new grower

i went out and bought a 15 watt CFL today and am switching them to 18/6 today. and how many lights do you think ill need for 1 plant?

around 1500-2000 lumens. it should say the amount on the cfl package it came in. usually its about 3-4 lights for one plant.

yeah your plants are way too young to be on 12-12, but if your just going to see how easy it is to grow then i guess you could, but id wait atleast till they got around 2 foot before id think of 12-12 but thats me

I hate to tell you this, but 15 watt cfl's are next to worthless. Your gonna need between 10-20 of em'.
But don't get discouraged, many good growers start off trying out cheap ineffective light sources, myself included. Trial and error is the best way to test your limits. Shit, my first couple indoor grows were with cheap flouros, I had no where near enough light, then my next couple indoor grows I had to much light (yes it is possible to have too much light, if anyone dosent believe me put a 1000w HPS in a closet thats 2' x 4' x 8'). Now I got it down to a fine art, and with patience you can too.
peace

how many 42 watt (they're like equal to 150w incandescent) CFL's would one need?

I'm gonna have to say 5,6,7 something like that, and thats not gonna get you big, killer plants, unless you use it to veg, and get a good flowering light.
peace