Planning a second grow with one plant. Is it worth investing in 400-600w hps/mh setup or would that be overkill? I have cfl left over from the first run. Was disappointed in the airy buds but I could add more cfls. Ive seen some ipower light kits around $150 plus. Could do that....then carbon scrubber. Can I expect to see a $100 plus increase in my electric bill with hps/mh? That might make up my mind. I'd like to attempt a scrog this time but being the picky prick that I am, I'm struggling on my second grow planning. Don't get me started on a tent or box yet. I'm handy guy so could build but the ease of a tent... Thanks all, CFH \\m/ Sent from my SCH-I535 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
a 400w is def worth it...ive got 8 oz off one plant scrogged out under a 400..its like 30 extra bucks on the bill give or take depending on if you're in 18/6 or 12/12
Totally agree with TT, the 400 will be an excellent choice. Keep the plant footprint to 9 sq. ft. maximum and your airy buds should go away; decrease it even further & bud density will continue to improve. Experienced growers with a firm control of all their environmentals can take this down to 4 sq. ft. & rival sunshine with their plant density. But with one plant, and some good LST-ing during veg, you can fill the area under a 400 with no problems. Well worth the money Hope this helps & bestaluck to ya.
You didn't put a location, which is understandable, but it will all depend on how much electricity is where you live. A 400w HPS will use about 450W when ballast overhead is taken into account. So that is 450W for 12 hours a day or a total of 5400 watts per day x 30 days equals 162,000 watts. Most utilities bill by the Kilowatt so that would be 162 KW hours. Even on the high end of electricity at around 25c per KW, that would only add $40 to your bill. Double that for a MH running 24/7. You will have to adjust for the price in your area.
Thanks everyone. If I end up being successful, and go another round will the 400w be sufficient for two plants tops? I can't image I'd be doing any more than that. Right now while I figur out what exactly im doing with the next grow im going to test out the scrog method on some bag seed and cfls. Something to do in the mean time. Thanks again! Sent from my SCH-I535 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
A general rule of thumb is this: Off of a 5 month plant (1 month germ, 2 month veg, 2 month flower) you can expect to harvest about 1g of cured herb for each 1w of light you have in a 3'x3' space per one light. If your good. I got about .6g per watt my first harvest and have slightly improved every harvest since.
A 400w is overkill for one plant, a 250w would be way plenty. However, rarely does someone set out to grow only one plant and then stick to that number in subsequent grows. A 400w gives you head room to expand your grow in the future up to 4 plants. If you are absolutely, positively sure you never will grow more than one plant at a time then I would save the electric bill and get a lower wattage. If you see the possibility of expanding your grow op in the future then the 400 is the way to go. Keep in mind that the calculations Startedat45 shared are costs per month, not total. So if you veg for 4 weeks and flower for 9 that would be about 3 months total, or triple the electric cost he quoted.
If you are running 5 gallon pots it takes over a month to germ. Your plant grows roots before it grows. I germ for 2 weeks in a clone bubbler then 2 weeks in a 5 gallon pot with a dome. After that put them through 2 months of CFL veg and then 2 months of 600w HPS. View attachment 1373164 View attachment 1373162 View attachment 1373104 View attachment 1373105 View attachment 1373103 View attachment 1373113 View attachment 1373115 View attachment 1373114
Hmmm, well I germ for 24-72 hours and then they go into the soil and within about another 24 hours they pop through the soil, at which point vegging begins. Total germ 2-5 days. Could take a little longer if you start with seed in soil. This is pretty much what all the threads about germing say as well.
CFH, good stuff from the others here. I especially liked Toasty's reply, he always finds a way to get to the point. To expand, with a 400W you can pretty much do whatever you want with good bud density. Two plants, a piece of cake. Four plants, that's the preferred number for many growers, one reason being many state laws get more strict beyond four plants. You can play with SCROG under a 400 W with one, two, or four plants. The more plants, the shorter the veg time needed to fill your screen before you flip to 12/12 bloom lighting. If you want to go insane, you can quite easily SOG under a 3 area with a 400W, and your yields will go through the roof. Like a pound under a 400W, which is crazy insane but do-able with a little practice. And if you decide to expand, a 400W quite easily veg-es any number of plants, from where you can move to a 600W for bloom, and increase quality / bud density even more. 250W is the minimum I would recommend for quality bud. Low heat. I love mine for playing with new strains, crossing / seed making, etc.) Never regretted buying it. For the average Joe or Jane, the 400 is the sweet spot. I use mine more than any others, and ventilation is still easily manageable with an oscillating fan. If you get serious, nothing beats a 600. Wouldn't trade mine for anything, unless it was two 600's which BTW, beats the hell out of a single 1000W. Make the jump. You won't be sorry and your buds will thank you. Hope this helps & bestaluck to ya.