50 plants

[winnercircle]

I am looking to have a setup of 50 plants. Likely I'll have 5 mother plants and up to 45 plants flowering. Would 2 400 watt lights be sufficient for this many plants? I have a medium budget, but I'm hoping these will suffice. Advice?

 

[Slipon]

no, is the short answer

might work if you go for 600W and keep em small, flower em early and keep em in a space that is 5x8 feet or so .. maybe some kind of scorg ?

let me ask you why so many ? and how big is your grow space ?

under two 400W I would`t like to grow more then 8 regular plants, in a scorg maybe 16 .. not 45 .. not even small Autos in a Sea of green ..

 

[IndicaDom]

Slipon is obviously uninformed about growing methods that would allow you to incorporate 50 plants under 2 400W HPS bulbs. Let us run some numbers shall we? Let us say that the average footprint for a 400W HPS bulb is 3'x3'. This means that a 400W HPS bulb will cover 9 square feet. Now if we were to look to our friends who run SEA OF GREEN and ask them a good number of plants per square foot they will say 6 - 9. Now you want to run 50 plants, you want to use 2 400W HPS, this means you only have to fit 25 plants per 400W HPS. Now if we were to run the numbers we see that a 400W HPS can handle between 54 and 81 plants in it's footprint. So it is very possible to do what you are wanting to do, and with 2 400W HPS you can run a nice perpetual and pull every month.

 

[jb5355]

they would have to be very small plants. you can not fit anywhere near 50 average sized plants under 2 400's.

 

[Slipon]

6-9 plants per square foot ???

erm .. ok then please tell me what kind of pots they use ? have to be like 2x2 inch`s or less ..

 

[IndicaDom]

they would have to be very small plants. you can not fit anywhere near 50 average sized plants under 2 400's.

Yes you are correct, by definition SEA OF GREEN is with clones that immediately show roots, or 1 week of veg from the showing of roots.

6-9 plants per square foot ???

erm .. ok then please tell me what kind of pots they use ? have to be like 2x2 inch`s or less ..

Well the OP didn't specify what type of system he is going to be running, my recommendation of course would be an ebb and flow table or top feed/drain to a reservoir. Then depending on the size of his table, I am guessing a 3'x3' table, that would be 36"x36", so if you wanted to use 2" pots you would end up with 18 clones per row and 18 clones per column. That is quite a bit of plants, way more than we planned for...18x18 = 324. We only want 25 plants per light as the OP requested, which is going to allow for more veg time since he isn't cramming a ton of plants under the light. So...we want 5 plants per row and 5 plants per column, some simple math...36"/5 is approximately 7" square pots. We can go with 6" square pots and call it a day with a little bit of wiggle room.

 

[Slipon]

well good luck, I grow for fun aswell, not just to produce smoke ..

 

[IndicaDom]

well good luck, I grow for fun aswell, not just to produce smoke ..

Well for me the fun is making my grow more efficient and maintenance free.

 

[Weedasaurus]

150 watts for first plant, 50 watts for each plant thereafter. do the math.

 

[winnercircle]

So a 400 watt light only yields a 3x3 grow area? Does that include using mirrors and white paint to reflect the light?

 

[winnercircle]

slipon, my grow space will be either 4x10 or i'll use a room that is about 15x15 if need be. the reason for so many plants is that i'm hoping to have a higher yield than I would with only 10 plants or so.

 

[jpeg666]

Indicadom show me some of your grows

 

[bluntmassa1]

So a 400 watt light only yields a 3x3 grow area? Does that include using mirrors and white paint to reflect the light?

pretty much you can veg in a 4x4 with a 400w light but its really not enough to flower more than a 3x3. and you don't use mirrors mylar has the best reflection than flat white paint. if you plan on cash cropping sog is the worst as far as laws cause once you hit 100 plants your looking at serious fed time scrog and lst are the best you can yield just as much with only a few plants per light. also I would get atleast 600 w lights if your cash croping but 2 400's should be plenty for personal use.

 

[bluntmassa1]

slipon, my grow space will be either 4x10 or i'll use a room that is about 15x15 if need be. the reason for so many plants is that i'm hoping to have a higher yield than I would with only 10 plants or so.

just figure 3x3 = 400w 4x4 = 600w 5x5 = 1,000w and longer veg + lst or scrog will yield just as good as sea of green.

