Light To Plant Ratio Question

Hey guys, can someone tell me if 400 watts MH for Veg and 600 watts HPS for flowering is enough to grow 6 plants in 5 gallon air pots?

Room dimensions are 1.7 ft wide x 8.2 ft High x 11 ft long

I am looking for a good result but to buy more then 1 ballast will be impossible for me so I do not think I can get more light then this. Do you suggest I grow just 4 5 gallon plants with thislighting? If so would my result be tighter?

Yes but you might want another light or use your 400 too or a light rail for the type of space you have or rotate your pots daily. 3 gallon pots will be more than enough with less than 2 ft of width.

run 600w vertical bare bulb or 1000w cooltube. keep the light at about 5 feet of height.

run a series of stools ( with tall ones further away from light). like a mini stadium bleacher on each side of the light.

do 8 plants in 1 gallon containers.. grow them without topping 12/12 from seed. veg under 18/6 or 24/0 lighting for 3-4 weeks and then flower... don't top them or LST. you want to gain height quick and stay narrow but still tight node spacing. if you need to clone take one of the lower weak branches during flowering tha

rotate your plants 90 or 180 degrees each day.

BeastGrow said:

run 600w vertical bare bulb or 1000w cooltube. keep the light at about 5 feet of height.

run a series of stools ( with tall ones further away from light). like a mini stadium bleacher on each side of the light.

do 8 plants in 1 gallon containers.. grow them without topping 12/12 from seed. veg under 18/6 or 24/0 lighting for 3-4 weeks and then flower... don't top them or LST. you want to gain height quick and stay narrow but still tight node spacing. if you need to clone take one of the lower weak branches during flowering tha

rotate your plants 90 or 180 degrees each day.

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Wow 1 gallon pots you say? Is that to keep the height down? Do you think they will still grow with proper roots systems? i wonder how much bud will produce in just 1 gallon.

When you say stools you mean little chairs? Do you mean to blockade the area around the 8 plants to isolate the space? Is this your meaning?

What is a bare bulb? I thought mh for veg was better and hps for flowering was best, do you disagree or will that bring the height too much in the wider range?

I may just grow in my room and sleep on the couch haha. Then it would be fine space wise.

Sacrifices......

TWS said:

Yes but you might want another light or use your 400 too or a light rail for the type of space you have or rotate your pots daily. 3 gallon pots will be more than enough with less than 2 ft of width.

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Thanks dude, can you recommend a good light rail to use with a 400 mh and 600hps?

Can you tell me your opinion if 4 plants in this space in 3 gallon pots as you recommend with a light rail with just the 400 and 600 light will bring good results? Do you agree 100 watts per plant is adequate?

HUH........... 12/12 from seed. veg under 18/6 or 24/0 lighting for 3-4 weeks and then flower...
Makes no sense to me....say 12/12 from seed then explain a Vegg time?

Just do 4 plants with the 600 and get good dense nugs.The closer you can keep the light without bleaching or frying them will achieve this in a 3g smarty.Vegg 4-6 weeks,you should be able to pull a oz per plant min.
I would also lst and top-fim the chit out of them,make em bushy.Also would do a Scrog.If possible in your space.

I use 400w MH Cooltube for veg and 600w HPS Hood for flower. Running 4 - 3 gal airpots right now in flower. Probably bump it upto 6.

I mix spectrums 50/50 Hps-Mh,Plants seem to really add the trics with the added MH.
Can see a difference IF I dont move them around,MH side gets a lot more frosty.

Yeah I have never understood what 12/12 from seed means since I am new. My understanding is after the seed germinates you place it in a 1 gallon pot and that is the beginning of Veg, right?

I will do 18/6 the moment I place it into the 1 gallon right after it germinates using the 400mh for 4 plants, is this wrong to do? It makes sense to me, this is a straightforward grow.

after 1 month i will switch it to 3 gallon pots and use the hps 600 for flowering for 2 more months.

pretty simple I think

Using this same light maybe I can get away with 6 plants but sticking to 4 would produce bigger yields, do you agree?

SOMEBEECH said:

Just do 4 plants with the 600 and get good dense nugs.The closer you can keep the light without bleaching or frying them will achieve this in a 3g smarty.Vegg 4-6 weeks,you should be able to pull a oz per plant min.
I would also lst and top-fim the chit out of them,make em bushy.Also would do a Scrog.If possible in your space.

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Where do i buy scrog from? What is it called if I go on amazon? When you say "do 4 plants with the 600", do you mean the 600mh or hps? Isn't veg dependent on when there are 9 intersecting nodes on the plant to indicate it is ready to flower? how can time be a part of this decision to stay in veg if the nodes tell us when they are ready? If I see 9 nodes and want to stay in veg then wouldn't i ruin the outcome?

M/J is a photo period plant,meaning it will vegg until the light or sun is more than 12 on and 12 off.
Growing inside you play the part of the light schedule.12/12 from seed means the plant will flower when its ready.If you keep it on 18/6 20/4 or even 24/0 it will not flower,until you change it to 12/12.
A good rule for a 600 is a 4x4 space a 600 foot print will cover with most hoods.
A scrog is just a screen or net where you weave the plant thru to get a even canopy.
Nodes do not tell you its ready to flower,Hell Ive vegged for 3 months before...............

