Plants Per Square Foot?

I have been browsing the forum and have not seen a definite answer for this. I found a file cabinet that I am going to use for a semi-stealth grow. It is 52 inch tall, 25in x 15in. I see on the sticky (https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/723-things-know-about-lighting.html) recommending 3,000 Lumens per square foot and another thread suggesting 5,000-8,000 Lumens/sqft (https://www.rollitup.org/grow-room-design-setup/452282-12x9-how-much-lights-2.html). Is there a more correct answer? Also, is there a rule of thumb (non-strain specific) on how many plants can be comfortably grown per sqft? Any thoughts would be appreciated!

One thing that i have learned through research and personal experience is that you will want specific breeds for growing in cabinets, mainly indica or hybrid short and bushy! You can get away with 400W out of that cabinet depending on the width of your lights, you will definitely have to put a fan on the light for cooling in the cool space. Depending on where you plan on having your cabinet, you will want to pay attention to the ambient temperature of the location as the inside of the cabinet may increase anywhere from 10-20 degrees. Back to the cabinet, you will want to use a scrog setup to increase your yield and keep them short because only the tops are going to be able to get enough light through the canopy. I hope this helps, good luck! Im curious to see what the cabinet looks like completed!

I am looking into growing Strawberry Diesel, NYC Diesel, Purple Haze, or Northern Lights. Originally started a stealth grow PC but found a tall metal file cabinet. I am in the process of gutting it now and getting it locked up. Hopefully it will have a homemade carbon intake and exhaust (https://www.rollitup.org/grow-room-design-setup/63004-my-3-carbon-filter.html), adjustable to the plant lighting (trying to determine CFL vs HPS), and added CO2 (https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/258474-home-made-co2-guide.html). Any suggestions for the set up?

I have no experience with large CFL setups, but i do know that the light doesn't penetrate as deep as HID lighting although the HID'S produce more heat, hence the cooling of the light. If you do CFL'S you will want to do horizontal and vertical lighting with a good mylar coating on the inside to increase light reflectivity and infrared signature.

1 plant/sq foot. so in your cabinet you could probably only grow two. 400w hps sounds like overkill for that small of a space. If your going to use CFLs you'll need a lot of them.

Even cherry tomatoes need 1 sq ft per plant and I top at 6 ft. Custom wire a Single T8 per corner mount the ballasts on outside rear and allow an inch for radiant cooling from wall.
For two plants shoe horn another pair of lights in the middle temps should be reasonable as ballasts are your source of heat. 3 fixtures $60 10 T8 bulbs $25 @ Lowes/Homedepot 240 watts

prep1801 said:

1 plant/sq foot. so in your cabinet you could probably only grow two. 400w hps sounds like overkill for that small of a space. If your going to use CFLs you'll need a lot of them.

Click to expand...

400 W is what is used in the stealth grow cabinets, they also use the UFO led's that i have heard to be huge rip offs. If you are able to keep the heat down, your yield will be exponential with the 400...250 could do it but you will not get much penetration to the lower portions as they grow.