1000 watt light, 5x5 or 4x4 grow tent?

I need help on deciding if I should get a 4x4 tent or a 5x5 tent. I am only going to use one 1000 watt hps light for flowering. I'll be growing in 5 gallon dwc buckets and want to do the typical 4 week veg and 8 week flower grow. I know that watts per square foot should be as high as possible, so the 4x4 might seem like the right choice, but I would also like to fit as many plants as I can into the area, which is why i'm considering a 5x5 tent too. With the 5x5 tent and 1000 watt light, it gives 40 watts per square foot. The 4x4 will give 62.5 watts per square foot, which is better but I wouldn't be able to fit as many plants. I would like to have 8 plants if possible, and the 4x4 seems like it may be too small for eight 5gal bucket plants. But maybe 6 plants would fit nicely in the 4x4? Which situation would yield more weight: 8 plants in the 5x5 tent with 40 watts per square foot, or 6 plants in the 4x4 tent with 62.5 watts per square foot? (Or am I wrong in thinking that many plants would fit in either of those tents?)

Its not the space for buckets you need to be concerned with. The space each plant is goi.g to take up is the issue.
I would go with the 5x5 and do fewer plants in a scrog grow. You'll get a whole lot more production, and can really get the most from light with even canopy. Jmo

I know that the space each plant will take up is the issue. That's why I'm trying to figure out if I should go with a bigger tent with more plants (BUT LESS LIGHT PER PLANT) or a smaller tent with less plants (BUT MORE LIGHT PER PLANT).

You could do 4 plants in a scrog grow and fill a 5x5 tent easy. Then you can keep light a lot closer and not have to worry about light penetration to lower growth. Which is usually a problem

You need to figure light per space, not light per plant. A 1 k light in a 5x5 scrog grow would flat out rock.

I have tried six plants in my 4x4 tent with aeroponics and they outgrew the tent and caused bad overcrowding, I also tried a 1000 watt hid in my 4x4 and ended up bleaching the plants. I now run 4 plants in my 4x4 tents and a 600w hid. I've got 4 in bubblers and 4 in soil right now. If your going to put alot of plants in the tent then consider running a sog.

Maybe a VERT grow, light in center, and 4 plants, one each corner. Not the easiest to tend to because of the light being in the way, but everything should be even-ish.

If you grow the plants ala natural then you can control the height of each plant by simply supercropping.

hydrogreen65 said:

You need to figure light per space, not light per plant. A 1 k light in a 5x5 scrog grow would flat out rock.

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I understand that. Yes, maybe a 1000 watt light in a 5x5 space would rock, but a 1000 watt light in a 4x4 space would rock even more wouldn't it? Again, a 5x5 tent and 1k light is 40 watts per square foot. And a 4x4 tent and 1k light is 62.5 watts per square foot.

^^^^plants will only use what they need and a 1000 w bulb in a 4x4 tent will bleach the plants. I know because I have tried. Not only that you will have the heat issue as well. But since you think more light is better then good luck to you.

I'm running a 1000 in a 4x4. I wish I had a 5x5. This time I'm growing vert and got 7 plants in there right now. 4 in 10 gallon fabric pots. I'm looking foreward to pulling the males so I have more room. The mh bulb is a couple inches from the leaves of a few plants and no bleaching....yet.

Agree with popcorn. You may ha e more watts per ft, but you would also be losing 9sqft of usable canopy.

^^^^*LIKE*

Steelheader3430 said:

I'm running a 1000 in a 4x4. I wish I had a 5x5. This time I'm growing vert and got 7 plants in there right now. 4 in 10 gallon fabric pots. I'm looking foreward to pulling the males so I have more room. The mh bulb is a couple inches from the leaves of a few plants and no bleaching....yet.

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MH is only about half the lumens of a HPS so ya you're doing great. A MH burns alot cooler than a HPS so no doubt you can get it closer to the plants.

Popcorn900 said:

^^^^*LIKE*

MH is only about half the lumens of a HPS so ya you're doing great. A MH burns alot cooler than a HPS so no doubt you can get it closer to the plants.

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My hps is coming on wednesday. Good thing I spend a good amount of time with them. Thanks popcorn.

Steelheader3430 said:

My hps is coming on wednesday. Good thing I spend a good amount of time with them. Thanks popcorn.

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I have done all my grows with MH/HPS but my next grows will be different as now I got my 10x10x10 tent and two shiny new 600w digital ballast and and hoods. I chose the 600w because they are more efficient than a 1000 also I will be use full spectrum dual core HPS in my new tent as it is a bother to switch the bulbs.

Popcorn900 said:

^^^^plants will only use what they need and a 1000 w bulb in a 4x4 tent will bleach the plants. I know because I have tried. Not only that you will have the heat issue as well. But since you think more light is better then good luck to you.

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How close did you have the light to the plants?

gorillagrower0840 said:

How close did you have the light to the plants?

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When that happened the hood was around 12 inches from canapy, It was a combination of bleaching and baking. At first I thought it was a deficiency then the tri's started to get baked and thats when I pulled the 1000w sodium.

I read that ideal watts per square feet is around 60 to 70 watts per square foot. Light from the sun is even more intense than that isn't it? So shouldn't plants be able to use more light than 40 watts per square foot? Shouldn't they be able to easily use 62.5 watts per square feet?

gorillagrower0840 said:

I read that ideal watts per square feet is around 60 to 70 watts per square foot. Light from the sun is even more intense than that isn't it? So shouldn't plants be able to use more light than 40 watts per square foot? Shouldn't they be able to easily use 62.5 watts per square feet?

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Some people I know will use a 1000w sodium in a 4x4 but they also defoliate but it all starts to get technical and it gives me a headache. The golden rule is a 100w a plant. Also another thing to remember is the footprint and intensity of the bulb if you have a bulb pushing out 90000 lumens that means you should have it around 18 inches away from the canopy. If you got five gallon buckets they stand almost two feet by themselves the plant will be on average 4 feet so thats 6 feet now add another foot for the hood thats seven and don't forget about the 18 inch gap from canopy. most 4x4 tents stand around 7 to 8 feet tall so do the math. You would have to run the hood full height which means that the plants will stretch and eventually outgrow the tent. To me it all adds up to problems when you simply can use a 600w thru the entire grow with no problems. The footprint of a 1000w bulb should easily cover a 10x10 area way too much intensity for a 4x4 tent.

50w per square foot minimum and 66w max.More light isn't necessarily better and there is a saturation point and that little thing called the point of diminishing return.