I have the whole thing confined to my closet. I have to keep in there because I have to hide it from my parents so the door cant be open all the time. I have about 7 seeds started and its been less than a week and already one sprouted. So I have 2 clip on lamps that are about 4 inches from the pots. The pots are in aluminum pans to catch any runoff water or excess dirt. The walls are covered in aluminum foil and are painted white anyway. One lamp has a 20 Watt CFL bulb, the other has a 23 Watt CFL flood light bulb. Its wierd because I'm still trying to get a good setup. I have them both on a timer so I can do the light cycles properly. I have half of my plants in organic fast-growing vegetable soil, and the other half in special "seed starting" soil, which is what i orginally got because I didnt know what kind to get. I have an air purifier inside the closet running on high (not blowing on the plants or pots) to keep fresh air in there and to deter any odors. I was thinking of getting a ph meter so I can start testing. I've only used bag seeds so far, but I have a ton of them. Any advice? Oh, and I also am using pots without holes in the bottoms, thats all i could find, theyre made of glass.
Sounds to me like you could do a little more reading man.. I don't anticipate that you're going to grow all seven of those plants, but the lighting you described isn't nearly adequate enough for what you're trying to do. I have just over 100 watts in about 4 sq feet of space and I'm worried that may not be quite enough... I would seriously consider stepping back and making a few more preparations before this goes any further. But thats just my opinion.
I don't plan on growing all 7. I planted so many because I don't expect them all to grow. I figure only a few will actually sprout, if more do I will make the changes necessary. I was aware that I would need more light for that many plants, no offense.
No man you'll probably need at least one more CFL on even one plant.. I know you weren't planning on growing all seven but that probably is really pushing it in terms of enough light on the plant
What spectrum are the two CFLs you have? Will you change them for veg/flowering? Also, I'm not really educated on this but those flood light CFLs seem like they either wouldn't be the right light or would run too hot. Any knowledge?