One grower I service has 12 bigfoot hoods all 600's, his plants are only an inch or two from the glass. He also implements light diffusers with each bulb. You should be able to get within inches if your set up is working correctly. Personally I don't believe you can have too many lumens in a grow room, it just has to be positioned correctly. JAS
"One grower you service", eh? Aint gonna touch that one.
No way, not with a typical horizontal hood. That is botanically impossible due to the destruction (bleaching) of chlorophyll/chloroplasts.
The crap I read so often in these forums: "you can't give a plant too much light" is just that, crap. When some one says that I know immediately they are a chest beating, attention ho newb who knows nothing about botany....what makes a plant tick.
Here are actual f.c. measurements I made years ago of 2 HPS in small, highly reflective hoods.....and no, I don't wanna hear any uppity crap regarding PAR.
DISTANCE FROM LIGHT............
F.C. READING
.......................
250W HPS...........600W HPS
Within 6" (Way off 10K f.c. scale, for both lamps)
6".......................10,000................10K+
8".......................7,100.................10K+
12"......................4,800.................8,700
18"......................2,800.................5,600
24"......................2,000.................4,200
30"......................1,400.................3,300
Frame of reference: sun = 9,000 - 10,000 average, clear summer day, high noon
Cool White fluor measured 2" from bulb = 1,200 f.c.
Enjoy,
Uncle Ben