do i have enough wattage?

[smokestackbeats]

hey hows it going guys, i just recently started my first grow last week. it seems i didnt read enough about certain things. last week i had the pots in mg potting soil (a big no no im aware of now) now theyre in some non additive potting soil that seems to be alright.

now what im wondering now is does my light setup provide enough light for 3 plants to START OFF. i have 2 18" 60-watt under the cabinet cfl's mounted on the ceiling of my grow box, then i have 2 8" 10-watt under the cabinet cfl's mounted vertically on the side walls.the cabinet came painted mylar white but i lined the majority of the growbox with tinfoil to bounce back some light on the plants.


do i have enough light to get the plants through the first week until i get my 400 watt HPS light?

[toastybiz]

I think so, but I'm confused. An eighteen inch CFL? You mean fluoro tube? What color temp are those lights? And get rid of the foil, the white interior reflects more light.

[smokestackbeats]

yeah there just some cheap ass walmart 7.99$ under the counter flurescent tube lights

and thanks for the heads up on the tin foil, im gonna take that out right now

[OldSkool1010]

A garden needs "footcandles" not watts, so you will want to calculate how many "lumens per square foot" you will have in your garden. As a general rule, you will need at least 2,500 lumens of High Intensity Discharge (H.I.D.) light per square foot of garden. To get the square footage of your garden, simply measure the floor space where your garden will be and multiply the length by the width. So a 400 watt HPS (50,000 lumens) will light a 4' x 5' garden adequately. Remember, 2,500 lumens per square feet is the minimum amount of light you'll need. Typically the brighter the garden is, the faster the growth and the bigger the yield should be. Some growers suggest a 400 watt light for an area as little as 9 square feet (3' x 3').

Footcandle:
A footcandle is a measure of light intensity. A footcandle is defined as the amount of light received by 1 square foot of a surface that is 1 foot from a point source of light equivalent to one candle of a certain type.

[smokestackbeats]

thanks for that resourceful info man. my hps and mh lights are in the mail. as of right now my 4 plants are all above the soil,have 2 sets of fan leaves, and look quite healthy.