Questions on Nutrients Shelf Life and Wattage for Seedlings

Its been almost a year since I visited. I've decided to try one more time with a "stealth box" instead of giving up. I already have 90% of the equipment; seedling kit, soil, amendments, nutes. I know my questions are idiotic but in my defence I've never had a succesful grow. I'd still like to keep the project small until I get at least one successful grow.



To be frank; I'm sure I fu--ed up the lighting needs on my last attempt. I only used single Fluorescent lamp (exact wattage I forget) for seedlings. They (seedlings) became tall but couldn't hold themselves up. I thought I'd use some 46W CFL (in both spectrums) from the stealth box (Rubbermaids) or buy some lower watt bulbs. I'll need to do some testing but maybe someone could point me in the right direction. Is that even enough wattage? Do they need to be as close as possible or further away?

Last year I was lucky to get some free nutes from "General Organics" Bio-Thrive. I have both the Grow/Bloom & Ca/MG+, root, bud, weed. I've kept them all this time in a fairly cool place and haven't opened them since my last failed attempt. Does anybody know how long these kind of nutrients last?


I'd appreciate some advise and patience. I'll try not to ask to many questions or to overthink this one. If you need some more info please ask.

Thanks
Geo

The best way to determine fertilizer freshness without an expiration date is by smell. If it smells bad or odd, don't use it.

It sounds like your previous seedlings were stretching. I like to use one 26w, 5000K spiral fluorescent for each vegging plant. I'll put no more than two seedling cups under one of these bulbs to keep the plants short, but four can fit.

The GO nutrients have a one year shelf life, less if they've been opened previously. All of their products have either a soy/vinegar smell, or molasses smell except for the Bio Weed and Bio Marine. Anything that smells really foul or otherwise different than described should not be used since it's a bio nutrient line and bad bacteria are always a possibility.