Hi all, I am just about to start my first autoflower grow and need some advice. I have just ordered a 2.4m x 1.2m x 2m tent and 1000w HPS light. I am going to make my own DWC kit out of 70l rubbermaids and i was going to have 5 or 6 of them in there with 3 or 4 plants in each. I have got 5x auto AK, 10x cheese auto and 10x auto bubble seeds. I guess my question is would i be able to fit 24 plants into this size of tent in a SOG grow? and would one light be enough? What kind of yeild would be expected from this setup? the breeder info states 400g/m2 for the auto AK... could this be right?
If I did my metric conversions properly, that's about 25 sq. ft. of grow area, which will work out to 40W / sq. ft., which should be OK. However, with a long axis of the tent being over 6' / 2m, I'm afraid light coverage would be spotty at each end of the tent. If you stick with the 1000W light, I would strongly recommend a light mover to even the light distribution at both ends of the tent. If you can stand the additional investment, two 600W lights would be a MUCH better solution for that grow area. Not only will this give you more watts, but the lumens per watt (plant-usable light) is much better than a single 1000 W light. Translated, yes you will have 1200 watts instead of 1000, but the total lumens per watt is greater as well, i.e. more efficient generation of light. AND the light distribution will be much better AND you won't need a light mover. With two 600's and a partition down the center of the tent, you can do staggered grows to harvest once a month with traditional photoperiod strains. Trust me, you will be WAAAAY happier with two 600W lights. If you can't afford two now, buy one and partition the tent in half. Get a second light later, with the money you saved not having to buy weed. You will not have any problems getting 24 plants in that tent. It won't even be SOG with the space you have. When I ran SOG in a past life, I ran approx. 1.5 plants per sq. ft., or for my old area, (22) plants in a 14 sq. ft. area. And that was considered light density for SOG. Yield is soooo unpredictable. Strains vary greatly. Grower experience can make a huge difference. Autoflowers traditionally do not produce as much as a conventional photoperiod strain, partly because their blooming time is predisposed by the genetics (you probably won't get 9 weeks of blooming time out of them). About the only generalization I can offer is the old "gold standard", which is 1/2 gram per watt per month of blooming time. Say your bloom time is 8-9 weeks or two months. That's 0.5 g X 1000 W X 2 months, or 1000 grams. Do the same math with two 600W, or 1200W total, easy to see the difference. Don't expect this from a first time grow. And don't consider it a failure if you don't make it. This is just a general measure for when everything goes well. SOG can improve this. So can SCROG. Screwing up can reduce this. Auto's can reduce this. Don't worry about it. You will grow more than you and all your friends can smoke Now, get busy & go do it!!! Bestaluck to ya.