 

[pmumbry]

As a primary lighting source:
400 watt is good for a 5x5' area
600 watt is good for a 6.5x6.5' area
1000 watt is good for an 8x8' area

You will get a maximum of about 1 gram per watt of light, this if you do everything perfect. You could put 1 giant plant under a 1000 watt light or you could fit 10 plants in that same spot under the 1000 and the best you could get off either setup would be about 1 gram per watt max.

Edit: Of course that is assuming your 1 plant was capable of that kind of yield. A better example would be to say 2 giant plants, each would give you 500 grams, you get the point.

 

[bluntmassa1]

As a primary lighting source:
400 watt is good for a 5x5' area
600 watt is good for a 6.5x6.5' area
1000 watt is good for an 8x8' area

QUOTE]

really 5x5 for a 400w and 8x8 for a 1,000 where are you getting your info? have you actually grown indoors? a 1,000 watt light is no where near enough light for an 8x8 room read a grow book or 2 shit ed rosenthal say's to use 3 600's for a 4x8 table with a mh bulb in the center. jorge cervantes say's 4x4 for a 400w and 600w light and 6x6 for 1,000w light nothing close to your claim from 2 different good indoor growing authors not saying all their info is 100% accurate but 8 feet away from a 1,000 watt light are gonna be some sad looking plants.

You will get a maximum of about 1 gram per watt of light, this if you do everything perfect. You could put 1 giant plant under a 1000 watt light or you could fit 10 plants in that same spot under the 1000 and the best you could get off either setup would be about 1 gram per watt max.

and you can also get over 1 gpw but if your getting that your doing great but I recently seen a guy do a vertical grow and get over 2gpw but over 1gpw is not too uncommon for an expirienced grower but a new grower is doing good with 1/2 gpw.

 

[Slipon]

yep what Ppl. say ..

never use mirrors, don't reflect the right light, might only give you hot spots and burn your plants, like tin foil..

use Maylor cost so little to get them few sq. meters needed to cover the parts of the walls beside your light/plants ..

flat white is ok but according to my light meter not even half as effective as maylor, maylor is amazing and give me 3K foot candles pointing away from the light at the maylor wile I get 5K from the light, flat white gave me 1-2K .. all about 1,5 foot away from a 600W HPS


in your space I would go for 2x400W/600W Digital ballast that can run both MH and HPS
with a cool hood`s and run MH in Veg and HPS in flowering, connect them both to a nice 6" ventilation and a good carbon filter ..
and grow some kind of sea of green/scorg in there trying to use all the space

like this maybe:



fill all 4x10 feet with a screen of buds and let them two 600W spread there light out I bet that could work very well

if you have more space you should rather think about making a mother/Veg room instead, where you can start a new patch when you trow the fist in to flowering, so you can harvest every 2 months, that would really make a different and double your yield so to speak,

maybe use one 400W MH in there and some CLF for the mother, take the best plant of the fist patch and make a mother out of her, flower the rest, take clones of here and Veg em, if we say 1-2 weeks of rooting then 2-3 weeks as seedlings then there is around 4 weeks left to Veg if you grow a strain that takes 8 weeks to flower .. then you keep haveing small nice Veg plants ready for 12/12 under two 600W HPS

I bet with a littel practice and some experience you could Harvest 10 plants every 2th month and if each just yield 2 OZ then its 10 OZ a month ..

 

[pmumbry]

really 5x5 for a 400w and 8x8 for a 1,000 where are you getting your info? have you actually grown indoors? a 1,000 watt light is no where near enough light for an 8x8 room read a grow book or 2 shit ed rosenthal say's to use 3 600's for a 4x8 table with a mh bulb in the center. jorge cervantes say's 4x4 for a 400w and 600w light and 6x6 for 1,000w light nothing close to your claim from 2 different good indoor growing authors not saying all their info is 100% accurate but 8 feet away from a 1,000 watt light are gonna be some sad looking plants.

if you put a 1000 watt light in the center of an 8x8 foot room, the plants on the edges of the room will be 4 feet away from it, not 8 feet. Like i said, he will get around 1 gram per watt max.

