Hi folks. I have a couple plants 5 weeks into flower and want to start some new seedlings for some overlap time. I have a plastic storage container that’s silver on the inside so i think I’d like to try to make a seedling grow box out of it and start some seedlings in it. The plants I have going now were lit with my kind led xl750 from the moment they broke soil. They still have a few weeks of flowering before harvest so I’d like to put a light in this box and get a headstart on the next crop.
The container is 24" x 16" x 16"high. I’m only going to start 4 plants.
My question is: Would a 50watt led bulb be enough to get these started and grow for a couple of weeks until I can put them under the xl750 in my growroom? If not, what should I be looking to get?
A 50 watt LED should be plenty for a space that size.
They might out grow 16 inches high in a couple of weeks though…
Happy Growing,
~MacG
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Thanks stoner. I just want to basically get them going for a week or two. Running the xl750 for seedlings doesn’t seem very cost effective. I was concerned if the 50 watt bulb would have the proper lighting for growing seedlings
What type of 50 watt LED bulb?
~MacG
Well I’m not really sure. Any recommendations?
I assumed you had something in mind that was maybe already designed for plants. But otherwise I’d get something with a 5000-6500K color rating.
~MacG
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Would something like this work?
Feit Electric R20 50W Indoor Reflector Dimmable LED Bulb, Daylight
The specs say:
50 watts
450 lumens
temperature:5000k
Yeah, that is not the real watts, the actual watts this light uses is about 9 watts. You need about 20-30 watts per square foot with LEDs for veg. Maybe 2 or 3 for your box.
~MacG
Ok .I think I understand now. Thanks for all your help
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MacG; We all must agree that propagating seedlings is not really the veg cycle, and in such a small space for only a couple weeks; That 1 of these lamps would be enough?
If it were me in that space and all I wanted to grow was seedlings for a couple weeks. I would recommend a T5 2’ - 2 or 4 bulbs. This is an excellent setup for seedlings and early veg. You can literally place the T5 1" above the sprouts and adjust it a couple times each day in order to keep your nodal spacing “tight”. 
Hope this helps Peace.lw
p.s. BTW; How much are you paying for these LED 9w lamps? I will post you a link to the lamp I am talking about later on.
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Thanks latewood. I appreciate your imput. I would like to get that link from you. I ended up just using my kind750 again but need to do something else as its too expensive to run that for seedlings.
Wondering if any body has tried Eshine LEDs .After purchasing I read some bad news about them.Any help would be appreciated.
MacG should be able to give you some advice. He is the resident expert on LED lighting.
i have never heard of them but was just checking them out. I will definitely read up on them though. What negative things have you heard?
There a little pricy but they have a timer on each stage of growth and adjustable from0-100%. With a remote control.i have had a lot of leaf burn but there pulling through.
Was wondering how the PAR rating was on this brand.
LEDs are not that unlike nutrient formulas. Every company seems to be ripping off every other company and the features and types of LEDs used will vary greatly from manufacturer to manufacturer.
And as with nutrient formulas, there is no way we can know everything about every new product on the market.
If you do a search here on our site, you should be able to find a lot of technical info on what to look for in a good LED that I’ve written over the last few years.
I am working on writing up a summary or compilation of my various statements on what it takes to have a good led light and/or what it takes to provide the proper or ample amount of light, regardless of type of light, to your plants, and how to decide which type of light will best suit your needs. This should be available in the lab soon.
Happy growing,
MacG
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You’re a wealth of information man. I couldn’t agree more. For me, it was a big step to trust somebody enough to spend almost 2 grand on a light. I think it paid off because so far the light is working. From my research I determined that this kind led was the absolute best bang for the buck out there. Now I’m looking for something similar but on a much smaller scale as I feel energy and money are being wasted for the first few weeks of a plants life using this light. I also would dearly like some overlap time to speed things up a bit.
Thanks for the feedback,I’ll look back and catch up on what you have written.