Hi! My room is 206 square feet, everything is covered in mylar. I currently have a 1000W HPS air cooled light on it. I'm only growing 5 plants in the center of the room and the light is centered directly above them about 12" away. I'm hoping Illinois reps can get their heads out of there ass when they vote to decriminalize in October so I can grow 20 plants I think the rule is 1000-1400 lumens/ft.^2, however I'm wondering in this setup if I should count the entire room or only the 1/3 that I am using. I currently have about 625 lumens/ft.^2 if the whole room is considered. I also have 2 200W 2700K CFLs I am going to use for side lighting during flowering. My question is would there be any benefit/detriment in putting the side light CFL's on during veg. I know the 2700K is the red spectrum for flowering and it can cause stretching during veg, however I'm unsure of the effects when combined with the 1000W HPS. I can always get the 6700K CFLs to put in my CFL holders, but that's a pain and I'm a lazy ass, not sure why lol Any ideas? Thanks!
They will still grow (veg) under 2700K just not as efficiently. I would put them nice and low so you can get the light as far down to the lower growth as possible. Like halfway up from base maybe. There isn't really any adverse reactions to added light, it may not help a ton but it won't hurt either. As far as calculating light, go with how much of the room you are using IE actual footprint light needs to cover. General rule I hear with CFLs 100W actual for first plant 50W actual for every additional.
I can see you getting benefit from dual spectrum if you use MH and HPS together i dont see why it shouldnt be effective any one else ..?