How Many CFL Lights for 2 weeks grow

[Nature80]

Hi,

I use a 600W hps light for my grow room, but I'm going to try a 12/12 from seed and would like to have a couple of plants ready before I harvest my current grow. Seeing as plants will be shorter and more compact I'll have to put in a few more than now, and I've come to a conclusion to setup a simple CFL grow box. The problem is, I have no clue about CFLs etc.

I'm buying 8 x 23 watt (2700K) lights (total of 160 watts) and I want to use this for the first 2 weeks of plants' lives, straight from the seed. I've never used CFL before but read that you can get the light very close (1-3 inches) to the seed, which is exactly what I'd want as I can't risk getting tall plants due to my hot light.

Something that'd look like this is what I had in mind - https://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQVy8CWwO9sQBHjTtBD35oye5oeDi-6zYDeLEsZ4GvzDXlbJRpa1VGcPqq6

Basically, I just want to give the plants great 2 weeks of the beginning, and am wondering if 8 x 23W is going to be enough.

Dimensions:
Height: 130cm
Width: 50cm

In there I'll put 12-16 small pots that'll be enough for 2 weeks, and then I'll relocate them to "the real deal", which is the grow box. I just don't want to put them there immediately cause they'll stretch. Is 2 weeks enough for them to be ready for 600w, or could I perhaps transplant them to 5.5L in the grow box sooner?

Thank you so much for help!

 

[devils letuce]

to

im not blessed with allot of cfl knowledge ,but your in the right place..

If you want to grow with CFLs, I suggest a minimum of 100 watts per plant in Veg, 150 watts per plant in Flower. Make sure you are counting actual wattage, and not the *Incandescent Equivalent* wattage listed on the package. (antics)



u can try this thread.
The Basics Of Plant Lighting

 

[oldhippie64]

It's been reccomended to use 70watts a sqft for CFLs so your 8 bulbs wi be fine,I just don't think you want to use the 2700k variety. they say the 6500k are better for vegging plants under, I woud assume starting seeds too.

 

[Nature80]

Im doing the 12/12 immediately to not get too much side growth, but seeing as the plant grows similarly in the first week or two I guess I'll buy 4 x 2700K and 4 x 6500K, or any other mix. Im just hoping it will cover for 2 weeks

 

[theengineer]

I veg each plant for three weeks under its own single 25w cfl, although mine are on 18/6, not 12/12 - you can put the cfl within an inch of the seedlings, and keep it there throughout growth;

 

[greendad]

Well ro give u good advice on cfl i recently been testing going strait 12/12 from seed thinking because people said u would get a small fast grown plant easy bud to smoke where they wrong now i have a 5ft4in plant and only using 9 23w cfl

 

[greendad]

Its still in flower will post pic on my journal

 

[Mike Wright]

I veg each plant for three weeks under its own single 25w cfl, although mine are on 18/6, not 12/12 - you can put the cfl within an inch of the seedlings, and keep it there throughout growth;

The maximum light output from spiral bulbs comes from the sides. You might want to try rotating that puppy 90 degrees

 

[theengineer]

Well ro give u good advice on cfl i recently been testing going strait 12/12 from seed thinking because people said u would get a small fast grown plant easy bud to smoke where they wrong now i have a 5ft4in plant and only using 9 23w cfl

yeah, I 12/12'd from seed a couple of plants and pulled near 2 oz of each of them - just make sure they get some blue light as I ran mine under an HPS. they came out nice enough, but noticeably spongy, and not rock hard nugs like the others in the tent that got three weeks of cfls

 

[theengineer]

The maximum light output from spiral bulbs comes from the sides. You might want to try rotating that puppy 90 degrees

really? I never knew that; I'll add this to my list of things learned today - cheers, dude