i am planning on having a one plant setup, and i have 2 types of bulbs right now. i have a compact fluorescent bulb, and i also have a bulb that is used for plants in general. i have seen that people reccomend the curly bulb, but is it greater for this purpose than a bulb made for houseplants? it is a ge palnt light 50, 50 watts, 2000 hours
is it something like this? http://doityourself.com/store/u491373.htm If so, they don't work well for growing.
yep, that is what it is. i understand that the compact fluorescent ones aren't the best, do they work?
They work fine. Back in the day, pretty much all indoor was put under fluorescents. They aren't as efficient as an HPS or MH, but you can get as many or as few as you need. from elsewhere: figure out how much area you want to light and find the lumen rating for your cfls and add lights until you get where you want to be. And remember, a 400w HPS will throw ~5000 lumens/sq ft over an area of a square meter.