Many questions...PLEASE HELP!!!!!

Chrissii2stoned

Chrissii2stoned

Member
ok...
i have had some seeds germinating since the 31st on jan. they are cracking really well. going to plant them tonight i think. they look to be ready. this is my first grow and i have many questions. the major one i have right now is that once i put them into the soil i should cover them until they sprout right? and if i need to cover them, should i cover they loosly or tightly and do they need to be under the lights immedatly or will they be ok till sat (payday) when i buy the lights. i keep my house around 70-72 degrees. please help!!! i don't know much and i am sure i am going to make mistakes...fact of life...but i am just so worried i am going to mess it all up.
 
MrCatatonic

MrCatatonic

Active Member
Yeap, cover them until they sprout loosely should be okay, just make sure they're completely covered. chances are they'll be fine until saturday, set them near a window or something to allow some natural light until you get some lights (That's what I'd do)

goodluck
 
Chrissii2stoned

Chrissii2stoned

Member
ok...next question is how many lights do i need for about 2-4 plants. i am planting all 8 seeds that have sprouted but i am only going to keep the best 2 i think. i don't have much room and i don't want to do to many. i plan to use cfl lights since my funds are limited. i was thinking 2 lights. i plan to put them into a tote with the lights hooked to the sides. this is not going to be a perfect environment since i don't have much space. thanks for your advice.
 
stumps

stumps

Well-Known Member
I do ok in veg with 100w cfl's real watts. One for each plant. Make sure you get 6500k or daylight bulbs for veg. then you need to change to 2700k or cool for flower.
 
Chem Dawg

Chem Dawg

New Member
Ok let's try this again.... How big is the space you are growing in? 3'x3', 4'x4', measure your space with a tape measure. If it's a section of room you are going to use measure that section. If it's the whole room then measure the room...
 
stumps

stumps

Well-Known Member
don't matter with cfl's they need to be inch's from the plants. get as many watts as you can as close to the plant as you can.
 
Chem Dawg

Chem Dawg

New Member
stumps said:
don't matter with cfl's they need to be inch's from the plants. get as many watts as you can as close to the plant as you can.
Click to expand...
I disagree. In my opinion it best to use as much of the light as possible. Any light that is not reflected back into plants is wasted light.. And with CFLs you can't afford to waste any light. So if you put a a 125w cfl in the middle of a 10'x10' room with 2 plants underneath , there would be a great deal of diminishing light.. Vs a 125w cfl in a 2'x2' space where light is reflected back into plants.
 
Chem Dawg

Chem Dawg

New Member
Didn't miss it. I use cfl to start my seeds & seedlings. Just because they are inches away doesn't mean there won't be diminishing light if the light is not reflected by walls or individual light reflectors. That's why we use flat white walls and Mylar isn't it? If it didn't matter we could paint walls black or pink... Not that one couldn't grow in an open room with CFLs but results would be much better in a space where light can be caught and reflected back into plants. That's all I'm saying.
 
stumps

stumps

Well-Known Member
nope cfl's don't have enough power to worry about reflection. If your cfl is 15" off the plant it is getting just about zero usable light without any reflection. so why would you worry about picking up reflected light?
 
Chem Dawg

Chem Dawg

New Member
But why would you have your cfl 15" from your plant? Your speaking hypothetically. I'm speaking realistically. Even with my CFLs 1-3" from foliage I would still prefer to have as much light as possible reflected back into plants. But to each his/her own.
 
stumps

stumps

Well-Known Member
How far does the light travel from the bulb to the wall and back to the plant. my point was that even direct light from a cfl is about zero at 15". not sure what % is lost in reflection but even if you got 95% that would still leave you at zero usable light reflected back to the plant. pm me if you would like to keep going on this topic. Sorry about jacking your thread.
 
Chrissii2stoned

Chrissii2stoned

Member
no problem. any information is good information. so i went to the store today and got some lights. i am going to start my seedlings in a tote that is 2 ft X 1 and a half X 1 and a half (deep). i got two lights that are 100watts but only burn 26 watts...i hope you understand what im trying to say. I also got some clamp lights to stick on the side of the tote and point inside. they have metal shields around them which i hope will stop some of the light waste. what do you think?
 
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