Lights( Can someone make it simple)

Okay I have spent numerous hours online trying to get a good/solid answer.
Right now have 3 germinated seeds, in soil cubes. They are in a plastic tray covered for humidity factors under two 23watt CFL outdoor lights. One of my seedling has already broke dirt after a day. They are in a small space (stealth nightstand) and I want to know would 3 lights be to much.
Second, What wattage to I need to switch to along the process or will 23's work the whole way threw?

Read over this https://www.rollitup.org/cfl-growing/107992-tutorial-growing-cfls.html
3 lights isn't too much, the more the better.

the more the better if you are going to use CFL lights

Hi daygo,

I see you've had a few replys already, but I also see your looking for a solid answer so I'm assuming you want a bit more detail.

1) Only you can decide if its to much, the only real limiting factor (as with most lights) will be heat. But if you can manage 2, I'm sure you will be fine with 3.

2) The plants will grow the hole grow under those lights BUT I don't advise it. The more light you have, the more nutrients your plant can utilise = faster, better growth.

A grow under 3 of those bulbs won't be very fruitful, if you are set on doing this grow purely under CFL's, I would strongly advise buying an 125w envirolight to use as the main source of light, I would use the 250w, not much heat difference, although its worth noting that the lumen's to watt's ratio is higher with the 125w, so 2 of those will serve up more lumens then 1 250w.

So in conclusion, get a decent envirolight, use the small 23watt'ers as side lighting, and have fun.

Don't expect to much out of a CFL grow, just focus on getting to harvest time

Happy growin

Any more Q's fire away

BudZilla

if you are working in a limited space and you wanna keep heat and power down maybe a small LED panel might be a better way to go about it than CFL in this case like budzilla said your yield with CFL is not gonna be anything special

Just as long as it doesn't get too hot (For the plants and the surrounding area) then you can have as many lights as you want!
Although, I'd recommend getting one large light, instead of lots of small ones.

I use a 100W CFL in my pc case, and it's not too hard to keep cool, I use 1 * 120mm intake fan, and 2 * 80mm exhaust fans.
Admittedly I could have set up the airflow a bit better, but no issues with heat so far!

if you want to grow faster i suggest replacing the cfl for one 60w led light much better and more light output easy to manage and cheaper on electricity

Sweet, All of these answers help. I have two more question. Is it okay that my seedling are under 24/7 light right now? When do I need to switch them to a 18/6. Also where can I buy an envirolight? Would it be at a pet store or hydro store or am I still looking at home depot. Same with a LED light. Also do I need a blue light in there at this stage? I found sites online that say I need a blue or red spectrum light at least one. What exactly is the purpose.
Thanks for all the help. Direct Answers help alot. Bets googling for 3 hrs.

Yes its totally fine that they are under 24/7 lighting schedule, many people swear by this schedule. I personally use 24/7 for the first 2 weeks, than down to 20/4,>19/5,>18/6 and let it veg

You can put them on any of the following lighting schedules:-
24/0
23/1
22/2
21/3
20/4
19/5
18/6
And so on...

You can basically use any you like but its worth noting the following points:-
1) Changing schedules all the time will not impress your ladies.

2) Everyone will tell you 'use this schedule, use that schedule, truth is there is STILL nothing substantial or scientific to support either schedule, but I have used all of them and don't really see any difference.

With regards to finding an evirolight or a LED, go onto any online head/hydro shop, they all sell them.

Yes the blue spectrum is for veg and the red spectrum for flower, although if your running things on the cheap I would advise just getting the red, you can still veg with it, after all a hps is red spectrum, and I can tell you through experience it works just fine

Yes its totally fine that they are under 24/7 lighting schedule, many people swear by this schedule. I personally use 24/7 for the first 2 weeks, than down to 20/4,>19/5,>18/6 and let it veg

You can put them on any of the following lighting schedules:-
24/0
23/1
22/2
21/3
20/4
19/5
18/6
And so on...

You can basically use any you like but its worth noting the following points:-
1) Changing schedules all the time will not impress your ladies.

2) Everyone will tell you 'use this schedule, use that schedule, truth is there is STILL nothing substantial or scientific to support either schedule, but I have used all of them and don't really see any difference.

With regards to finding an evirolight or a LED, go onto any online head/hydro shop, they all sell them.

Yes the blue spectrum is for veg and the red spectrum for flower, although if your running things on the cheap I would advise just getting the red, you can still veg with it, after all a hps is red spectrum, and I can tell you through experience it works just fine

Sorry people, posting from a BlackBerry, double post was not on purpose lol

ive grown seed to harvest with cfls and my plants turned out completely fine.just get the daylight ones for veg and the soft white for flower.

Thanks Bud,
Now are red and blue spectrum bulbs just the blue cfl bulbs I see next to the regular ones of does it specifically say blue spectrum, red spectrum somewhere on the package? Do I just add these bulbs in with the regular lights and have them all on at the same time? Or are the spectrum only for night?
Once again thanks for all the help and putting up with this.

look at the kalvin rating it should say 2500k or 6500k if it doesn't you might want to move to another store and find one that does say it on it to make sure. Or buy some online. Ebay has package deals sold as full spectrum photography lights that work really well.

the ones i buy just say daylight and soft white..the daylight is the blue spectrum and the softwhite is the red. my blues are 5000k and my reds are 2700, use the blues(daylight) for vegetative stage and the red(softwhite) for flowering..

This question would have been answered if you would have read the sticky's. they are there for a reason. the top thread that never move are called sticky's just FYI

No worries man, more then happy to help.

Yes the different spectrums will be marked up on the box the bulb is in. I can't recall which one is which but the 2 spectrums you want are 2700k and 6000k (I think, not sure at all tho lol) they're called 'warm white'=flowering, and 'cool day' or 'cool white' = veg.

Basically for veg you would use the 'cool white', and then once your ready to switch to flowering, change your light schedule to 12/12 and put in the 'warm white' bulbs. Alternatively, if you can do it, do a multi spectrum grow - both spectrums at the same time. This is very good for your plants, especially if your only using cfl's, as the plant needs different things from each spectrum, so by providing a full spectrum you make optimal lighting conditions. And there's no messing around changing bulbs


Smoked up man

@rtr...it's like walking into a library, looking for info and asking everyone else to get it for you...
....but whatever. i was there once. dude personally i'd go with led's. PAR is the thing plants want. and watt for watt led's put out more than HID's.
led's also have more UV which is good too...just read a little before you spend any more money.