 

[laced23z]

Could do a vertical grow and maybe get that many plants under two 400 watters but I would go with three

 

[IndicaDom]

So a 400 watt light only yields a 3x3 grow area? Does that include using mirrors and white paint to reflect the light?

3'x3' is the footprint of the light, basically the area that the light will most effectively cover for growth.

slipon, my grow space will be either 4x10 or i'll use a room that is about 15x15 if need be. the reason for so many plants is that i'm hoping to have a higher yield than I would with only 10 plants or so.

It is worth the risk, I mean honestly the amount of yield, time, and money you save growing SOG is insane. Everything is easier to deal with, heat, ventilation, insects, trimming, everything becomes easier! SOG in my opinion is the only way to grow, and with 1 week veg even 20 - 30 plants can yield quite a bit.

Indicadom show me some of your grows

Get a bigger dick first.

pretty much you can veg in a 4x4 with a 400w light but its really not enough to flower more than a 3x3. and you don't use mirrors mylar has the best reflection than flat white paint. if you plan on cash cropping sog is the worst as far as laws cause once you hit 100 plants your looking at serious fed time scrog and lst are the best you can yield just as much with only a few plants per light. also I would get atleast 600 w lights if your cash croping but 2 400's should be plenty for personal use.

What is funny about this is the amount of effort and time it takes for you to LST plants. The catch is that you have to run more lights, and take more time vegging than I do because I am taking the risk of running a larger number of plants. For me personally it is easier getting caught with massive trim jobs and a ton of electricity used with a large heat signature. That is what you would be doing if you were trying to match gram per watt of an efficient SOG grow.

just figure 3x3 = 400w 4x4 = 600w 5x5 = 1,000w and longer veg + lst or scrog will yield just as good as sea of green.

You can definitely get close, the difference is in the time spent LSTing, and the electricity spent vegging.

As a primary lighting source:
400 watt is good for a 5x5' area
600 watt is good for a 6.5x6.5' area
1000 watt is good for an 8x8' area

You will get a maximum of about 1 gram per watt of light, this if you do everything perfect. You could put 1 giant plant under a 1000 watt light or you could fit 10 plants in that same spot under the 1000 and the best you could get off either setup would be about 1 gram per watt max.

Edit: Of course that is assuming your 1 plant was capable of that kind of yield. A better example would be to say 2 giant plants, each would give you 500 grams, you get the point.

These numbers are a bit off, 400W is 3'x3'; 600W is 4'x4'; 1000W is 5'x5'.

As a primary lighting source:
400 watt is good for a 5x5' area
600 watt is good for a 6.5x6.5' area
1000 watt is good for an 8x8' area

QUOTE]

really 5x5 for a 400w and 8x8 for a 1,000 where are you getting your info? have you actually grown indoors? a 1,000 watt light is no where near enough light for an 8x8 room read a grow book or 2 shit ed rosenthal say's to use 3 600's for a 4x8 table with a mh bulb in the center. jorge cervantes say's 4x4 for a 400w and 600w light and 6x6 for 1,000w light nothing close to your claim from 2 different good indoor growing authors not saying all their info is 100% accurate but 8 feet away from a 1,000 watt light are gonna be some sad looking plants.



and you can also get over 1 gpw but if your getting that your doing great but I recently seen a guy do a vertical grow and get over 2gpw but over 1gpw is not too uncommon for an expirienced grower but a new grower is doing good with 1/2 gpw.

Yeah spot on, some of the vertical grows can get some amazing results.

if you put a 1000 watt light in the center of an 8x8 foot room, the plants on the edges of the room will be 4 feet away from it, not 8 feet. Like i said, he will get around 1 gram per watt max.

Yes, the effective footprint is 5'x5' for a 1000W bulb, that means 2.5' from each side of the bulb which creates a 5'x5' area for effective growth. I can have a 42W CFL light a room up but that doesn't mean the light hitting the edges of the 8'x8' room is getting effective intensity for solid growth.

Could do a vertical grow and maybe get that many plants under two 400 watters but I would go with three

Vertical growing systems are not easy to handle, I wouldn't tackle it unless you are looking to invest a lot of time and money.