simple question. Is a 600 watt HPS enough for 10 plants? Also, with spacing aside, whats the max that should be under one of them? thanks gc
rule of thumb is 100w per plant, but some people will say 100w for the first plant and the 50-75 for each additional. I try to stick to the 100w per plant. You cannot have too much light so long as you can control the heat. I bet you could add some supplemental cfl's and be good to go.
Most I have read is at least 50W / sq ft up to 100W. Better to go by SQFT then fit as many plants as you can realistically in that sq ft area plants need 1 sqft each. And min 50W / SQ FT
Bohbo, that's exactly what i was thinking. measure out the space and just put one in each square foot. Doc, i 100% planned on having at least one red spectrum CFL for each plant during flowering, you think that, plus the 600 hps will be enough? the CFL's won't only be shining on one plant each, they'll probably be surrounding the bottom and possibly in the center too so i can get light under the scrog canopy. +rep
You may want to keep first grow simple and just do 600W on canopy then decide to add the under lights and compare.
i see that you say "spacing aside" but thats a very big factor in telling what size light or how many lights you should be using...i think a main question everyone forgot to mention is (even though your trying to ignore this factor), how big is your grow space??? LxW... and for my own info the Height?
What I do for supplemental CFL's is hang them from the ceiling around the HPS hood at the level where the hood's shadow is, if that makes sense, so they arent blocking any direct HPS light. Then I added a few more for the undersides of the canopy. No disrespect to the other dude, but I dont see any reason why you shouldnt add some cfl's to get your wattage up, its not like you're buying another HID or anything. Another good supplemental light imo is those little sing t-5's, you can put them just about anywhere, they run cool so you can get them very close to the plants (just not touching). good luck.
Doc has a point, if you want the extra light do it. My suggestion was that sometimes its better to just keep it simple. What you NEED is light, water, nutrients, and air. How you do those things is up to you. My only reasoning on reigning you back on under lighting is only that you may not want to have to deal with it and work around problems as you sort out your grow this time around. If they are easy to hang, remove, and work around go for it. Just don't sacrifice work space and plant access.
no i totally got what you were saying. i wouldn't put them in there if i thought it would be hard to work around them/move them when i needed too. the hanging light is exactly what i was thinking. have a super long cord so they go through the canopy down to the lower branches. You mentioned T-5's too, i was thinking about those also but are t-5's just as cheap as cfl's? if not, are they worth the extra money over a cfl? i look for some T-5 fixtures and most were almost $100, idk, maybe im looking in the wrong place. the reason i say spacing aside is because i can setup anywhere in my room. im in college (not a dorm) and will hardly ever be there anyway. ideally it would be in a closet. also, i haven't moved yet so i can't measure the closet to see how big it is, but i was told that they were very large and they're walk in closets too. so just for kicks, lets say its 5x5x6, i know thats not THAT large but its just ball park figures anyway.
5x5x6 is pretty darn big for a closet grow. CFL's are going to be a lot easier to work with for accent lighting unless you do single bar single reflector lights which are pretty cheap. You can get T5 fixtures locally and also look at Sunblaze 24 they have a Sunblaze strip that is 2ft long or 4ft long and just a single bulb. Might be easier to run strips under canopy, not sure.
true about the size. im hopeful that since its a walk in closet, it'll be pretty big. i was trying to be consertive, my moms walkin closet is 5x6x8 and we live in a 3 bedroom townhouse. it's not very big or spacious at all. thanks for the T-5 info, i'll definitely check into that because a few bars would cover more space, i think. i wonder what the power consumption is like between the two.
If i remember correctly... don't quote me on this, its like 24W or 54W depending on length 2ft vs 4ft per bulb. Look into T8 also as they run slightly cooler, don't put out quite as many lumens but are cheaper, have to check single bulb stuff but you can Do DIY T5 and T8 buying parts or just buy some strips. EDIT::: T5 Straight Linear Fluorescent Light Bulbs at ServiceLighting.com just to give you an idea of bulb cost, never ordered here just searching for a price list of lots of different bulbs
Yes, like you can get starts, wiring, ballasts all in pieces at some hardware stores, and basically build your own. OR just buy a strip with or without reflector and its all put together for you.
cool! sounds like its back to the net for research for me. is it fairly simple? I dont want to start any fires. lol
Never tried it, but if I put in a 20 amp circuit and wired my fans up I suppose it can't be any harder than that or wiring up a ceiling fan. Its basically a game of match the color with the right colors Make sure you read the rules or the penalty is you kill yourself or get one hell of an OUCH!
so with a closet 5x5x6 you have 25sq ft and if u do the simple math you'd need approximately 1250watts for your room (if your using the entire space) with 25sq ft you could fit a whole lot lot more than 10 plants. you could fit about 25 so in reality you could cut your grow space in the closet in half and still grow 10-13 plants...you should cut down ur grow space to a 5x2 and essentially fit 10 plants and a 600watt hps should work out pretty good for you...
yup. like i said, i don't have the exact measurements since i haven't moved yet but if i can, i'll probably build a fake wall to cut some space off and keep it stealth too. thanks for your input though man.