How much wattage do I need

[Thor1911]

I plan on having 12 plants in a 4x4 room, Mylar walls, ext.Should I use a 400 or 600. MH in vegi and HPS in flower.

Rule of thumb says 600hps is enough for 12 plants because its a little more than 7,000lumens a piece. Just wondering what you guys are thinkin.

I can get a whole 600 kit for 270 and or I can get a decked out 400watt kitt with all my nutes and bags for 320. What should I get? 400watts isn't big enough for 12 plants in a 4x4 right? I think I need the 600

 

[mcpurple]

it depends on what king of groow it is. 12 plants grown the sog way would work. but im a 600 watt lover and i say go with the 600 you wont regret it.

 

[Smokey Bandit1]

You will be fine without the MH but it will veg your plants better but you dont need to go all out on the bulb you can buy a cheapo MH bulb and buy and good new Eye Horti for flowering.As far as wattage I would definitely go with a 600 not really much more electrical consumption but better yield.Do yourself a favor and buy a Digital ballast there much better and you can get a light kit from HTG for 199 for a 600 system with Digital ballast and for 249 you can get a MH and HPS bulbs.



Smokey

 

[Thor1911]

it depends on what king of groow it is. 12 plants grown the sog way would work. but im a 600 watt lover and i say go with the 600 you wont regret it.

Yeah I was just planning on doing 2-3 weeks vegi then go directly into flowering. Smaller but a lot faster crop


@ Smokey

Yeah this is what I got before me at the local htg supply for 278$. Is that a good deal?

Digital Greenhouse Ultimate 600 watt HPS & MH Grow Light
Maxwing Reflector
HTGSupply 600w HPS Lamp
GrowBright 600w MH Conversion Lamp
Dual Outlet Digital Timer w/ Battery BackUp + $18.95
Sunrise Hi-Low Reflector Hangers + $9.95
110 volt power cord
Standard Warranty

And the Maxwing Reflector hood doesn't have a cooling duct I believe, so should I just aim a fan at the light?

 

[mcpurple]

Yeah I was just planning on doing 2-3 weeks vegi then go directly into flowering. Smaller but a lot faster crop


@ Smokey

Yeah this is what I got before me at the local htg supply for 278$. Is that a good deal?

Digital Greenhouse Ultimate 600 watt HPS & MH Grow Light
Maxwing Reflector
HTGSupply 600w HPS Lamp
GrowBright 600w MH Conversion Lamp
Dual Outlet Digital Timer w/ Battery BackUp + $18.95
Sunrise Hi-Low Reflector Hangers + $9.95
110 volt power cord
Standard Warranty

And the Maxwing Reflector hood doesn't have a cooling duct I believe, so should I just aim a fan at the light?

very good deal, i think i got the same one. htg has some of the best deals. and i kept mine cool by placeing a small fan blowing on the bulb and having cool fresh air coming in all the time.

 

[Mountainfarmer]

my buddy runs a 4' x 9' table and uses (2) 1000 watt hps for flower. He is happy with his results. Consider your goals, then buy a light capable. Unless you are concerned with the heat a magnetic ballast puts off I would stay away from digital ballasts. I own three and wish I didn't. Any positive attributes digital ballasts have are overshadowed by their lack of reliaibilty.

You will be fine without the MH but it will veg your plants better but you dont need to go all out on the bulb you can buy a cheapo MH bulb and buy and good new Eye Horti for flowering.As far as wattage I would definitely go with a 600 not really much more electrical consumption but better yield.Do yourself a favor and buy a Digital ballast there much better and you can get a light kit from HTG for 199 for a 600 system with Digital ballast and for 249 you can get a MH and HPS bulbs.



Smokey

 

[Thor1911]

very good deal, i think i got the same one. htg has some of the best deals. and i kept mine cool by placeing a small fan blowing on the bulb and having cool fresh air coming in all the time.

Whats the most plants you ran off of one 600?

my buddy runs a 4' x 9' table and uses (2) 1000 watt hps for flower. He is happy with his results. Consider your goals, then buy a light capable. Unless you are concerned with the heat a magnetic ballast puts off I would stay away from digital ballasts. I own three and wish I didn't. Any positive attributes digital ballasts have are overshadowed by their lack of reliaibilty.

What do you mean? Are the digital ballast crap? I've done my research and have seen the pros and con. Didn't know that people doubt their reliaibility tho, whats your reasoning behind that? I need something that is quiet tho because its going on the side of the house where the neighbors are assholes lol

 

[wiseguy316]

I own 4 - 600 digital greenhouse ballast's and have never had a problem with them. If you don't get along with the neighbors and your putting it close to them,,have your carbon filter ready.

 

[Thor1911]

I own 4 - 600 digital greenhouse ballast's and have never had a problem with them. If you don't get along with the neighbors and your putting it close to them,,have your carbon filter ready.

Yeah I know lol. I already blocked off the window facing dickhold neighbors, I'm thinking about leaving the window facing the street open so I can use a fan to pull fresh air in for the girls.

