Lighting sufficiency

im growing 4 plants and really need help with the lighting, my space is about 2 feet each way and about 6 feet up, heat isnt a problem
and i have reflective material around the grow. I have used two incandesents and they have been growing pretty well, but i have an Warm White spiral CFL
should i replace one of the incandesants with the CFL?

My Total Lighting Inventory: 2 Blue incandesents, 1 Warm White Spiral CFL

You're going to squeeze four plants into four square feet? I guess you're not planning on growing them very big?
You want 5,000 to 10,000 lumens per square foot, so you're looking at 20,000 lumens minimum. 10,000 lumens per square foot is basically noon on a summer day. Go by lumens per square foot, not watts or even bulb type, although even with all of the new technology available in lighting, HID bulbs are still king. Incandescents are very inefficient in that they don't produce much light per watt and on average, HID bulbs produce 8 times the lumens per watt as incandescents. I don't see a lot of smaller HID ballasts targeted at growing but I have my mother plant in a 18"x24" closet with a 100w metal halide/high pressure sodium. I just wired them to a "brick" type ballast for pole lighting. I'd also consider some fluorescent tubes down the sides because the plants will tend to shade each other, especially in your very small area.
Hope this helps.

Aussie

PS> As for color, you want as close to 5500°K (blue) as you can get for the veg cycle and as close to 2100°K (red) as you can get for flowering, although color isn't nearly as important as the amount of light.

Ok, i see, so ill spring for HID or HPS if i can find a place that sells them, in the mean time, should i use all three?
as for the space thing, that shouldnt be much a problem, im really growing these for the breeding aspect,
im wanting to collect the seeds and then ill focus more on the bud production area.

Yeah, give them as much as you can, it's hard to give them too much light as long as you have the heat under control.
HID = High Intensity Discharge and encompasses Metal Halide, High Pressure Sodium, Mercury Vapor, etc. Again, I don't see "grow" ballasts under 250 watts so if you want to use MH (veg) and HPS (flower) then you'll need two separate brick ballasts. I have a 400w "grow" ballast for my main grow area and it's switchable, it does both Metal Halide and High Pressure Sodium. If you're growing somewhere where it's still less than legal then I'd stay away from "electronic" or "digital" ballasts. They put off radio frequency that can be detected outside of your house. My main ballast is an old-fashioned magnetic ballast and the only drawback is the 50/60 Hz. hum.

PS> Your local home improvement store will carry the MH and HPS bulbs but you might need to go to a hydro store or an online outlet for your ballast, if you want a "grow" ballast, otherwise your local electrical supply will have them.

One last thing, does it matter what k the HID is?

Well, yes and no. Some people have a lot of success using one or the other through the entire grow but most people use High Pressure Sodium if they're only using one type. Those color temps I quoted are the ones that are the most usable and absorbable by plants but again, the amount of light is far more important than the color.

SaucyAussie said:

Well, yes and no. Some people have a lot of success using one or the other through the entire grow but most people use High Pressure Sodium if they're only using one type. Those color temps I quoted are the light frequencies that are the most usable and absorbable by plants but again, the amount of light is far more important than the color.

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Ok, thanks for being so helpful, i know alotta but growing, but i never really had a good grasp on lighting till now. superthanx!

These are 6500K daylight / 2800L 42watt/200watt - right around the corner at your local HomeDepot - perfect for your size grow. They only run about 9 bucks each. Buy two and you'll be very happy with how bright these suckers will light up. http://www.homedepot.com/p/Feit-Electric-42-Watt-200W-Daylight-Twist-CFL-Light-Bulb-ESL40TN-D/203252142#.UodlJtK1FBE
SaucyAussie is right, that's really squeezing a lot of plant in such a small area. Maybe ...is it possible that you can slip that 6ft in height into two levels, leaving two plants on each section ? That only leaves you with 3 ft in height to grow so you will have to bend them as they grow, plus CFLs you want to keep as close as you can without burning anyway...it might work, not sure without seeing a pic. Of course you would have to buy more/extra CFLs. Just have fun with it, you'll do fine. Believe me, after your first grow, your second will be A LITTLE easier (lol) Good luck Man

No worries, mate, my pleasure.