Starting 10 seedlings inside under lights before moving outside - What lights?

[Guerilla Dr]

Hi guys, I am an outdoor grower (never grown indoors before) and because of my short growing season where I live (UK) I want to start my plants earlier indoors for a few weeks to extend my growing season. Also, this year I had big problems with slugs and the weather effecting most of my plants when they were in the seedling stage...

Anyway, I have access to a rather small, limited growing space (1.5m x 1m) but that shouldn't be a problem since I am only growing my plants from seedlings to around 4 weeks, maybe 6 weeks at the very most. Once they are about 1.5ft tall and the temperatures are warm enough come early June, I will plant them outside.

My question is what lights and how many should I use for this type of grow? I don't need anything extravagant, just enough to get them started but I plan on having around 10 plants considering it is only for a few weeks while they are seedlings going into early veg. I figure that my grow area will be too small for HID lights, plus I won't have a cooling system in place which is why I am leaning towards CFL lights. Can anyone tell me how many CFL's I would need in a 1.5m x 1m area to bring along 10 plants for 4-6 weeks. Is this the best method and is it doable??

 

[JBUptown]

Hi guys, I am an outdoor grower (never grown indoors before) and because of my short growing season where I live (UK) I want to start my plants earlier indoors for a few weeks to extend my growing season. Also, this year I had big problems with slugs and the weather effecting most of my plants when they were in the seedling stage...

Anyway, I have access to a rather small, limited growing space (1.5m x 1m) but that shouldn't be a problem since I am only growing my plants from seedlings to around 4 weeks, maybe 6 weeks at the very most. Once they are about 1.5ft tall and the temperatures are warm enough come early June, I will plant them outside.

My question is what lights and how many should I use for this type of grow? I don't need anything extravagant, just enough to get them started but I plan on having around 10 plants considering it is only for a few weeks while they are seedlings going into early veg. I figure that my grow area will be too small for HID lights, plus I won't have a cooling system in place which is why I am leaning towards CFL lights. Can anyone tell me how many CFL's I would need in a 1.5m x 1m area to bring along 10 plants for 4-6 weeks. Is this the best method and is it doable??

Welcome to 420 Magazine Guerilla Dr. This is a great site with lots of helpful and experienced folks, best group I've found by far.

In my opinion, CFLs would work just great for your situation of getting 10 seedlings off to a 4-6 week head start. You surely don't need anything expensive or fancy, and 6 or so 6500k "100 watt" lamps will grow them up to 4-6 weeks stage very well. I have a few different indoor light options on hand that use the various technologies available (except Induction!) and they all have their strengths and weaknesses. CFLs are what I have returned to for Seeding though early Vegetative growth in my 1m x1m area. When I grow from seed, I usually drop 10 or so in plastic cups and grow them for 4 weeks or so until it is time to repot and place into a Veg Cabinet. You will need to adjust the lamp height regularly, as about 10cm seems to be the sweet spot for CFLs. They also work well to get clones rooted and started along the path to Budness!

Best of Buds

JB

 

[Guerilla Dr]

Thanks man! That was a really informative answer and helped me a lot. That's also exactly what I meant about not wanting to get an expensive or extravagant lighting system like HID's because it just wouldn't be worth the cost for such short term use. I will definitely go with the CFL lights now and I'll try to get 5 or 6 of them but after searching online I'm still not happy with the cost, which will be at least £120 ($175) for a 6 light setup, FOR 4 WEEKS USE! Please help me if you know how to get this cheaper…? Also, I have seen a big CFL that is the size of a 3 liter cola bottle for £40 ($55). Could I make do with 1 or 2 of these big ones or do I need 6 small ones spread evenly around the grow room? I have no idea about grow lights lol, I just don't want to spend more than £60 ($100) on this ideally. Thanks dude!

 

[Guerilla Dr]

FYI The big grow light I am looking at is a 300W Blue Spectrum CFL with a reflector panel on top. Do you think one of these would be enough to nurture 10 plants for the first 4 weeks or would I need at least 2 of them??

 

[JBUptown]

Thanks man! That was a really informative answer and helped me a lot. That's also exactly what I meant about not wanting to get an expensive or extravagant lighting system like HID's because it just wouldn't be worth the cost for such short term use. I will definitely go with the CFL lights now and I'll try to get 5 or 6 of them but after searching online I'm still not happy with the cost, which will be at least £120 ($175) for a 6 light setup, FOR 4 WEEKS USE! Please help me if you know how to get this cheaper…? Also, I have seen a big CFL that is the size of a 3 liter cola bottle for £40 ($55). Could I make do with 1 or 2 of these big ones or do I need 6 small ones spread evenly around the grow room? I have no idea about grow lights lol, I just don't want to spend more than £60 ($100) on this ideally. Thanks dude!

Welcome Guerrilla Dr. I don't know what retail options are available where you live, but here you can get a 8 pack of 100 Sylvannia 100 CFL Bulbs for about $20. I've used other brands too and they work fine too. For about $7 each, you can buy clamp on light fixtures at most of the major Home Improvement businesses. Online retailers also carry these items. They are regular everyday light fixtures used by people at home for auto repair or other task illumination. I'm not sure about the local prices but $70 should do it for the setup described. IMHO .. you will be happier with six smaller lamps for seed/veg than one big CFL.

Best Of Buds

JB