lighting efficiency

Hello all i am growing 8 exodus cheese plants in a 6.5x6.5x6.5ft tent. this is not my first grow at all but i have a question to ask. if anyone has any idea then please feel free to share your knowledge with me.

i have a 1000 watt hps in the centre of my tent and two 600 watt hps on either side of the thousand.

my question is at the first week of flower when the stretch is in place and also the pistils are stating to form would it be necessary for the extra 1200 watts of light to be turned on?. as it is still in a vegetative state.

when would the plants actually benefit the most from this extra lighting?

Thanks.

I'm a fan of maximum light intensity all through flower but that's just from personal experience, no studies. That being said, are you sure you won't overheat your tent? 1000 watts seems like plenty for a tent that size.

PS - if you do get 2200 wats going in that tent, I hope you post some pics!

cant run that in that small of an overhead area my man. not sure u could in a walk in cooler and stand the heat. 1 600 is good for that space. mabe a few cfls on the sides.
if talking vertical grow, that's a different animal but not with a 5' heighth

i have the lights in there..... im just not turning on the side 600's untill they are fully in flower?....

The 1K will be plenty fine......

you should test it out to see what temps you will be getting with all those lights on
you might find it gets too hot in there, unless you have a very powerful extractor
do you need to keep the tent closed or can you have it open all the time ?
if you can have it open all the time you might get away with all that light

you could change the side 600s for 250s to reduce the heat if its a problem
or run them on lower power if you have a digital ballast

peace

In a word...OVERKILL

Way over kill, to much heat,even with the flaps open. One 600 is perfect for your size tent.

I would either use the two 600's or the 1000 on it's own.

my temps are 90 degrees with all the lights on full power.. i ran them all today and i have no signs of heat stress and the fans im running are connected to a boarded up window with 6 inch holes in connected to ducting. thanks everyone for your input it was just a question. and ill take all advice on board. i have also two osculating fans inside and if i put my hand under the light its not very hot at all ill probably just go with the two 600's as the 1000 on its own isnt giving much light to the corners of the tent unless i rotate the plants. even though i have a adjust a wing enforcer :/