I have a question for you all... If I had 100 clones of sweet tooth #1 (fairly high yielder) they are about 4-6 inches tall (real lanky) and only had 1 1000w HPS light and put the clones in 8 oz Styrofoam cups (3 inches tall, reallly light weight) and was to put them on 12/12 today how much would I roughly yield? Now if I was to veg them for about 1 more week and put them into 1 gallon pots before changing light to 12/12 and I was to purchase a 9 foot light mover to increase spacing of plants and angles of light, how much would that increase the yield? I'm new to growing especially indoors, so your insight is really appreciated, thanks.
Yield is dependent on so many things, I doubt anyone could answer that realistically. However, in your scenario, if you vegged the plants 2 weeks instead of one, you would get potentially a more out of the grow than the first scenario. Since you are new and not sure of your growing tactics, scenario 1 would benefit from a "Sea of green" or SOG grow. Look that up on this site. It can maximize the square footage of plants under the plant. It is also the most time effective way to grow for big yields vs least time if done with the correct strain. The correct strain usually is a main cola grower, with minimum side branching. Dont know how ST grows tho. Plants will not be able to grow to full size in those cups. My opinion- you need at least a 32 oz container. Think of a 2 liter bottle cut in half. So for your current situation, I would say put them in bigger pots and get the mover. Think about if you had the light mover set up and did 1000 clones next time. Mind bottling bro.
Thanks a lot for taking the time to respond to my post bro. I have actually read alot on the sea of green method and that was the idea with this grow but i just got the idea that one 1000w light isn't going to allow me to maximize the yield potential of these plants, at all. So i thought the light mover would allow me to give them each more lumens as they would be spread out and have their own space and changing angles of the light... Would the light mover double the amount of lumens my plants get? I mean if the light moves into a whole new area wont that are receive more lumens then if they were all crowded into one area? Another question, in your opinion what would be better between getting a light mover or a 400w HPS to addon to the 1000w HPS I already have? Which would give me the best yield? I have heard that the Sweet Tooth strain is excellent for SOG and that was the deciding factor in getting the clones i did. So I hope i made a good choice. Thanks again for the help
If the choices are light mover and 400watt hps, get the light mover. I think you have a misconception regarding lumens. The lumen output of a 1000 watt lamp is fixed - it is rated typically at around 140,000 lumens at 1 foot. For every foot you travel away from the lamp, you decrease lumens, ie at 2 feet it would be (not accurate #s, for illustration) 100,000 lumens, and at 4 feet 65,000 lumens. There is a formula that shows how much it decreases per foot. That means that with a light mover, you can only achieve greater spread for the lamp, but not create more light. As far as adding the 400w, if you look at the same formula for light, a 400w hps at 1 foot is like your 1000w at 6 foot, if you compare lumens. You would have to put it like a foot away to increase lumen output. The movers effect on the plants would be - the plants that got the longest and most direct light (under the path of the lamp) would get some percentage less than the rated lumens, because the lamp is not over the plant 100% of the time. The effect of the 400 watt hps would likely be minimal unless you just used it to increase coverage, but at that point the light mover would outperform it. I assume you are looking a rotating mover? 9 foot seems pretty big.
I was actually loaned a 400w by a friend of mine so it seems this is what I will be using for the time being. I will use this 400w lamp to increase the coverage area so that each clone will receive more direct light. It is a 400w MH and HPS switchable ballast. He gave me both bulbs so i can use the MH for veg and HPS for flower. This should help increase yield right? I will have the 400w next to the 1000w with about 3.5ft separation between them, i think? I am trying to achieve a bit of overlap on the light output and allow the plants to each have more direct light access and maximize my yield. What would be the best way to arrange these lights for overall effectiveness? Thanks a lot for the input everyone.