hey guys, need some help. i've just germinated 2 white widow seeds and planted them in yoghurt pots for now. could i get away with growing them on the window sill (uk) until they get their first couple of leaves then sticking them under the hps light 18/6..
Yes, your seedlings won't die if you put them by a windowsill for a few weeks.
Unfortunately, if they don't get much light, they may stretch a bit (looking for light) and that's not great when you eventually want them to get big, though its also not an insurmountable problem.
I do have a better option for you.
Seedlings do AWESOME under a regular compact fluorescent light bulb (eg a 23 or even 16 watt one) that you can buy at any hardware or grocery store for only a few bucks (ie "quid"). Mount one in a small spotlight (again, could be a cheap clip-on one) and put it a few inches from the plants, and they'll do great. They will also do great under a standard tube fluorescent. Many growers (and in fact most commercial ones) use small fluorescents on a shelf to start and maintain seedlings because they're inexpensive run cool, and take up little space.
You can put the entire thing into your HPS cabinet, if you are short on space, then remove it when you start the "big" light.
Alternatively, you certainly CAN start seedlings under a full HPS light, and they'll also do great. . .its just that you're wasting a lot of energy on a several hundred watt HPS (plus cooling) just for a few tiny seedlings.
