1000w = how many planta?

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Swiphty

Member
I've got 29 plants currently growing under a 1000w HPS light.

Looking at them I'm thinking this is definitely not going to be enough light to produce the results im looking for.Im planning on growing the plants to a pretty full size about 5 feet or so because my ceiling is about 7 feet and obviously I need some room for the HPS.

I am considering setting up a veg room and leave some of the smaller plants in there and use them as mothers... hopefully if I top them I can keep them a little lowe than the ones im flowering and then move them into the flower room when the first batch is done.

My question is how many plants do you think I can efficiently grow under the 1000w HPS?

My friend suggested 10-15 but I was moping more like 20.

You can see pics in my grow journal which is in my signature.
 
PainWrek

PainWrek

Active Member
i currently have 20 plants under 2000 watts. 15 is pushing it. after this harvest my perpetual will be up and running, and i plan on taking 15 cuttings a month, flowering from rooted clones, and lollipopping for SOG, keeping them relatively small. i wouldn't recommend putting more than 10 big girls under a 1000..... stop by my journal to check it out...
 
regrets

regrets

Well-Known Member
With plants that big it is hard to keep more than 9 or 10 plants, especially if you are going to be topping, which will make your plants even bushier. Also when you are thinking about your height restrictions don't forget to think about the growth in flowering. If you veg them to 5 ft and then try to keep them in a 7 ft room under lights, you will have a serious problem.
 
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ThePyramid

Member
You need to figure at least 8 inches - 12 inches off top for light reflector plus another 12-20 inches (or more) from glass to canopy. Thats at least 20 inches but more likely to be 30+ inches of unusable space for your plants height. I wouldnt veg them out much longer than 2-3 weeks. You def. have too many plants for your light/space. How many sq ft?
Also, how will you be able to decide the mom plants without sampling the meds? Gonna guess?
 
S

Swiphty

Member
Well ya im not gonna veg them to 5 ft. that'd be insane some of them could shoot up a lot.
I was thinking more like 3 ft. and then switch to flower. If I really need to I could tie any big ones down.

As far as how to pick mothers I was planning to use the smaller plants so I can keep them in veg longer.
It's more about being practical to me than picking the best plants to be mothers, once I have everything going well I can afford to be a little more picky but right now I want to turn clones I paid for into money without losing out on too much of their potential.

Im trying to think of a way to solve this problem.
Do you guys think it would be sufficient if I supplemented the 1000w HPS with some fluoro tubes?
If so how many tubes do you think I would need.
Right now I have 3 fixtures with 7 bulbs total. They are relatively cheap so I could buy 4-5 more if I needed to.

I was also considering just leaving 14 of the plants in a veg room with just the fluoro tubes but then they are going to stretch out a lot more and Im not sure I will get the product I'm looking for when I flower them.
But it would give me time to finish the first batch of flowering and take some clones.
Once I have some clones I will have a bit more time and I will probably be able to afford another light and plan things out a little better.

Do you think it would be better for me to try to add more light to the flower room by adding fluoros?
Or would I be better off setting up 2 rooms and leaving 14 of the clones in veg for as long as I can?
 
jcdws602

jcdws602

Well-Known Member
Setting up 2 rooms will allow you to have a perpetual harvest,bout 2 months in between each harvest.3 foot plants will double or triple in size so you would be able to grow too many......bout 8-10...I prefer to sog or scrog smaller plants....I get better yields.....I veg my plants 12-14 inches then throw in the flowering room
 
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Swiphty

Member
Okay so maybe I should flower them around 2 ft. then if I want them to grow around 5 ft. in total?
I would love to do SOG but I haven't tried cloning yet so I'm guessing I'm not going to be lucky enough to get all my cuttings to root and a lot of them will die lol...
I dont want to take 40 cuttings and then have 30 die... or take 40 cuttings expecting 20 to die and all of them end up taking root then I end up with too many plants again...

The biggest problem is I have 29 clones all around the same size.
All of them have been under an HPS for about 1.5 weeks.
Im worried if I try to flower 15 of them and keep the other 14 in veg under fluoros they will stretch too much and need to be put into the flowering room before the first batch of 15 are done. Then I will have monster stretched out plants that I won't have room to flower.
 
JimmyT

JimmyT

Well-Known Member
4'x4' or 5'x5' are the magic numbers for a 1000W HPS. If you want to do many plants, you'll have to keep them short in order to fit 15-20 plants. Plus, you mentioned these plants can reach 5 feet? There's no way you'll be able to fit. Well, you could but with marginal results.

Just like it was mentioned, veg for 2-3 weeks and keep the height down otherwise, reduce the amount of plants. Have you considered a light mover?
 
S

Swiphty

Member
Forgive my ignorance but what is a light mover?

And does anyone think it would be worthwhile to add in say 11 42' fluorescent bulbs?
I was thinking I could afford to buy some more of those and use them for side lighting and maybe that would be enough light to supplement the 1000w and I would still get a good yield off the 29 plants.
Maybe Ill cut it down to 25 plants or so and use the other 4 for mothers.

Do fluorescent tubes work well with 1000w HPS? Or do you think they will just promote more stretching.
 
OregonMeds

OregonMeds

Well-Known Member
Flouro tubes are fine for rooting clones and growing spindly plants in flower. In veg they are ok to about 2 feet then you need to tie the plants over because flouro's only penetrate mere inches.

Would flouro's add to your grow now? No.

What is the best use of what you have? Shove all the flouro's into one room and the hps in another. Flower 15-20 plants right now short as they are and veg the others under the flouro's. Don't crop out all the flowering plants at once pick and choose as they mature and some will be faster than others and start moving new plants in a few at a time ea week or so until you have a perpetual grow going on. (search perpetual if you don't understand, look in the faq if nothing else.)

I grow 6 plants at a time under a 1k but it's vertical, I've let them get as much as 7' before when done and 2.5lbs per light. You will be lucky to get 1lb even if you had 1000 plants. The more you move away from the ideal number of plants the less you will yield.

1k lights are cheap, buy more.
 
S

Swiphty

Member
Thanks OregonMedsI believe you answered my question perfectly and I will try my best to follow your advice.
Thanks to everyone who commented.

Im gonna flower sooner than I planned hopefully the plants I keep in veg wont grow to big to fit in my flower room this way.
If they do I should have an earlier harvest anyway so maybe by then I can afford another 1000w.
 
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