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Would using a 26 Watt CFL bulb on a recently planted seedling enhance its growth potential, or should I wait until it sprouts to add the light?
Ive read instructions stating either method so I was wondering what the best is.
is a 26 Watt bulb enough when it sprouts?
Yeah, I'd say that's sufficient for a seedling.
After my seeds pop and I place them in soil I like to run a bulb over the pot of dirt at all times so that when the seedling does break the surface it's greeted with light. Then after about a week I bring the schedule back to 18/6.
so having it on 24/7 even after it sprouts is ok for a little while?
Yeah, it's fine. Some even leave the lights on for 24 hours a day for the whole vegetative period. Personally I just prefer having a dark period. Some say the dark period promotes root growth, but I can't really say it does for sure. I just do it with mimicking nature in mind.
My only problem is that im very anal about the chance of a fire starting...how hot do cfl's get in comparison to other bulbs, any idea?
Thanks for the help
Depends on the wattage, but they're tons cooler than any incandescent or HID lamp.
Generally, for CFLs, it's something like .3 CFM multiplied by the number of lighting watts to cool them within a few degrees of room temperature.
I ran a box with 6 26 watt bulbs that was about 2.5 cubic feet. I used a 8 inch desk fan and it kept it more than cool. I can't remember what the cfm of it was, but the fan only cost like $7 so it was far from top of the line. When I first ran the box I let it go for about 12 hours with no fan on and it got warm, but no where near starting a fire.