i have 3 plants they look healthy there on week 2 i have 4 42w 6500 daylight bulbs i only have four sockets and im not trying to pull to much elec, so can i keep up with four/3 ratio when it comes to lights per plant
you can buy splitters to put 2 in each socket. they draw next to nothing. put as many as you can fit. seriously
Yes, I would start as stated above and buy some splitters. As for right now, I think you should be alright. I have 4 plants and started off with 6 24w 5500k until about a couple weeks into veg when I was able to purchase more lights. They will definitely be ok for now, but be prepared to buy more lights and splitters. Splitters really help. My plants are currently in week one of flower and I have eight 26w 5500k, two 26w 2700k and one big 126w 6400k bulb overhead for the canopy and I found out I need to grab more. I have been told by a lot of people that at least 80w-100w per plant is best. But more is always better. Don't worry about buying too much light and don't worry about your electricity bill. I did the math with mine and they are only costing me $16 extra a month on utilities. CFLs are not the most energy-hungry bulbs, which is why it's good to grow with them if you are worried about your utility bill.
Just go buy a 150w hps light and you won't have to worry about how to fit 20 light bulbs into a small grow room, you won't have to worry about your electric bill, and your buds will come out denser as well as having an increased yield
those 4 lamps could light up an area of 1' x 2' and as long as you finish your plants small enough to fit in that area they will be fine. what size is your grow box?
i believe that my grow box is 3' x 2' . the plants look fine but i hear more lights the better i do have more lights but no sockets. i know im going to have to hit the home depot for splitters. but to the guy who speaks of the hps 150w will i be using that for for veg and flower or will i need mh.
you can use just hps all the way through if you wanted to save some cash, they will grow just fine. what is the reasoning behind using CFLs? you have quite a large area. I have a 1.5' x 2' x 4'(high)... so half the size of yours and I run a 250w hps in there. my ballast can be switched between 125watt, 190watt, 250watt and 275watt using the same bulb and was only £57 including delivery from eBay. there are 400 and 600 versions available. you could easily run a 400watt lamp in there and have the option to switch it to as low as 250watt if you wanted to. anyway, it would mean you would only have the one bulb, and can adjust it to suit. you will grow many times the amount of bud that those CFLs will grow, and you will have a lot less work to do involving tying down and training the plants around and close to the CFLs don't get me wrong, CFLs work great, but in a grow box as big as yours you just don't need them so take advantage of hps, you won't regret it