Starting seeds what/how much light?

I have a 400W MH/HPS light for my grow but i want to get a jump on my next batch by starting out some seeds now while my last plant is finishing up.
I want to start about 4-6 seeds so after they germinate and go into the soil my questions are:

1. should i use CFL lights and is that what I ask for at the store?
2. where can u get them ?
3. how many and how many watts?

thanks for the help!!

If you do happen to use CFLs get a packaged deal where there is about 5 in there. Will save you tons of money in the end. I would get the brightest CFLs they have. There should be some big ass ones that are almost 5,000 lumens per bulb. CFLs work great with good reflective material such as mylar and white paint. You can get CFLs for a good price at any local hardware store and sometimes grocery stores. I personally think Home Depot has an excellent selection. Here is an example of a good CFL.
http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN_US/jsearch/searchResults.jsp?CNTTYPE=PROD_META&N=2984+4308&BV_SessionID=@@@@1396104752.1174147888@@@@&MID=9876&BV_EngineID=ccekaddkhefdidfcgelceffdfgidgin.0&CNTKEY=misc%2fsearchResults.jsp
They have 150W equivalents too!! Bright as all hell!! The great thing about CFLs is that they will last a very long time! Remember, these CFLs can be as close as you want them without touching the plant!! There is no such thing as too much light!!

Although it is fun starting a new grow, why don't you take some cuttings from the plants you have right now and just make clones? Trust me, it will save you so much time, but I as well would rather enjoy a whole new start. Good luck my friend. Hopefully I helped you out a little bit.

thanks for the info man. you helped me out a ton!!

for early veg a hand full of 21-40'sWatt CFLs are fine, i veg with them till i start to flower my babies. ask for 6500K lights, cool white, they are heavy on the blue spec which is perfect for vegging

and 8 bucks for a 23W cfl is almost rape, if you live in canada or close head over to canadian tire, you will pay less

ok so here's another question: do the CFL bulbs come in the tube style or just the normal light bulb style. any advantages/disadvantages between them?

some people have a hard time starting spouts with cfl's,than tend to be hot and can dry out your medium,and can burn your plants if there too close.i belive the best lights for spouts is shop lights with cool white bulbs,they dont dry out the meduim,and theyWONT burn plants even if they hit the bulbs.Hope this helps,good luck.

ronbud1963 said:

some people have a hard time starting spouts with cfl's,than tend to be hot and can dry out your medium,and can burn your plants if there too close.i belive the best lights for spouts is shop lights with cool white bulbs,they dont dry out the meduim,and theyWONT burn plants even if they hit the bulbs.Hope this helps,good luck.

Click to expand...

you got an idea about what you talk or? i guess not!

CFLs will only burn a plant in direct contact with it, it has to touch the light or blast itself! cool whites are a CFLs type, 6500K spec to be precise

i also had never trouble with cfls in veg, what you discribe there would fit to MH bulbs or even HPS which are more or less totally unfit for early veg/ veg at all.

smokedoggydog said:

ok so here's another question: do the CFL bulbs come in the tube style or just the normal light bulb style. any advantages/disadvantages between them?

Click to expand...

now this will tell you what a CFLs is Compact fluorescent lamp - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

they come in linear tube as well in swirl style, i prefer the biax tube style since they spread the light more even over the surface and heat up less since surface is spread more apart in this design