How much light does my plant need in the seedling growth?

So after the germination i put the seeds into soil. can i set my light for the vegetative growth from that point until flower growth?

A soon as they have their first set of true leaves, they're full lighting, especially if you're using fluoros. If using HPS/MH, be careful, because the little ones are sensitive, at that point. I'd need to know what size HID you are using, to be able to give you an accurate height suggestion. Basically, if you keep the heat under control, you'll be good to go. If you chicken out, and back the lights off too much, you'll have stretched babies, that are likely to fall over, or at any rate, have weak stems. Give them full lighting,(okay, maybe 80%, for the first 3-5 days. I won't be responsible, if you mistakenly burn them. ) ) and you'll get those nice bushy plants, that we all seek.

so i have shop lights with t12 bulbs for HID, that's a good start for the seedling growth right? how long should there be light and how long darkness for the seedling growth?

Well how many T12 bulbs, how long, and what temp(color) are they? I assume by shop lights and t12 your talking about fluorescent lights and now HID. HID generally refers to High Pressure Sodium or Metal Halide which are both High Intensity Discharge lights.

Also if using the T12s keep them close to the seedlings(10 inches to start, maybe closer if you have proper fans) as the light will spread fast and be weak on the plant.

never mind i think i figured it out. thinks though

^Keep those T12 within an inch of the tops of your babies, and they'll work pretty well. IMO, they'll blow away alot of the CFL setups I see here on RIU, simply because it's alot easier to get the T12's positioned correctly/optimally. More new growers should ditch the CFLs, and switch, if you ask me, especially those guys struggling with those underpowered 23 watters. Alot of the plants I see, are stretchy, and weak, due to poor light positioning. Place those plants under a cheap old shoplight, within an inch, and it'll blow 'em away.(for the first couple weeks, til 8" or so. Then the T12s become too underpowered, and the plants will start stretching excessively)

T8's work even better.

karr said:

Also if using the T12s keep them close to the seedlings(10 inches to start, maybe closer if you have proper fans) as the light will spread fast and be weak on the plant.

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Sorry man, but that's bad advice. Two inches, should be the furthest the light should ever be from the plants. One inch, is highly recommended. As long as there's a small fan, heat isn't an issue, unless they are actually touching the bulbs. It's impossible to have too much fluoro, so bring 'em down. At 10", they're not much better than using a Bic lighter, for lighting.lol

thanks a lot for the advise jawbrodt.