I just picked up some cfls got some questions on if its to much or enough. I have 4 Y-splitters so i could use 8 bulbs really if i needed to but im sure that'd be way to much heat, I bought 6 eco cfl bulbs, each bulb it says is 23WATTS but its equivalent to 100WATTS the brightness of these is 1450 lumens an the light appearance is 5000k, Ive got them on a timer 20hrs on 4 off, growing 4 plants in a 28in x 24in box 3 feet tall. got northern storm autos the nl site says theyre dwarf/small plants, i said im going to have four plants in there but really i have one plant already that's a month old an looking good so i want to start 3 more ASAP (started germ tonight)
I'm not an expert.....just finishing my 1st grow in a similar size box (2' x 2' by 4 feet tall) I used 4 bulbs (with 2 Y splitters) for veg and kept adding more when I went to flower I'm finishing with 10 bulbs in the box.......all for just one plant you should have no problem with heat....and you should try to keep the bulbs as close to the plant as possible (2 - 3 inches) So I guess I'm saying that you are in good shape to start when you switch over to flower - get cfls that are rated 3500k (soft or warm white) and mix them 50/50 with your 5000k bulbs also with your box being only 3 feet tall, you'll want to go to flower very quickly.....I switched to flower when my plant was 10" tall and almost ran out of space in my 4' box good luck and have fun