help with lighitng/heat

Hi everyone, just started trying to grow and I am having a bit of hard time. I soaked my seeds in a cup of water for 24 hours and they all fell to the bottom (which i think is good). I started to see the seeds crack and could visualize a tiny root maybe coming out of the top.

I planted the seeds and they have been under the soil for 3 days now and I do not see anything sprouting. Im worried about my lighting and hyrdation of the plant.

My lights are within 5 inches of the dirt and it seems to dry out the dirt very quickly and it seems very hot under the lights. I am using 60 watt plant flourescent bulbs. Everything I read says place the lamps close to the plants but it just seems to warm to me...? Also the lights really dry out the top surface of the dirt.

Should I just be patient and see if I notice and sprouting over the next week? And does it matter that the lights are so close that it may be too hot?

Thanks

First be patient if you seed cracked it takes a little while for it to push through to the surface,and if your light is drying out your soil fast move it further away,what is meant by keeping the light close to the plant applies when the seedling has popped out the soil.Second what kind of fluorescent do you have that it gets hot,I run fluorescent for veg and they are warm to the touch barely,I use 4 foot 40 watt 6500k and 3000k combination for veg.I keep the lights like 2 inches away.What are your temps???

How deep in the soil did you plant the seedlings? They should only be an inch or so below the surface. Knew a guy once who put the seeds right at the bottom of the pots and wondered why they didn't sprout!

The seeds are very shallow under the dirt so that should be a problem.

Ill post pictures of my setup and lights i use so please tell me if you see something wrong. I do not have much space so I am working with the best environment I can.

pics attached

I can't really tell in the pictures, but are those CFL's, or are those bulbs incadesent? Traditional "Grow and Show" type bulbs put out way to much heat and still don't give the best spectrum.

I have ran 6 40Watt 48" bulbs touching with no harm.

But, remember. Until they break the surface they can not use any light. Leave one on above the middle pot, a couple of feet up untill they break the soil, then work them back down. Once they are growing use the back of your hand at the highest point of your plant. If it feels hot, you are too close.

Good Luck.

im almost positive they are flourescent bulbs.

When i looked at the seeds they look the same as when they sank to the bottom of the water cup 3 days ago, they are split but nothing more, i see a little bit of what looks like a hair coming out.

so will those lights work? Im not sure what kind of lights to get , like can i get it at a walmart?

Also are those dome lamps ok?

heres the link to the bulbs i am using, http://genet.gelighting.com/LightProducts/Dispatcher?REQUEST=CONSUMERSPECPAGE&PRODUCTCODE=41624&TABID=2&BreadCrumbValues=Specialty_Residential_Plant_,0&ModelSelectionFilter=FT0010:Specialty_Residential_Plant

says it has blue spectrum light but it is incadscent, should i get other lights?

damn, I just found the bulbs i am using and they are incadescent, check out this link its my bulbs, see if these will work, I bought it because it had blue spectrum and says works well for plants...

http://genet.gelighting.com/LightProducts/Dispatcher?REQUEST=CONSUMERSPECPAGE&PRODUCTCODE=41624&TABID=2&BreadCrumbValues=Specialty_Residential_Plant_,0&ModelSelectionFilter=FT0010:Specialty_Residential_Plant

Yeah you don't need all those lights on at the same time at least not until the seeds have sprouted,and I never seen or used those lights,and if you do decide to buy other lights wal-mart has what you need check it out these fixtures are like $10 and bulbs are like $8 for two.Those bulbs you have are not fluorescent.And you say your seeds look the same as they did when you planted them maybe they dried out one of those days the soil dried out.

They are incandescent and more or less useless for growing plants, they put out far too much heat and very little usable light, they are rated at 10 lumens per watt, a fluorescent will give 6-7 times that, metal halide are about 90 lumens/watt and hps can be as high as 150.
Those dome reflectors aren't bad, and I'd assume it's a standard fitment so you should be able to get cfls from wal-mart. Get some 42w (actual watts, ignore the equivilant rating) 6500k (cool white) cfls to replace those so-called 'plant lights', give the plants some time, and they should sprout.
Think about adding more lights as the plants grow, you want 2-4 per plant I would say but I'm no expert with cfl growing. If you can find the lumens the bulbs put out, you want 3000 lumens per sq ft minimum to make plants grow, 7000-10,000 is optimum.
Get some 2700k bulbs for flowering, too.

so i cant use the same bulbs once the plant starts flowering?

im new at this, not sure what 2700 k vs 6500 k means

2700 k is the color temperature which emits the orangeish spectrum of the light which mimics fall and 6500k is the color spectrum which emits the blueish spectrum of the light which mimics summer days.No you don't want to use those bulbs for flowering 2700k-3000k is fine, when you purchase Cfl or fluorescent bulbs look on the label to check color temp.I would recommend Hid lighting for flowering for the b3st results.

There's a good thread about using CFL's that I found helpful:

https://www.rollitup.org/cfl-growing/202718-cfl-tutorial.html