New grower's light question

[Rugganug]

I'm setting up my first grow which will take place in an outdoor shed in an area of 11'6''x2'8''x3'

I'm planning on growing all auto-flowing low rider plants since this is my first grow and i have limited space.

My questions is would one 600watt HPS light on a moving rig provide enough lumens for 16-20 plants? Do you think thats too ambitious for a first grow, i've had tons of friends tell me to stay with a lower number claiming that its too many for somebody's first grow and I'm bound to screw something up. Although I keep telling myself I can do it..

Thanks

 

[Dirtfree]

How do you plan on putting 16-20 plants in roughly 3 sq ft?? Am i reading something wrong? Your space is 1x3x3.

 

[dyzel]

I am on my first grow, and I am struggling with just 2 plants!
Then again, they are not autos, and do need loads of attention.

Why plant all your seeds at once?
May be worth starting with just a few for now... Maybe 3 or 4?
As the saying goes:
"Don't put all your eggs in one basket."

Assuming something does go wrong. You could lose your whole crop!

Also, the fewer plants will thrive under a 600W HPS. You may want to start the seedlings off on fluoros, just until they can withstand the intense light and temp generated by a HPS.

 

[dyzel]

How do you plan on putting 16-20 plants in roughly 3 sq ft?? Am i reading something wrong? Your space is 1x3x3.

His space is 11'6''x2'8''x3'

(11 foot 6 inches)x(2 foot 8 inches) and is 3 feet high.

That is loads of space!

 

[Dirtfree]

OH im sorry I did read it wrong.

Better flower something short 3 ft is not alot of room

 

[dyzel]

I'm planning on growing all auto-flowing low rider plants

LOL! The eyes given up today?

 

[Dirtfree]

MAn i must be tooo stoned to be answering questions today.

Time to lay on the couch

 

[dyzel]

We all have our days dude.

 

[Rugganug]

Why plant all your seeds at once?
May be worth starting with just a few for now... Maybe 3 or 4?
.

This is probably what ill end up doing. I plan on opening up the entire area of the shed, however as far as expenses are concerned it makes the most sense for me to just focus on the area I previously listed. So considering what I have projected... 16 is a small number lol.

 

[desertrat]

a 600 watt light alone will give you about 3,000 lumens per square foot which is not enough light to produce the best yield. and you're going to eventually want two grow spaces, one for flowering and one for vegging. i'd say think about dividing the space with a 4 foot x 2.7 foot area going to veg, the rest to flowering. i'd use a 400 watt mh for veg and your 600 watt hps light for the flowering area. you'll produce more bud over time by having more than one harvest every 4 months. in fact, you can arrange it to harvest some every two weeks. look up perpetual harvest on this site for some ideas.

 

[Rugganug]

a 600 watt light alone will give you about 3,000 lumens per square foot which is not enough light to produce the best yield. and you're going to eventually want two grow spaces, one for flowering and one for vegging. i'd say think about dividing the space with a 4 foot x 2.7 foot area going to veg, the rest to flowering. i'd use a 400 watt mh for veg and your 600 watt hps light for the flowering area. you'll produce more bud over time by having more than one harvest every 4 months. in fact, you can arrange it to harvest some every two weeks. look up perpetual harvest on this site for some ideas.

I like this

 

[desertrat]

note you don't typically use autoflowering strains with this set up. but that opens the door for more options of other lowryder-like plants. even so, any height you can add to your grow space will give you a lot more flexibility in choices of strains and lessen requirements to train your plants to fit the space.