Okay, so number one... I have 3 clamp lamps in my stealth box... one of them keeps blowing bulbs. Idk if it's the lamp itself or the bulbs because they both came from the same pack, but this is now 2 bulbs that died in 48 hours. question two is how long do seeds take to sprout? I've had them in the soil for over 48 hours... no sign of sprouting yet. I watered each pot once since i put the seeds in. should I water again?
I cant help you with the light thing but maybe the bulbs are getting too hot or something? Sprouting can take up to a week - you put them into soil? Maybe you should have tried to put the seeds into a wet towel or something, usually works very good. You can find tutorials on this on this page. Make sure to always keep the soil moist - they will sprout. Also make sure you didnt put them into the soil too deep.
What bio1 said. Also, is the soil you planted them in compcat or loose? I like to plant my seeds in SUPER loose soil. I just crumble it in my hands and into the pot before I even plant. Then poke a hole with your finger a couple centimeters down, and dust some more super loose soil over the top. I usually water every day or so until sprout, but VERY little water. I usually try to get 5ml of water or so just on the area where I know the seed is buried... Also what kind (brand) of bulbs are you using? I stay the heck away from the cheap stuff and ONLY use GE. With some prior experience in electronics I can tell you that although not impossible, it's EXTREMELY unlikely that the problem is your clamp lamp. If it were the lamp it would probably just set off the circuit breaker at the service in your basement. If you don't believe me, try a different experiment: put the bulbs from your other clamp light into the clamp light you suspect is defective. If the problem IS with the clamp lamp, it'll blow those bulbs too... I don't think it will... Good Luck!
Soil is best, IMHO, towels just rip the fine hairs off. Keep the soil warm 75 - 80F and moist. You do not need lights for sprouting, but you DO need light as soon as the sprout appears. Mine pop up in 1 to 5 days. Check the temperature is OK.
Its been my experience that with clamp lights...the base of the CFL bulbs are big enough to cover the air holes in the bell shaped clamp light reflector...it creates a pocket of heat that cant escape...it can melt the plastic base of the CFL bulbs...you may need to hammer in a few nail holes around where the CFL base is so it can vent out the heat.
thanks for all your help guys. it was the lamp, i took it back to home depot and the guy at customer service took the dome off the lamp and one of the wires was frayed and breaking. they replaced it and then i went to wal mart to get some 42w cfl's... and of COURSE... i get home, plug em in, and theyre SOFT WHITE. GOD DAMNNNN! would 52W of the daylight CFL's and 42w of a soft white CFL work for veg or should i get more daylight bulbs for veg and save the soft whites for flowering?? as for the soil i packed it EXTREMELY loose... only watered like 1/4 of a glass of water in each pot... twice in the past 3 days...
your going to need more daylight bulbs... but using that soft white is fine... nothing wrong with giving them a mix of spectrums