattage is 14.

I would advise you to go to the 'CFL growers' section in the 'indoor' forum and you will find answers to everything there

6500 is fine for veg or you can mix them up as I do. Try to up the wattage a little though if you can.

There are useful tutorials in the CFL section that will really help you get started

 

[maturesmoker]

Heres the link to the CFL section, right at the top is a tutorial to growing with CFL's.

https://www.rollitup.org/cfl-growing/

Good luck.

 

[BongKong420]

I have to agree with Mature you need to up the wattage on the 14 watt to atleast a couple 26watters. But they have bigger at home depot and clip hood reflectors. And check out the tutorial you learn all you need wiht about 20 minutes of reading

 

[infdjedi]

I would grab one (or two) of the 2 foot shop lights and then 2 (or 4) of the long DAYLIGHT fluorescent lamps. These are great for starting seeds and veg.

 

[jawbrodt]

Rad. Thanks, man.
Sorry to be asking sooo many questions, but when exactly do I begin flowering, and is 68W the equivalent of 6500K? I already have the 2700K, and the wattage is 14.

You seem to be on the right track so far, except for your ideas about color temp(6500K and 2700K) and wattage. They are two totally different aspects of lighting, and are unrelated to each other. Google "color temperature" and you'll see what i mean. Also, you will want to have 50 watts of light per square foot of space, so you'll need quite a few of those 14 watt bulbs of you want to get any kind of yield out of your plants, so keep that in mind. Better yet, is to use LSF(lumens per square foot) and shoot for higher than 3000 LSF, rather than worrying about wattage. Either way will work(as long as we're not including LED's), so I'll shut up and not complicate it any further.LOL