What should I give my seedlings?

[ddrchamp19010]

What type of lighting should I give my seedlings? They are about to germinate and I have a 400w HPS system, but I hear that flourescent lights are better for seedlings. Will a flourescent bulb fit into a normal bulb socket?

[buzb8lvr]

If you buy compact flourescents a.k.a. CFLs then yeah they will fit into a regular socket. I actually completely stopped using HID lights for veg and switched to CFLs due to heat. Just be sure to get the cool blue or daylight CFLs so they'll have the right color spectrum.

[IMgreen]

I too veg under cfls for the first few weeks at least...

Easier to keep them short because you can keep a cfl a lot closer than hps

I tried hps early on on my current grow with not so stellar results due to over heating

make sure your ventilation is good when the hps is on

Is this your first grow?

If so post a journal

GL!

[ddrchamp19010]

haha thanks, yeh this is my first grow, i followed the Germination 420 guide cause my last germination didnt work out so well =[

right now its in a tupperware container, 1 paper towel, seeds, 2 paper towels, covered, not soaked and not rung out, it was in my closet for the first day but then i checked the temp of the water of the towel and it was cold, so now i have it on top of my computer to keep it warm but not hot

yeh once my things start growing, if they do, which i hope, i'll post a journal which would be fun...

any advice for a beginner who doesnt want to fuck up? thx

[IMgreen]

a few things I wish I would have done on my first grow include:

use a PH meter and proper ph up/down solutions
(the meter is the single most important thing imo)

use filtered water, my household water runs through a softener, big mistake to not filter it first, though I always let it sit for 24hours to dechlorinate it

get decent nutes and fox farm soil for transplants

setup really good ventilation for the room

I let seedlings grow in none nuted generic potting soil in plastic cups under 6500k CFL's in clamp lights (the links in my sig show them)



* I read a lot here before I setup my grow room but skimped in all the wrong places

[ddrchamp19010]

thx for that advice green, is there anyway to ensure that my plants turn out female? i heard if u do a lighting schedule of 12/12 then it is most likely to happen, also, where can I get CFL bulbs that fit into a 60watt lamp? I have a 400 HPS system but I feel that it is too strong and is for the flowering part of the life cycle rather than the veg part of the life cycle.

Help me out, thx

[doindia]

no you cannot determine the sex to be male or female, the plant has to do that, the 12 12 is the light cycle you will be on when you switch from veg to flower.

and if you want to use a cfl, just go to lowes or walmart and get a CFL light or two, that screws into any reg socket, then switch to hps in a couple weeks

[ddrchamp19010]

thanks for all the help guys! the more help there is the better! any suggestions?

Oh, and if my germination goes well I'll post a journal =]