I think i screwed up on my first grow already. See pics.

I started my first grow about a week ago by putting a few bag seeds into FFOF soil and waited for them to pop. Once they started to break through the soil I put them into my homemade stealth pc grow box. My plan was to go 12/12 from seed and do some lst'ing just to experiment.
I know everyone is going to tell me that this is not enough light, but I have 2 10w 6500k CFL's in the box and the box went up to 90 degrees the first day of 12/12 and 2 of the 3 seedlings shriveled up and died and the 3rd seedling grew about 4 inches. I already know I went wrong by not placing the temporary growing medium close enough to the lights, which caused stretching.
I've had so much trouble with the temps in this box the past few days that I'm going crazy. At first, I had 3 fans (intake, exhaust, movement) and they were connected to a 12V DC adapter. The temps in the box were stable but this was too much power and the fans sounded like jet engines. I replaced the 12V DC adapter with a 5V DC adapter and the fans were silent, but obviously not moving enough air because I checked the indoor/outdoor thermometer and the outdoor temp (inside the box) was reading 90 degrees.
I was able to get my hands on a 6.8V and a 9V DC adapter and I will re-wire the fans to see which one works best, but I have to wait until my wife leaves the house for a few hours. In the meantime, I unscrewed one of the bulbs and just have one light going right now. This seems to be working pretty well, as the internal temps seems to be holding at 75 degrees.
Now, my questions are regarding the damage that has already been done to the sole surviving seedling. As you can see in the pics, this plant has stretched out of control, yet the leaves are very tiny. So what should I do? Should I just leave it alone or should I cut it down close to the soil and pray that it sprouts new leaves closer to the soil so that it doesn't have that long lanky stem its whole life?
Any suggestions are appreciated.

dont cut it, it will be useless,

if you feel brave and have a steady hand you need to replant that seedling and bury all that stem and leave the leafs about 1 inch above the soil.

you do need more light or your gonna stretch again and again.

do not cut it,the best thing to do is to add more soil to the pot or repot it if u have to and leave only the top 2 or 3 inches above the soil.if u cut it,it will die.

The only way to stop it from stretching, is to add more light. 10 watt CFLS aren't enough, for sure. 26 watt bulbs are the absolute minimum I would recommend, and higher is better.

Also, I agree, it'd be a good idea to bury some of that stem, after you get the lights under control.

Transplant it to a deeper pot so that the stretched portion of stem is supported by soil. Add a bunch of light around the exposed part.

jawbrodt said:

The only way to stop it from stretching, is to add more light. 10 watt CFLS aren't enough, for sure. 26 watt bulbs are the absolute minimum I would recommend, and higher is better.

Also, I agree, it'd be a good idea to bury some of that stem, after you get the lights under control.

Click to expand...

I had planned on transplanting the seedlings from their current growing medium into their permanent growing medium in a few days, but now I will transplant it sooner.
Planting the stem in the soil is a good idea that I didn't think about.

As far as adding higher wattage bulbs, is there really a difference between the 10W and 26W cfl bulbs? With the reflective material and that little bit of space, those lights are SO bright and give off a decent amount of heat.

Here's my new plan... I am going to connect the other 2 DC adapters and see which one moves the most air without making a lot of noise. If I am able to use one of the other adapters and the temps in the box stay cool, I will replace the 2 10W with 2 26W CFL's and see if the temps remain cool.

Sound good?

kill it and get new lights or dont try nomore

Is there a difference between 10 watt and 26 watt bulbs? I can't stress enough, the answer is YES! Wattage is everything, in reguards to growing with CFLs, aside from the spectrum(3000K-6500K will work, 6500K is considered optimum). You want to shoot for at least 3000 lumens per square foot, for good growth. Lumen output should be labeled on the box the bulbs came in, and I'm guessing that those 10 watt bulbs are less than 700 each. THAT = stretched plants.

They actually are 6500k lumens. I'm not trying to argue my point, just trying to obtain as much knowledge as possible. I have 2 10W 6500k lumen cfl's in a space that's approximately 12" L x 6" W x 16" H. Too stoned to do the math right now, but it seems like that's 13000k lumens in an area less than 1 square foot. No?

6500K isn't the same thing as lumens. "K" describes the color of light that the bulb emits, and has nothing to do with intensity. That is measured in lumens, and is what you are looking for. Stick with the 6500K(which is biased towards the blue end of the spectrum), and up the wattage. You have only 1/2 sq. foot to cover, so two 26 watt bulbs should do okay. Just keep 'em close to the plants as possible, without heat being an issue.

Thanks jawbrodt, I will replace the 2 10W 6500k bulbs with 2 26W 6500k CFL bulbs.

Will 2 of these 23W CFL's from Lowe's work for veg?

Yeah, they should work okay. The lumen output isn't given, but since your area is so small, I'm pretty certain they'll work fine. As always, keep 'em as close as possible. That's waaaaaaay more important, than many believe. I have a light meter, and trust me, a couple inches, can make or break, a grow. Output decreases drastically, over distance.(inverse square law)

Trash it and start a new one. Make sure when it comes through the surface get the light close to it. Thats the first step, this one is just gonna cause you aggrivation.

Check out my pictures. I use a single 42w CFL 6500k from amazon $9, for each plant. I keep mine 2-4 inches away from the top. One light per plant is easier to get the light close and keeps the heat down.

Once you get one started with a good light, you have about a month to worry about your flowering setup.

^Very true, about the 42 watt bulbs. 26's will work, but 42's are the way to go.