Ok so my seeds were germinated this morning. Yesterday I presoaked my soil with a water ph ballanced to 6.2. I put my seeds in FoxFarm Light Warrior in those red party cups with a ziplock bag over them and a rubber band to hold humidity. Is my lights fine? or should i move them closer? Right now their about 8-12 inches away and I'm using like 23 watt florescents. When should I also use the fan? Also I have a 400 watt HPS in my other grow room when can I use that and when I do how far away from top of plants? I'm kind of noobie I know!!
move em closer, and are those mirrors? mirrors are supposedly bad for growing because they cause hotspots. try mylar.
I think now you sit and wait and watch for the magic may they all be green dank ladies! BTW you don't really need the lights until they break the surface.
I don't know if it's bad or people with big lights don't want to pay the extra $$ when they're not needed. That's just the common excepted knowledge being passed on from grower to grower, in my experience.
You can grow a plant from seed under even an hps light. MH lights work well for vegging plants. CFL's will work but you need quite a few of them depending on wattage. Most people just dont really want to run the big light for starting out a plant. Most people that really know what they are doing start under flurorescents, have a switchable MH/HPS ballast and move them under the big light after a bit of vegging. So the point is you could really start it under any light.
Also enclosing them in something will well, enclose the light and intensify the light you are using. Get creative, build a little greenhouse type setup. You could do that for pretty cheap. It looks like you have some black/white poly film yes?
No, you're fine. You cannot hurt them by providing light while they are under the soil. Some people just like to have the lights on them before they sprout so they see and use the light once they break the soil.