At week 5 and my plants have grown very fluffy. I have 6 in 5 gallon pots under 4 cfl plant grow tubes being housed by 2 fixtures. I have 2 hps flood lights I purchased from home depot on as well up a little higher to provide a little more light. My question is-I have 4 of those home depot hps flood lights. 70watts a piece. My guess is 3 or 4 of the plants will be females. I am going to have all 4 hps lights on for flowering. Should I keep my 4 plant light tubes on as well? Is the hps flood lights sufficient enough or do I need to get a correct hps grow light dedicated more toward plants or will the 70watt hps flood light from home depot do just fine? Thanks.
I'd suggest hanging the HPS lghts directly over your plants- with good air movement a 70w should be about 6-8 inches away from the top, idealy. Hang the CFLs between the plants, down at where it looks like the HPS light is not getting to, usualy about a foot down past the top of the plant. And at week 5, your plants will likely be showing sex soon. What's your light cycle? Air temp? Strain? growing medium? Oh, and, yes, one strong light is better than many small ones. This is due to intensity. While 4 x 70w will still only penetrate about a foot down, a single 250 will go to like, 2 + feet. I'm surprised that you'd buy 4 security lights, cause they're about $50 a piece, and you can put together a 250w for 100 or so.