Sure you can put 10-15 plants in there and raise the light,BUT you are not gonna get dense nugs,they will be fluffy.

Heres ya a pic of another members 2 plant scrog.

six plants is too many your just need four. but five gallon smart pots are what you want. im assuming your vegging for sixty days. when you can afford another six hundred hps you want four per light in bloom and eight in veg. i find the four hundred mh causes extra stretch. i use cool tube hoods and have em three to six inchs away. hope this helps

seattlegrownewb said:

six plants is too many your just need four. but five gallon smart pots are what you want. im assuming your vegging for sixty days. when you can afford another six hundred hps you want four per light in bloom and eight in veg. i find the four hundred mh causes extra stretch. i use cool tube hoods and have em three to six inchs away. hope this helps

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Thanks Seattlegrownewb, I was thinking 3 gallon is better in my space. I would rather not veg for more then a month and then flower for 2 months, I am quite eager to smoke this stuff, it's been 2 years since I have had my medicine and feeling worn out. My test if whether I would be okay without it has come back with clear results and the conclusion is I am happier and better in every way with it. Sadly where I live it does not exist hence me growing it.

Anyway to stay on topic, I just want to clarify because I am a little confused by what you said.

In my space which I mentioned if I grow 4 plants in 3 gallon pots under a 400mh and flower in 600 hps is this going to be okay? I do not want to go more then a month in veg unless I really have to. This is Cinderella 99 and White Ice which are supposed to be equally fast strains to produce and work well with beginners like me and are good in tough environments.

Where I live I do not have many choices for hoods so I am going with a typical ballast which is what it is.If I can grow 6 plants with equally good results then please tell me using this lighting?

I really want to know on top of the other things I mentioned I really wanted to know is how am i practically supposed to know when it is time to flower? Isn't there a sign that the plant gives or do we create the signs by adjusting light?

SOMEBEECH said:

M/J is a photo period plant,meaning it will vegg until the light or sun is more than 12 on and 12 off.
Growing inside you play the part of the light schedule.12/12 from seed means the plant will flower when its ready.If you keep it on 18/6 20/4 or even 24/0 it will not flower,until you change it to 12/12.
A good rule for a 600 is a 4x4 space a 600 foot print will cover with most hoods.
A scrog is just a screen or net where you weave the plant thru to get a even canopy.
Nodes do not tell you its ready to flower,Hell Ive vegged for 3 months before...............

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Thanks, very interesting and nice pic.

So are you saying there are no signs the plant gives to when it is time to flower? Do we play the role of sign creator here?

400 mh veg and 600 hps flower is my situation. Given this and my space what do you suggest as far as how many plants, I must use 3 gallon I think not 5 anymore and the smart pots cannot be gotten by me anymore, the fucking shipping tax to where I am is crazy.

Also I cannot get OF Soil for the same reason, shipping is over $300 yeah I live in the worst place to be doing this but I need what I need, you guys get me. I will end up getting some good local soil and hope for the best, better then nothing. I am not paying 400 for some fucking soil, my god I am not that hard up.

yes we are the "sign creators" in that we manipulate the photoperiod to simulate outside late season to make the plant flower.
You could run 2 big plants, or 25 tiny ones. Id say do 4-6 in 5 gallon pots

with a lot of training, supercropping ect, this will work fine. Oversized pots mean less feeding with nutes, less chance of error imo.

There are advantages to less big plants as mentioned above. I have always had better luck and tighter buds with more smaller plants. It is a preference and it might take a bit of experience to see what you like. I find large plants seem to produce more dead space. To learn how to top, train, and shape a plant properly a large plant is better.

greenisgood13 said:

Thanks, very interesting and nice pic.

So are you saying there are no signs the plant gives to when it is time to flower? Do we play the role of sign creator here?

400 mh veg and 600 hps flower is my situation. Given this and my space what do you suggest as far as how many plants, I must use 3 gallon I think not 5 anymore and the smart pots cannot be gotten by me anymore, the fucking shipping tax to where I am is crazy.

Also I cannot get OF Soil for the same reason, shipping is over $300 yeah I live in the worst place to be doing this but I need what I need, you guys get me. I will end up getting some good local soil and hope for the best, better then nothing. I am not paying 400 for some fucking soil, my god I am not that hard up.

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Some strains will show sex @ week 4-8 of the vegging period.Yea,when you flip to the 12/12 light cycle is when you will know for sure the sex!
No signs....you have to change the light period to find out the sex!
If I were YOU...I would vegg for 4-6 weeks in the 3g Smart pot,then go to 12/12.Ive done it countless times in a 3g,with no rootbound plants.Now if you were to vegg for 8 weeks plus Id do the 5g.
If you dont have Fem seeds,and wanna know the sex take a cut and let it root usually 7-10 days then put the clone under 12/12 to find out the sex.Hate to see you vegg a male for 8 weeks.