Hey all i"ve been growin out of a 2''X4'h cab with 2 400 watt hps producing about 10 oz every 8 weeks but now i have access to an area of 10'X10' and am looking to build a 8'X8' grow table lighted by 2 1000 watt hps. Now if my math is correct that is 84 sq.ft. of grow room,IF i space them every foot i should get 64 plants from each harvest..I"m thinkin of gettin 2 4'X8' trays and builin a table to place them on,the grow medium is gonna be gravel and feeding by way of drip emitters set on timer to run 15 min on and 15 off.The trays will have valves to allow the excess water flow by way of gravity back into the reservoir i will have under the table.Has anyone tried this before?I plan on using clones in rockwool cubes as a base and once transplanted into the gravel allow a week for stress from the transplant then put them into flower.IS THIS DOABLE CAUSE IF SO I CAN INCREASE MY HARVEST BY 54 OZ"S EVERY HARVEST WHICH I"M SURE I WONT RUN OUT THEN HAHA!
1st off they will be put into flower when they are 4" tall in my experience they will produce a plant about 1' and harvest roughly an ounce.So it isnt like i need a lot of light for the undergrowth just the tops.THANKS FOR THE REPLY BUT WHAT IF I PUT THEM ON LIGHT RAILS?And i read that a 400 watt covers a 4X4 area then why wont 2 1000 watt cover an 8x8 area?
64 plants is insane, you'd need 10+ lights for sure. My point is 64 plants wont fit under two lights, the lights only shine so far, maybe 12 plants under one light will get light WITH rotating (moving the inside to the outside, and outside to the inside for more even light), and another 12 under the other, but your other plants will get absolutely no light. Conclusion - theres no way in hell 2 lights can support 64 plants. Sorry :/
agree that 12ish plants per 1k light. and a 10x10 space inclosed with 2x1k lights will be getting warm. venting will be a must.
There are many ways to skin a cat. Opinions vary on the area covered by a 1000 watt hps. I suggest 16 square feet. So 32 square feet for the two lights. If you are going to flower them at 4" tall, then go pure sea of green. 4 plants per square foot, for a total of 128 plants, 64 for each light. Keep the lights fairly close to the plants (as close as you can, and still get full coverage), and ventilate!
Hey all thanks for the input so you dont think 2 lights on 6' movers will work remember these are gonna be small plants harvesting at 1' in height.Now ive done 12 plants in my cab using this method under 1 400 watt hps cab dim as stated previously.Now venting by way of using one 4"can fan running duct to each reflestor and exiting out through dryer vent.So the room shouldnt get much hotter.I"ve done some figuring on the price to set this all up and so far it"s at $1200.00 now remenber this is for everything except clones cause i have 3 moms already.!st one is Skunk haze-2nd super Afghani--3rd is Fruitbowl.I"ve had 3 sucessful grows already so i"m pretty confident i can make this happen.I"ll be takin pics as i start the project next week or so.So ya"ll can watch as i go and give your input along the way.(this is a very exciting time in my life)always wanted to put together a medium size grow so i can supply my family and friends.
number of plants doesn't matter. it's square footage covered. 400 watt = 3 x 3 = 9 sq. ft. = 44 watts/sq. ft. 600 watt = 3.5 x 3.5 = 12.25 sq. ft. = 48 watts/sq. ft. 1000 watt = 4 x 4 = 16 sq. ft. = 63 watts/sq. ft. also, the advantage of a larger fixture is the light penetration. since you're growing 1 ft. tall plants you probably don't need 1000's, or even 600's for that matter. your yield would go up considerabley if you let the plants get twice as big before flower.
I can say that my roommate and i had up to 32 plants in a 8x6 closet at any given time. We pulled 2 or 3 a week. We had a 1000w HPS light on a 4 foot rail. It worked flawlessly we could have fit 20 more but the access was tight and the pot shuffle game sucks move water move water move water move water like a firkin rubix cube. GO HYDRO IF YOU ARE GOING BIG! but we were pulling like 1.5 oz per tree at our peak. We put the younger plans on the perimeter and each time we pulled 2 we would move 2 in and kipped the late stage plants in the center under the rail. It was fucking killer. i would personal like to keep it to 1 big harvest a month. You get one cash infusion and you don't have to worry about peddling oz's.