well obviously be reasonable, im talking about a closet grow that is using lights. Where do they want the amount of lumens to be around to make good buds.
I really dont think there is a right number. Lots of people say for 5 plants average a 400watt hid does well... whats the lumens on one of those?
^ about 50,000 lumens. Also remember, lumens change with proximity to the bulb. So when we say a 400w HPS produces 50,000 lumens we are saying it creates a given intensity of light at 12" - 1 foot (whether lumens are a good unit of measurement for this is another debate). Moving the bulb closer increases lumens, moving it further away reduces them. The rule of thumb, iirc, is 7500. Below 5000 and you'll have a heck of time flowering decent buds. Above 10,000 (probably more like 12,500-15,000) and you risk light bleaching. Like Dualrailtrail said, as much as you can until heat and power are problems, but if you're below 5000 you'll likely have trouble and fluffy weak buds.
[quote name='qes27'] The rule of thumb, iirc, is 7500. Below 5000 and you'll have a heck of time flowering decent buds. Above 10,000 (probably more like 12,500-15,000) and you risk light bleaching. Qes27, When you talk about light bleaching, Im assuming your talking about that being bad...im confused by that statement if thats true when an HID puts out 40k lumens...
Yes light bleaching is bad. I also forgot to add "per square foot" in a couple places. My bad, allow me to clarify: A 400w HPS puts out about 50,000 lumens and you will often see them recommended for 6-8 sq ft grows.
so for a 6 sq ft room would you want to have 90,000 lumens on them? and if you need such high amounts of lumens to flower good buds, how do people flower with CFL lights? cause they dont have nearly as much of a lumen output as MH or HPS lights
You can flower with cfl sure..you need alot of course. But the result isnt going to be anywhere near as nice as with higher lumens. All depends on what youll be happy with at harvest i would imagine. Large beautiful crop or average crop. The plant will do better of course based on how well you satisfy its needs.
You want lumes per sq foot and the HID light to be able to give it The HID Lums output is based on 12 inches, after 12 inches you lose lumes. I think that for every foot you lose 25% lumes per sq foot A 400 watt HIS is suppose to be good for a 3x3 area a 600 watt HID is suppose to be good for a 4x4 area 1000 watt HID is suppose to be good for a 5x5 area a 5 gallon planter will fit into a 1 sq foot 25 sq feet in a 5x5 with 1000 watts is suppose to be enough lumens at 36 inches above the plants so not to heat burn them Everyone says a plant needs a min of 5000 lumes per sq foot and the more the better up to 10k lumes A 400 watt HID HPS puts off approx 50K lumes and a 1000 watt puts off approx 150K Depending on the reflector you can have an area lit outside the grow area and still have plants produceing bud as long as you can maintain the 5k per sq foot I hope this helps and di not confuse you
Ohh shit, if you aren't careful your going to trigger another hps/cfl debate and we all know we have enough of those. A happy medium is about 7000 lumens per sq ft. This will give you very dense big buds I know because its what i use.
Need a minimum of 50 watts per square foot to a maximum of 70 watts per square foot! 600w, 90 000 lumens: 3 ft x 3 ft = 9 sq ft or (10 000 lumens and 66.67 watts) / sq ft 1000w, 120 000 lumens: 4 ft x 4 ft - 16 sq ft or (7 500 lumens and 62.50 watts) / sq ft There is 25% more lumens / square foot and roughly 7% more watts with a 600w bulb. Don't forget each bulb need at least 2 ft of space of each side to avoid overheating the room. Only exception is if you make rows. Then is 2 ft extra on 3 sides! 600w: 5 ft x 5 ft not to over heat your room! 1000w: 6 ft x 6 ft not to over heat your room! So you need at least 10 000 lumens minimum and could go up to 12 000 lumens for a better result!
A 1000w only produces 120 000 lumens. Unless you buy the Super HPS with 140 000 lumens tho you need the right ballast for that!
Learn em good there Doc In the past I have always done a 2x4 or 3x3 with a 400 MH/HPS and had really good results and yields
That may be an "industry" standard for growing, but most tent/closet growers will find it very difficult to cool a 600w hps in a 3x3 closet/tent. Rest assured a 400watt hps will give you better quality buds then you can buy on the street. As far as density is concerned you will be happy with anything from 5000-8000 lumens per sq ft. Hell I have seen cfl growers turn out some dense nugs.
The smallest light I would put in a 3x3 is 250 watts and the biggest light would be 400 watts. I am not busting on CFL's but I have tried but not done well, I still use T-5 for seedlings/sprouts and switch to MH when they are ready for Veg and then HPS for Flowering. Everyone has different ways, setups and reasons to grow. I have never done coco before but have it as an interest in the future