most effecient lighting system?

[naturalbeginner]

i have early pearl clones under fluorescent lights at the moment and am ready to set up my grow room. i was just wondering which would be a better lighting set up to grow with, either a 1000w hps or metal hallide exchangable light with an additional 400w metal hallide for veg. or three to four 400w metal hallide lights because i can cover more space using less power. i think the 400w lights are also exchangable but not sure.

is there an advantage to using a huge power guzzling 1000w light? as far as i can guess the plants could possibly grow faster? as long as theres a tight reflective white surface (w/b poly) will it make much of a difference if so?

 

[desertrat]

depends on what you;re trying to grow. if you want tall plants the 1000 is better because it penetrates the canopy better. if you;re growing sog or topping or some other horizontal training method the multiple 400's will work fine.

also, a 400 effectively covers 9 sq ft while a 1000 can cover 25 sq ft. you would need three 400's just to equal the coverage of one 1000.

 

[naturalbeginner]

ooicc. im not quite sure what you mean by horizontal and vertical growing method i have see'n in videos some people put their lgihts right beside plants not above but im putting them above, beside is a little to complex for my first grow.

i was also looking up on it thats amazing that a 1000w can utilize 25 sq. ft. i was told only about 6 sq. ft. maybe a little more so thanks for enlighting me on that theres a lot of conflicting things about growing on the internet.

but your saying the only advantage to having a 1000w light is if i want to grow my plants bigger, which i dont particularly want to do because that takes much longer im leaning mroe towards having a lot of smaller plants that i can harvest in a short period of time while having another room with one or two of the 400w lights veging the next crop.

my idea is i will either have one 1000w light for budding and a 400w for veg, or 2 400w for veg and 2 for budding. whats your opinion?

 

[desertrat]

ooicc. im not quite sure what you mean by horizontal and vertical growing method .

i was also looking up on it thats amazing that a 1000w can utilize 25 sq. ft. i was told only about 6 sq. ft. maybe a little more so thanks for enlighting me on that theres a lot of conflicting things about growing on the internet.

but your saying the only advantage to having a 1000w light is if i want to grow my plants bigger.

my idea is i will either have one 1000w light for budding and a 400w for veg, or 2 400w for veg and 2 for budding. whats your opinion?

other people use other terms for horizontal but i mean training the plant to be short and bushy by pruning or tying branches.

to be clearer, the 1000 will give you better buds directly under the light than will the 400. you will have to vent as i have a 600 and its super hot and needs its own ventilation.

i would go with the 1000 if cooling is not a problem.

 

[naturalbeginner]

yea cooling shouldnt be a problem i have a whole basement to work with.

how much do you think on average each plant will be able to yield after about 2-3 months? i jsut wanna know to see whether its even worth my time/money/risk, some people are telling me at least a qp and others are saying an ounce or two. it'd really suck to risk going to jail for so little... especially when it should be legal in the first place but anyways...

im thinking about growing them to about 2-3 feet tall, then start to bud since apparently the plants can grow about another foot or just of bud. if i leave it budding will it jsut continue to grow more and more bud or will the plants effeciency at growing bud slow and may as well harvest and start again?

 

[desertrat]

how much do you think on average each plant will be able to yield after about 2-3 months?

if i leave it budding will it jsut continue to grow more and more bud or will the plants effeciency at growing bud slow and may as well harvest and start again?

how much you'll get depends on lots of things. one answer is that everybody here made the decision to grow basically for the same reason and with the same concerns. since the pot you buy is grown using these same methods, the only reason you wouldn;t do as well, especially with your setup, is experience and skill. lots of the quotes of yield here are so low because of insufficient light and other noobie errors.

that said if you don't get 4 ounces you aren;t doing something right.

the plants are annuals so they die unless you try some advanced regeneraton techniqes.

 

[nickfury510]

i would rather use 3 400w or 2 600w than 1 1000w....

but 1000w hps is the most effecient light there is....

 

[naturalbeginner]

alright thanks alot by the way, i really needed to clear some of that stuff up.

nick why would you rather use more lights than one 1000w?? less heat? cover more area? more flexibility?

 

[nickfury510]

just for more coverage area....im in construction and measure out floor spacing all day long...its come to my attention that most rooms arebuilt in a rectangle...more legth than width...while witha 1000w single you can cover 25sqf in a 5x5 area...3 400w will cover 27sqf in a 3x9 area....given me a little more space an easier acces to the back plants...also works great in a scrog or perpetual sog grow.....

 

[naturalbeginner]

yeaa makes sense thats why i was tihnking multiple lights im jsut starting out in construction as well and i've noticed that too. i dont know that much of the lyngo yet what do you mean by scrog grow? by perpetual you mean continueally growing right, veging the next batch while your budding others at the same time?

 

[nickfury510]

yeaa makes sense thats why i was tihnking multiple lights im jsut starting out in construction as well and i've noticed that too. i dont know that much of the lyngo yet what do you mean by scrog grow? by perpetual you mean continueally growing right, veging the next batch while your budding others at the same time?

scroog means screen of green...its a style of growing in which the plants are trained to grow verticaly under a mesh or screen to create a thick canopy of buds...great in situations where height and number of plants are an issue...and a perpetual sog is just that.keeping asteady run of plants going to create a harvest every 2 weeks or month...which ever suits your need and space...

 

[Baz]

im in construction and measure out floor spacing all day long...its come to my attention that most rooms arebuilt in a rectangle...more legth than width

Lmao im also in the construction trade and i need to tell ya that any room that is not completley square will always have more legth than width, sorry just thought this was funny im waste

 

[nickfury510]

Lmao im also in the construction trade and i need to tell ya that any room that is not completley square will always have more legth than width, sorry just thought this was funny im waste

im not talkin a 1/4" in 4'....and a room that has more length than width..can be completley square.......