I have veg box that is 5 square feet. How many watts and/ or Lumen are needed to vegetate 4-6 plants?? I have a flowering box that is 9 square feet. How many watts and/ or Lumen are needed to flower?? *What systems do you suggest?*
You don't need a lot of wattage to veg. I've seen people veg plants under fluorescent shop lights. I use 216 watts of T5s to veg, but I'm sure I could get by with a fraction of that. it would just take longer. For flowering, A 400 watt HPS will illuminate (and heat) a 3'x3' space nicely.
For vegetative growth, you want blue spectrum light with a color temperature of 6500K. For flowering, if your intend to flower with fluorescent lights, you want red spectrum light with a color temperature of 2700K. Fluorescent lights come in two basic varieties: tubes and compact fluorescent lights (CFLs). Of the many different classes of fluorescent tubes, growers favor T5 HO. Most CFLs fit normal light fixtures, the kind that accommodate normal incandescent bulbs, though some of the larger wattage CFLs require a larger "mogul" base, which is the same size used by most HID bulbs.
^^^^ what he said. i'd also like to add that you should have at minimum 150w for 1 plant, and roughly 50-100w for each plant after that. not sure if you've read Kamel's guide to cfl's, but it's a good read for anyone using cfl's.