Need help wanting to grow 4-5 Massive plants

So I want to grow my future 4-5 plants into massive trees you could say. I have a 12x12 room with 9 foot ceilings so room isn't the issue. I would like to try and stick to LED because of the heat issues
and not wanting to put an ac unit in if possible. My questions really are what size and amount are needed to really grow big plants. I have a friend how can produce 3-4 pounds off a plant by using 3 600watt HPS lights. It gets hot FAST with all 24 lights on for his 8 plants, he turned it on with out the ac unit going to show me and it took only minutes. I've always liked the idea of LED's and have read hours worth of info on brands and spectrums but still feel a little lost on which one to go with. As far as my budget for the set up goes, I have a great job and have put quite a bit aside for this new "hobby". I welcome all to feel free with ideas or links to others that have done what I plan on doing.

Plant limit 4-5
Budget keep under 8k

your going to have to dump that budget into lights alone, you need to encapsulate the plant in leds'. their only downfall comes with penetration if you want to grow a tree your going to have to surround the thing in order to keep it massive otherwise top lighting alone wouldn't cut it imo... with all that side lighting rock some shade my led panel would kill my eyes after looking at it for to long but i was like a moth to a light with the thing sooo pretty.

i dont think u would get the weight u want with LEDs, or it would take a hell of a lot of them. i dont grow with LEDs but from what ive heard they dont yield as much as a HPS would

hmmm a 12x12 is a square. There are 4 corners in a square and 5 in a star.

Perhaps:
1 vertical nekkid 1000w cmh in the center.
1 LED panel on top of each plant, minimum 120 watt drawn power, basic units with plenty of Orange/ Red/deep red. Warm Whites a plus for higher wattage units.
4 or more T5 HOs hung sideways on the walls.
Plant dollys allowing you to rotate the plants once a day.

Minimize heat by limiting hours of the cmh.

Wait so you buddy is pulling 3-4 lbs off one plant with (3) 600 watts per plant? I don't get his setup and how you would use 3 600 on one plant. Seems inefficient to me. 3x600 does not equal 1800 watts on one plant. It dispensers 600 watts over a larger area. Anyway sounds like he has some major lights running and let's call it 1800 watts per plant so he is hovering around a gram per watt which is totally do able with hps and a dialed in setup.


So lets say you grow a little more efficiently. 448 grams in a pound. If you put one plant under a 1k and did everything correctly and had your setup dialed in you could get 2 lbs per plant. 4 plants could possibly get you 8 lbs. So you would be running 4 k of lights which would be totally manageable for your room and budget


i have yet to hear anyone pulling off 1 gpw with led. Just not there yet and def not ideal for a monster bush. Sounds like you have the space and money required to do what you want. Why are you opposed to running an AC?

I just purchased a brand new house with ac unit running to just the house, I'm not really wanting to put a second system in for the room because nabbers around me might start wondering why I have my ac on in the winter thats all. My friends been doing it for over 6 years now and was basically raised on growing with his dad. He's has mastered the big tree system something he's willing to totally help with just my light issue he's on the fence.

Your math is a little off, it is 454 grams per pound .

you could try looking at the new 20w led lights from eshine

man o man do i wish i had your budget lol im trying to grow like 10-14 plants with a budget of about 1500-2k. prolly gonna do 2 600W MH for veg and 2 600W HPS for flower.
you can get some sick packs on amazon, that come with the hood the ballast and a MH and HPS bulb for whatever wattage you choose. for instance this is the 600W version of the kit http://www.amazon.com/iPower-GLSETX600DHMAC6-600-Watt-Digital-Dimmable/dp/B005GYRZV2/ref=sr_1_2?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1369719228&sr=1-2&keywords=600+W+HPS+with+air+cooled+hood but if you were to buy 2 sets of the 1000W youd spend like 700$ but you would get 2x 1000W MH for vegging 500Wper plant would be pretty solid and then 2 1000W HPS for flowering, and the 2 air cooled hoods and ballasts. but with 2 1000Ws ur gonna have heat issue without a doubt so idk man, you give away better yield for no heat issues when you switch from HPS to LED and seems like your in for yield so i would just figure a way to work out the heat and go for MH + HPS combo.

where abouts you living? try to find a medical patient in need of caregiver, then youll legally be able to grow @ least 5-10 plants and the patient will want an oz or so free each month but ull be pumping out much more then that

1k hps per plant with extra veg time and a huge pot will get you there. Portable ac I have the same situation with new house and all.

I've seen some great LED grows, but cannot say I've seen "trees" grown under these lights. Your grow room will need the equivalent of the number of LED's in Las Vegas to grow trees.

I share your concern about heat and I've opted to go with T5 florescent lighting....but instead of intending to grow trees, I'm either going with a SCROG or a ton of LST to get a big yield from my plants....both give big yields per plant, and there's no battle with side-lights or heat.

Forget LEDs....and portable AC is the solution to heat. Do it once...do it right. Csufan97 spelled it out...if you wanna go all in try hydro, dwc, or aeroponics.

I hope you have a lot of time on your hands, because to grow a six foot plant will take 6 to 8 week veg time in my opinion. Then you will need a sativa dominate strain to grow that tall, and then you are looking at another 12 weeks bloom time, so all told you are looking at 5 months to grow those monsters. That's a hell of a long time, with a lot of energy used for a few of plants. I would give up on that dream, unless you grow outdoors. Stay smaller, and get you product faster. Lastly, I think your friend is full of shit saying he can get 3 or 4 lbs from 1 plant in an indoor grow. Doesn't seem possible to me, but I have been wrong before. Lastly, forget the LED's. They will work on a low grow, but not at the height you are looking for. If you have heat concerns, I would recommend VHO t5 8 lamp fixtures. I have used them on plants up to 4' with very good results, and they run relatively cool. Peace

While the idea of a growing big trees is appealing, it's not the best way to get the most of your plants as far as yield. I've looked at a shit-load of bud-porn and cannot say I have ever seen an indoor grow produce what I would call a "tree". "Trees" are an outdoor thing and it takes 5-6 months from seed to harvest.

You have a perfect set-up for a SCROG and you can get poundage in about 1/2 the time depending on strain. Veg for about 4-6 weeks, and flip 'em into flower for another 8 weeks.

If i had that much room and money wasn't an issue I would fill it with those round Rubbermaid totes that kegs fit in so well. Then I would buy a few 600 or 1k watt air cooled hoods and put them on light movers. Then I would use the big 300 watt equivalent cfl's you get at Lowes free hanging on pigtails for side lighting throughout the room. Just buy big fans for each light and a air scrubber. If you buy the right size fans and run the exhaust right you will be ok. Cover everything in mylar.

Thx everyone for your input I have a plan now and when all set up I'll post picks