 

[mcpurple]

my buddy runs a 4' x 9' table and uses (2) 1000 watt hps for flower. He is happy with his results. Consider your goals, then buy a light capable. Unless you are concerned with the heat a magnetic ballast puts off I would stay away from digital ballasts. I own three and wish I didn't. Any positive attributes digital ballasts have are overshadowed by their lack of reliaibilty.

digital is way better sorry.

Whats the most plants you ran off of one 600?


What do you mean? Are the digital ballast crap? I've done my research and have seen the pros and con. Didn't know that people doubt their reliaibility tho, whats your reasoning behind that? I need something that is quiet tho because its going on the side of the house where the neighbors are assholes lol

well the most was 6 becasue that was my legal limit i could have done probably 40 single cola ones and got about a half o off each. but that is illegal for me. i then switched to just 2 bigger plants. but i would say 6-12 is a good number depening on room size and plant size.

and dont worry digi is the way to go. mine never gave me probs and if it does htg replaces them

 

[Thor1911]

digital is way better sorry.



well the most was 6 becasue that was my legal limit i could have done probably 40 single cola ones and got about a half o off each. but that is illegal for me. i then switched to just 2 bigger plants. but i would say 6-12 is a good number depening on room size and plant size.

and dont worry digi is the way to go. mine never gave me probs and if it does htg replaces them

Yeah, I'm just doing 12 within my legal limit
12 in a 4x4 with mylar walls. 2-3 weeks vegi then flower. On the first crop if they're to big then right after cloned roots I'll put directly into flower. Just gotta see how the strain goes n grows

 

[mcpurple]

that sounds good to me perfect sized room unless the plants get to big and if they do it might be wise to just toss a few out

 

[Thor1911]

that sounds good to me perfect sized room unless the plants get to big and if they do it might be wise to just toss a few out

HMM, aka plant in the park next to me and let nature take its corse lmao. I could never throw one of my girls away, I'd pull a few out and slap shit loads of crap bulbs and what ever that makes in my blunt weed that I just burn away
And thanks for the input, glad to see all my plans so far are good lol. I don't want to go balls out with this n fail. I've been thinking everything over everyday lol. Just waiting till I sell my sub amp then I'm growin .

When do you think I should put the plants into flower? At like 8-12in?

 

[mcpurple]

HMM, aka plant in the park next to me and let nature take its corse lmao. I could never throw one of my girls away, I'd pull a few out and slap shit loads of crap bulbs and what ever that makes in my blunt weed that I just burn away
And thanks for the input, glad to see all my plans so far are good lol. I don't want to go balls out with this n fail. I've been thinking everything over everyday lol. Just waiting till I sell my sub amp then I'm growin .

When do you think I should put the plants into flower? At like 8-12in?

yes that is always a possibility with xtra plants.

and as for height it depends on weather you are gonna do a scrog sog, or lst. and also what strain some strecth more. but expect them to double or triple in size once flowered so if it was 12 inches then placed into flower it could end up being 24-36 inches tall give or take a few inches if you do 12 plants with no training i thing 8 inches would be good

 

[Thor1911]

yes that is always a possibility with xtra plants.

and as for height it depends on weather you are gonna do a scrog sog, or lst. and also what strain some strecth more. but expect them to double or triple in size once flowered so if it was 12 inches then placed into flower it could end up being 24-36 inches tall give or take a few inches if you do 12 plants with no training i thing 8 inches would be good

Yeah. The only thing I'm just not sure about now is the soil blend. I wanna do fox farms soils but how expensive is all the soil and nutes going to be around? I don't have any idea, 80 bucks? or 300 bucks? lol

I was thinking of doing a mix like ffof and fflw mixed to 2:1.
12 plants, how much $$ am I looking at?

 

[Snott]

id use a 1000 w for a 4'x4' area

 

[Thor1911]

id use a 1000 w for a 4'x4' area

1000w is to much power consumption for only 12 small plants, 600 is perfect. It'd be perfect in a 4x3 room but that extra 4x4 will give me a lot more room to work around in

 

[Mountainfarmer]

As far as reliability goes digital ballasts can't touch magnetic ballasts. This fact can not be argued.

digital is way better sorry.



well the most was 6 becasue that was my legal limit i could have done probably 40 single cola ones and got about a half o off each. but that is illegal for me. i then switched to just 2 bigger plants. but i would say 6-12 is a good number depening on room size and plant size.

and dont worry digi is the way to go. mine never gave me probs and if it does htg replaces them

 

[Thor1911]

yes that is always a possibility with xtra plants.

and as for height it depends on weather you are gonna do a scrog sog, or lst. and also what strain some strecth more. but expect them to double or triple in size once flowered so if it was 12 inches then placed into flower it could end up being 24-36 inches tall give or take a few inches if you do 12 plants with no training i thing 8 inches would be good

I wanna do lst, is it possible to have 12 lst'ers off one 600watt? I know having the plants shorter with lst will allow the light to be closer to the whole plant for the grow which means more lumens!! I think I can do it