best light arrangement q

Discussion in 'Growing Marijuana Indoors' started by jblob, Dec 2, 2012.

  1. #1 jblob, Dec 2, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 2, 2012
    moving into a new place in february and will have some room to move out of the closet and into a bigger space, i am trying to figure out if i would be better off getting a single 1000w light or run 2 or even 3 400's to spread the light over a bigger area evenly, the grow space will be in the range of 8'x4' will have a max of 12 plants under them and a couple mothers under the 400w MH seperately

    wanting a more of less purpetual grow with a monthly harvest of 4 or so plants at a time which is why i chose 12 plants in 3 stages of growth

    some tell me to just get a 1000w but it just seems to me that having the light coming from more than one source would spread the light better over the plants and get thru more branches to the lower parts of the plants and promote more growth to the lower bud sites
    not sure if the reason for going single 1000w is because of the intensity of the light being more effective or if it is just for simplicity of a 1 light setup
    little advice from one of the gurus would be much appreciated :smoking:
     
  2. #2 toastybiz, Dec 2, 2012
    You need to figure out how much of that grow space you actually want lit. You've got 32 sq ft but you want 12 plants max, that's too much space for that number of plants so no need to light it all. General rule of thumb is 1 sq ft per plant, plus whatever space you leave for yourself to move around.

    If you do want to light that whole space then I agree with you notion to divide the lighting, that's a relatively long and narrow rectangle that would be better covered by 2 or more lights. Keep in mind that with HIDs you want a minimum of 50w per sq ft, so to cover all 32 sq ft you would want at least 1600w. Also keep in mind that 600w HIDs are the "sweet spot" for the most efficient lumens-per-watt.
     
  3. #3 jblob, Dec 2, 2012
    thank you for the quick reply and the answer
    so if im using around 12 sqft for 12 plants 12/50w sqft = 600w over a grow space about 4'x3'
    that being what it is i may just invest in a single 600w HPS and use my 400w MH for mothers and clones. was considering doing 2-3 weeks of veg after cloning and then straight over to 12/12. or grow from seed which i have a good few of from my last grow and do that for a while going to 12/12 after they get about 12" tall

    if 1 square foot is all that is needed per plant i can grow in a much smaller space than i had thought. can seperate 4x8 into two 4x4 rooms for 12/12 and 18/6
    thank you so much for the info :wave:
     

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