Could I grow one plant with a 50 watt CFL?

I'm a beginner, but I'm thinking no. I made a CFL lamp made out of a power strip, bulb 'splitters' from home depot to plug two bulbs into one outlet on the power strip. I ended up fitting about 10 23 watt CFL's on it = 230 watts of light. I made my own reflector out of emergency blankets (mylar) and yard signs. It was pretty ghetto, but I'm confident I could've grown four plants with it - it would just take awhile.

Here's a link to my grow journal - there are pics of the light in there:

http://forum.grasscity.com/indoor-grow-journals/313839-my-first-grow-attempt-post3604021.html

FYI - most people say the recommended amount of light is 100w for the first plant and 50w for each additional.

 

I stick with 100w per plant myself.

 

Agreed....minimum of 100w per plant. More light equals better bud.

 

I could be wrong but i remember thats the rule of thumb was 50 watts a square foot

 

Greetings:
I'm a newbie and looking/researching the light options for my "poor man's" grow box. The box is 2' wide, 3' long, and about 2 1/2' high. I've got some auto flowering, dwarf plant seeds and I'm itching to get started.

According to the 50W per square foot rule, if I position three, 100W CFL's over my box, it should do OK,.... correct?
BUT,... if three 100W works OK, which of the following options would produce a better yield?
1) More 300W CFL bulbs?.... OR,
2) The same amount of CFL bulbs, but greater wattage?

Thanks in advance for any feed back you can send my way,... once I get started, I'll post pics.
mapmaker2

 

I could do it but it would be pathetic waste of time. You get what you give your MJ.

 

Mapmaker, no need to hijack someone else's thread, it's real easy to start your very own...

To the OP: is that 50 real watts of CFL or equivalent watts?

 

My apologies to TheSurveyMr,... I did not mean to highjack your thread and run away with it. I will make sure that does not happen again. It appears I screwed it up pretty good. Sorry,... I hope you get your answers.
As my reply stated, I'm a newbie and just got caught up in the moment.
mapmaker2

 

It's OK dude, I was informing not scolding.

 

Thx for your patience....

 

My friend grew from seed to harvest using only a 50w CFL. He yielded 1/8 ounce.

 

If I put in a few months to get an 1/8th I'd jump off a high place.

If you're paying even close to street price for good smoke you'll make your money back in 1 harvest from a 400w setup with a grow tent and 1 fan. If not the first grow, the 2nd (hopefully in a few weeks after the first, from clones).

 

Made my day haha.

 

just get more cfls. they aren't that expensive. lol just get 100watts per plant your growing. don't waste your time with 50 watts unless you want to grow an eighth. lol

 

can you grow one plant with just 50w? of course you can, half ounce is what you will likely get from it. you don't really want to be lighting up more than 1 square foot of canopy though as you need to train your plant around the bulb. a curved ScrOG screen is what you need.

but why just 50w? why not double up and have 100w and grow an ounce instead?

the goal of CFLs is 100watts per square foot of canopy. the number of plants is irrelevant. you can go as low as 50w but is 3 months waiting for half ounce worth it?

I grew with just 40 watts once and got well over half ounce but it was so much work training the plants around the bulbs, such a pain