alright im working on a setup in my closet and i need to start off with lights, im going to grow 4 plants in 4 -2 gallon buckets and need to know if these bulbs will be good from seed to harvest and/or do i need to get the 4 pack? there Labled "GE Energy Smart CFL Light Bulb: 13 Watt (60W Equiv)" if these are good lights then lighting suggestions would be great
most people seem to say shoot for somewhere around 100 watts per plant (actuall wattage, not the b.s. number it says)
yes, for cfl lights you must go by the actual wattage, not the equivelancy. You need 100 watts per plant average, with each of those kicking out 13 watts. That's a lot of small lights. Also, you want to look at your light temperature, you want 6500k cfl lights for vegging and 2700k lights for flowering. Sadly, even cfl growing can get a bit complex and a bit spendy. That's why I kind of regret starting with cfl's and would advise people to go straight to HPS lights (although if done right, cfl's can kick out some damn nice plants).
Actually, for 4 plants you need about 30 of those. (13W X 30 = 390W) Remember, go by the actual watts, not the equivilant. I would highly recommend making the jump to HPS and/or MH. If you really want to grow with CFL's, I would look into some of the higher end CFL grow lamps available (~$120). You can get an HPS light for about $130 on eBay. If you want to step it up another notch, go for the MH/HPS conversion lamps. This will give you the right spectrum throughout your grow.