Im building a growbox thats 3ftx2ftx3ft high. Im going to use the 5500k daylight 14watt/60watt equivelent cfls for veg and the 2700k soft white 14watt/60watt equivelent cfls for flower. How many of each should I get for 6plants?
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 foot (of the correct spectral output) 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'). I'm using three each 23W warm white (in the 2700 degree Kelvin range) and three 27W Daylight (around 5500 degrees Kelvin) CFLs in my box that is about the size of yours resulting in around 3,500 lumen per sq. ft.