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How much Wattage or Lumens is good for one seedling?

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xjcnows

New member
I have grown a seedling from using 2 40W, 450 lumen each bulb, CFL's. Unfortunately, she died, I gave her too much nutrients. So now I read on this website (GrowWeedEasy) that the plant needs about 10,000 lumen or more per seed. Is that accurate? I recently germinated a new seed using the paper towel technique, waited a few days and the root was a bit out so I decided to plant it. I am using Black God Soil all organic and it has fertilizer in that comes with it as well. I am also using the solo cup technique. It's in a grow tent, and I am using a small humidifier to keep the humidity at around 60-70% humidity. The temperature fluctuates between 77-80 degrees F. I have changed the lighting since last time by using 4 40 W CFL's instead of using two. It's hanging about 6 inches away from the solo cup. It is day three and I see no sprout, which I thought was odd. Is it because of the lightning I'm using or because the tap root wasn't as long enough?
Forgot to mention - The seedling is an auto fem White widow
 
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In the dark you don't need lights unless your trying to keep it warm, when it pops up get your lights an inch or two away and you will be in business. Hope this helps some.GWE has advice on how much light.
 
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Howdy xjcnows, I have grown up to three plants on 220 watts and 14,400 Lumens(55 watt X 3,600 Lumen per bulb, four CFLs) and I read (some where) that one needed approximately 110 watts per plant. I do not know how this number was obtained, but I do think that more light would not hurt (until You reach the point of incineration! LOL). I also keep my lamps within 2-3 inches (50-75mm) of the plant. I do get some light burn on the leaves but, usually only when the leaves come in contact with the bulbs for a while.
Good luck with Your grow.
 
A couple of things jumped out at me.

#1 - You are using a soil containing slow release fertilizer. (I think) That's bad
# 2 - You are using 40 watt bulbs producing just 450 lumens each. Seems to me that the 40 watts referred to here is "equivalent" watts. Meaning you are really only producing something more like 9 real watts (a wild guess) each. My 23 real Watt 2700 Kelvin CFL's are 100 Watt equivalents producing 1600 Lumens each

Someone better versed in this than I am please verify or refute this

Edit: My CFL's claim to produce roughly 69 Lumens per watt. DW2 has his at about 65 Lumens per watt. Your's come in at 11.25 Lumens per Watt. This would seem to confirm 40 Watt equivalents
 
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Hey Gears, I'm following you to a certain extent. Thanks for that. The box that the CFL's came in did say (uses only 9W) Should I switch bulbs and use your method of CFL's? I think I should to get more growth.
Also, the soil I really wanted to get was Fox farms but unfortunately they do not ship to my location. I did get this information about BlackGold though. Not sure if it is accurate.

"Black Gold isn't that new, it was the first soil I used besides Shultz, and leaves your green tasting earthy, no matter how much you flush it. Black gold is okay if you like MiracleGrow, they're very similar, only difference is, is that BlackGold doesn't contain any time-released nutrients like MiracleGrow, which is good, because time-released nutrients in your soil could mess up your nutrient regimen, and becomes impossible to flush."

Let me know what you think.
 
The ones I found online similar to your description reads as followed: [h=1]Sylvania CFL 2700K 100W Replacement Bulbs (Pack of 6, Model X21534)[/h] It's Soft white. Is that okay to use? Because I read that Daylight is what is needed.
 
Hi xcj, 100w replacement bulb? As in it consumes 100 watts or it gives out the equivalent of 100 watt?
2700k is better for flowering but it also works.
Avoid planting seedling in hot soil. I bought mix special for seedling with less nutes. Once it's developed you can transplant in hot soil :) and there's no need to add nutes eh.
 
Probably gives out the equivalent of 100w. I don't picture people selling pack of 6x100 watts of consumption haha. It should be easier to try and base yourself on the real consumption rather than the output.
 
xjcnows;n105602 The box that the CFL's came in did say (uses only 9W) Should I switch bulbs and use your method of CFL's? I think I should to get more growth. [I said:
" only difference is, is that BlackGold doesn't contain any time-released nutrients like MiracleGrow, which is good, because time-released nutrients in your soil could mess up your nutrient regimen, and becomes impossible to flush."[/B][/I]

Let me know what you think.
Click to expand...

Lights
When they say "equivalent watts" it basically means it lights up a room about the same. So, a 100 Watt equivalent bulb would let you see as if it were a regular incandescent bulb of 100 watts while only consuming 23 Watts of energy. Hence, the savings on your electricity bill. However, your plants are only benefiting from the "real watts" the bulb is putting out. So, 10 of your 40 watt equivalent bulbs (9 real watts) are only giving your plant 90 watts and not 400.

As @Minoo96 pointed out, 2700 Kelvin(Soft White) color temps are better for flowering. I used that example only because the box was handy and I wanted to check the lumen number. 6500 Kelvins (Day light) are preferable for veg states.

Black Gold
I went on their web site. They offer two types of potting soil. One with (General Purpose) and one without (Natural & Organic) slow release fertilizers. Re-reading your original post I see you have the latter. My bad
 
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The figures I used is the information on the bulbs (Longstar), 250 watt equivalent, 55 watt current used and 3,600 lumen. I do not have any way to verify the data.
 
xjcnows, I use both the 2700° K and the 5000° K bulbs (You could use 6000° K as well) in a 50/50 mix for vegetative and flowering growth.
 
So Gears basically I'm gonna have to read the fine print of how much Watts its really giving out. and I also have to keep in mind to aim for 6500 Kelvins (Daylight).
If my Lumen per watt is at about 11.25 , shouldn't I reach for about 65-69 lumen per watt like the two of you?
 
I'm far from an authority on the topic. It appears you are getting around 50 lumens per watt based on 9 real watts per bulb. Any number of factors could be at play here. We're going by the manufacturer's claims.
The main takeaway I think you should focus on is that 40 watt equivalents just aren't going to cut it. I'm using multiple 23 real watt bulbs in addition to a 300 watt (136 real watt) LED and I'd say I'm on the low side of average for this forum.
 
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No problems, you should see a slight difference (mainly because of the power of the bulb). The spectrum is not as important as the amount of power. Its just that the plant will use more of that spectrum during veg and more of another spectrum during flower.
 
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