Please help me with a CFL Grow.

Hey,

I am going to use some CFL's

About 8 of them in my 3 x 3 area.

Will 8 be enough for that big of a area?

And second what are those things called that you put light bulbs in they are in a shape of a Y

How many plants going in? What technique? Other info? Any pics? I don't remember the exact name but if you search "light bulb 'Y' adapter" or "light bulb socket spliter" or something like that on homedepot.com you should find them.

if you get 8 23W CFL and don't forget to make sure they're Daylight for vegging... thats equivalent to about 800W.... sounds good

Y-splitter... Y-adapter... i'm not sure which its called, but its sold in many hardware stores for about a $1.50... but i also have this 3-Way socket, which i'm planning to screw 3 Y-adapters so it can hold up to 6 CFL... wire that to an extension cord... so i have 6 lights on 1 plug...

heres some info on how to wire a plug to a light socket, just in case...

i have a 3 socket fixture or a 3 bulb socket (don't know whats the name) but its sold where you can find the Y-adapters and it cost me like $2... so its not expensive.... the 3way socket is 660W max and 250V...and the Y-adapters are also 660W/ 250V... i know this because its printed/embedded onto the sockets... you can screw up to 6 23W CFLs since the totol will be 138W and is nowhere near the 660W max..... but as for the 250v... i have a habit of cutting plugs off of things when i throw them out so i had a selection of plugs to choose from... and the MOST IMPORTANT thing is NOT to use a plug thats Volts is higher than 250... if you pass the 250, the lights will blow and you will be pissed... i wired the socket to a 250v plug and it works great... and i also tried a 125v plug and got the same results.... i use the 250v plug because i wasn't sure if the 125v would give the socket all the power it needed to light 6 bulbs to their optimum level... but with this...you can actually screw y-adapter into another y-adapter and in the end, you can have a choice between 3, 6, or 12 bulbs on one "3 way socket fixture" and attached to one plug.... hope this helps

Ok now what do I plug the Y socket into so it hangs over my plants?

just buy a regular socket... i bought one for a $1.50 i think... but anyways... it has a white wire and a black wire attached... i wired that up to a plug so i can have a single socket wired to a plug (actually i wired 2 of these to one plug, so both sockets work when i plug it in) ... what i did was drill 2 tiny holes on the top of my grow box and used these plastic things to hold it in place ... (i'm not sure what these things are really called... its what cops uses for plastic handcuffs, hope you know what i mean... its like the more you pull them, the tighter they get... sometimes you see them on packages and have to cut them off) i used that to hold the socket by its wires because the wires are very, very thick ...

imagine the "L" upsidedown... the part hanging down is the lightsocket and bulb and the other piece of the "L" sticking out the side is the wires... i strapped the bulb in this upsidedown "L" shape to the roof of my growbox... and its sturdy

hope you understand..sorry i don't have pics

For vegging, you want to make sure your lights are on the warmer end. Higher number: 5500k to 6500k. Look for that rating. These lights are often called Daylight, or Soft White. They are in the bluish end of the spectrum. The wattage is important, but don't forget the color spectrum they represent. Vegging requires a lot of lumens and wattage to be sure, but make sure it's the right kind of light. There are lower temperature lights, with ratings around 2000k that would work for the later stage of flowering. They are more reddish or yellow in color, and look warmer in color although they're not in temperature.