enough of the b.s. someone give it to me straight!

I have another, "how many plants per xxx amount of watts" but i need straight answer on this one...

i have 2 600w systems (currently using both to flower just 5 plants in 5 gallon pots).

my question is this:
if im using 5 gallon pots (w/ ocean forest soil and the ff line of nutes) what number of plants would give me the highest grams to watt ratio (assuming the plants are in 5 gallon pots) per 600w light? ive heard 100w is ideal however the idea of having 12 plants under 2 lights seems to be a bit crowded considering i plan to routinely super crop and top/fim.

ive seen as few as 3 plants under a hid light but im just wondering which number of plants per light would give me the best chance to reach my optimal grams per watt ratio?

i dont want to veg longer (typically) than 4-6 weeks honestly.

what do you suggest? more plants in smaller pots? less plants in bigger pots?

anyone with 2 600w systems would be of great help right now. im currently getting ready to get clones (maybe seeds) for the next grow but first i need an idea of how many im going to be doing...im only on my 4th grow so im pretty new to this still.

sm0keyrich510 said:

I have another, "how many plants per xxx amount of watts" but i need straight answer on this one...

i have 2 600w systems (currently using both to flower just 5 plants in 5 gallon pots).

my question is this:
if im using 5 gallon pots (w/ ocean forest soil and the ff line of nutes) what number of plants would give me the highest grams to watt ratio (assuming the plants are in 5 gallon pots) per 600w light? ive heard 100w is ideal however the idea of having 12 plants under 2 lights seems to be a bit crowded considering i plan to routinely super crop and top/fim.

ive seen as few as 3 plants under a hid light but im just wondering which number of plants per light would give me the best chance to reach my optimal grams per watt ratio?

i dont want to veg longer (typically) than 4-6 weeks honestly.

what do you suggest? more plants in smaller pots? less plants in bigger pots?

anyone with 2 600w systems would be of great help right now. im currently getting ready to get clones (maybe seeds) for the next grow but first i need an idea of how many im going to be doing...im only on my 4th grow so im pretty new to this still.

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Theres no easy anwser for that questions to many ways to go abou it not one way is the best really........5 gallon pots are kinda big if your not going to veg for two months.... Id persnoaly would do 3 gallon pots and id do 6-9 plants under each 600w light.......But since yours are in 5 gallon pots seems you should grow less plants and veg them longer..... Its easyer to grow smaller plants under a 600w.....If you want to grow big tress in 5 gallon pots i would go to a 1000w beter penetration.... But if you dont want the 1000w and still keep your 5 gallon pots i personally would go three 5 gallon pots under each 600w light and veg them longer if you have the head clearnce... But whatever you do it dosent make since to grow alot of small plants in 5 gallons pots and vesa versa dosent make since to grow hudge big plants in small pots so if you are going to stick with your 5 gallon pots you should VEG longer and grow them bigger and have less plants.......

I just skimmed over Foot's response so forgive me if I repeat anything. Our plants get wider than 5gal pots so just because x number of pots will fit, doesn't mean we can finish that many in the same space. Many plants won't get wider and if yours won't, you can fit a maximum of 9 (3x3) 5gal pots under a 600w in a square grow area. Personally, for a 600w I'd use a circular pattern with one in the middle and about 6 all around for slightly better quality and slightly less yield, but I aim more for potency than weight.

These are the figures we use with 5 & 6gal pots in square grow areas:

2x2- 400w
3x3- 700w
4x4- 1000w

Since they don't usually come in 700w, the 3x3 pot area will use a 600w on the low end and a 800w on the high end. That's why it's hard to get a straight answer for a 600w, because it's not the ideal bulb size for any square grow using 5gal buckets. Each 5gal pot can support at least 80 days of flowering.

Edit: We've gotten 70 days out of 5gal buckets that have had the bottom cut off, slit down the side and then duct taped into a smaller diameter. The bottoms were trimmed to fit and taped back on.

You could sneak 8 plants under each 600w my friend.

Switch to 2-3 gallon pots and then go 9-16 per lamp your preference on height determines the amount of plants.

researchkitty said:

Switch to 2-3 gallon pots and then go 9-16 per lamp your preference on height determines the amount of plants.

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this is a good idea......if you do 2 gallon pots you can get away with 16 plants under each light even though 12 would probably fit a lil better ......if you go 3 gallon pots then 9 plants under each light is a perfect number and thats the number i use....I do 9 plants in 3 gallon smart pots under one 1000w light i yeild about 1lb and 6 ounces each cycle looking to improve this though and i think i can get closer to 2lbs with my set up.

i do believe space is an issue with the 5 gallon pots. i use home depot buckets so my plants are ALWAYS bigger than the pots around..especially because i top/lite lst/super crop...

right now i have 5 plants (5 gallon buckets) under 2 600w hid systems (1 hps, 1 mh...i rotate the plants daily from being under the mh to the hps and from hps to mh). to be honest im out of room as it is. i could squeeze one more plant in there if i tried but thats about it.

this grow was my first attempt at topping and super cropping. i suspect this obviously had something to do with my results.

i was just trying to figure out the best way to tackle this and the more answers i try to find the more questions i end up with in the end...i only use 5 gallon pots because its what i started with...and i figured less plants = less seeds/clones = me saving more $. so thats always good especially since i been looking into some pretty expensive genetics.

i cant deny the plants in 5 gallon pots is a pain (for everything; watering, dumping, moving, rotating, etc)

ive also heard its possible to just grow 1 plant under each light (or under 1 plant under both lights) and still end up with just as high of a yield etc.



maybe id get more answers if i explained my situation...

for now im in soil (that could change in the future if i feel comfortable enough to go hydro...seems kinda expensive for me to just "try it out" especially with the power bills..)
i have both 600w lights less than 1 foot from each other (so they are really close) and 5 plants crammed under them (note: i only let the veg 29 days and topped once/supercropped and they got the massive size they are now forcing me to spread them out under the 2 lights)...

my goal is simple: maximum bud QUALITY and maximum bud QUANTITY. im out there looking for the best of both worlds. this has caused me to rethink my whole set up...ive considered a scrog with 5 gallon pots...a sog with 1 gallon pots...and just doing what i been doing now...veg them as big as i feel i safely can (before they get too tall) and fight them with rope/super cropped/topping.

im not sure which would make life easier for me or which would be the best turnaround. is it more with my $$$ to grow only few to be monsters (veg longer in big pots) or veg short in small pots but buy more clones/seeds (ie. sog or scrog)?

thats what makes my decision so hard...too many options. im really out here to improve with every harvest. last time (3rd grow) was poor...a mere 37 grams per watt. i'd say i have that beat easily this time just based off how good they look with 20 or so days to go (adding a second 600w system really made them frosty)

Shayden said:

You could sneak 8 plants under each 600w my friend.

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This is the safe bet answer, but alot depends on the strain, how soon you want to go into bloom etc..

I prefer blooming early and SOG'ing or the single cola grows, which would add to the total number of plants..

But if you're going the typical, veg for a couple months and just blooming (no topping, lst'ing, fim'ing etc etc), I would say 8 for each light.. but like mentioned, theres alot of variables