Adding more CFL info needed

Hey folks,

I posted a few days asking some advice about what lights to go for, I ended up getting two 45 watt CFL's (one blue one red).

When i bought these i wasnt paying much attention to the wattage - doh!.
I have four seeds just starting off, at a week or so old.

I'm just wondering what would be best to add next, I read a journal with a guy that grew 4 plants with: 2 - 45watt and 4- 23 watts, that turned out ok

Ive spent some time shopping about for more cfl's to add, Im just wondering if there's an overkill limit for what im growing (4 plants max). Im just sticking with CFL's at the moment i know some people arnt a fan of them but .

Im thinking of maybe getting 2 - 125 watt one red/one blue next, but ive found 250/300 watts for around £30-£40 each which seems decently priced. Would the 250 or 300 watt ones be more beneficial or abit excessive?

Cheers for the help!

More light = more bud. But that "more light" has to be in the proper spectrum. As I understand your post, you have 2 colored bulbs? One red and one blue? That aint gonna help ya. You need cool white or a "Gro-lux" bulb. And they meed to be as close to the tops as you can get them without burning the plant. In the case of CFLs, thats pretty durned close.

There's a threshold, depends largely on grow conditions (temps, co2 levels, nutes, plant size, pot size, stage of growth, you get the idea)

There comes a point where your plant's nodes can't get any closer and growth is limited by a combination of grow conditions, so adding more light at that time doesn't help growth and can even hinder it with too much heat. As your plants get bigger they'll use more light, so it's not a bad idea to start out small and build it up.

Many growers turn down their watts for early stages of growth.

When shopping around for your lighting, pay attention to how many lumens the bulbs emit, not just the W. MJ needs a min of 3,000 lumens of blue (6,500k) spectrum light per sq ft of canopy while in veg and a min of 5,000 lumens per sq ft of canopy in the red/orange (2,500k) spectrum while in flower. If you are looking to grow 4 plants and each one is around a sq ft (which would make them quite small) you will need 20,000 lumens of red/orange spectrum light. A 300W CFL will produce 21000 lumens. If you are looking at a 300W cfl, I dont understand why you are not looking at a 400W HPS light, they will produce around 55,000 lumens! more than double the light for 1/3 extra running costs. They will almost certainly run cooler despite what some will have you believe since they are much more efficient. It is lumens you want, not heat & watts. Peace W