4 cfl's
- Thread starter patch0i
- Start date
FirstTimeGrow
Well-Known Member
From what I understand, as long as they are growing, they are doing something, but more light = bigger, better, faster growth.
I think you are OK on the lights now, but more can never hurt.
Have you looked at what temp these lights are (2700k? 6000k?) ?
hearmenow
Well-Known Member
Need to see the lumen output too. That's the key. You need at least 2500lumens for even one plant. Here is a good article I found on the subject. Hope it helps.
Cannabis Seeds Sativa, Growing Marijuana Pictures, Cannabis Culture
Lumens and Marijuana Growing
You are probably wondering: How many lumens do I need? This depends on three
things:
1. How much you want to spend
2. How many plants you have
3. The size of your grow area
You never want to use less than 2500 lumens, even for one plant. In general, one light that casts 45,000 lumens is enough to cover a grow space of about 3 feet by 3 feet.This is quite an average space and you'll probably get anything between 1 to 12 Indica plants in that area. Again we must keep in mind the strain that we're growing. One large Sativa plant can cover a nine square foot grow area in no time. Short Indica plants are different. If you really want to pump up your plants, then you could consider a lamp that casts 100,000 lumens or more. If you have a big grow area then you might consider two lamps that cast 100,000 lumens each. It's all relative to how much you want to grow and the size of your grow room.
Let's say that you would like to grow four Indica/Sativa hybrid plants. What you should aim for is a light that casts 45,000 lumens. This means you should buy a 600-watt HID system. If you want to pump up your available light to around 60,000 lumens, you should buy a 1000-watt HID system. If your area is bigger still, you might need two or more 1000-watt HID lights to achieve this.
The General Illumination Formula
You need roughly 50 watts of HPS or MH light per square foot of your grow
area. The simple formula looks like this:
250W HID = 2'x 2'area 400W HID = 3'x 3'area 600W HID = 3.5'x 3.5'area IkW HID = 4'x 4'area
This simple watts-per-square-foot calculation assumes that each square foot of space receives the same lumens but in reality bulbs do not cast lumens equally to all areas of the space. We need to include depth in our calculation. As light travels away from its source, its intensity diminishes by a factor of one quarter each time the distance traveled doubles.
There's nothing wrong with using a 1000-watt HID light on a few plants or even one plant they will grow bigger and better for it but you need to make sure that you choose genetics that can use all the available light. Lighting overkill occurs when a single strong HID light is used to grow a genetically poor yielding plant. You will find that a single 400-watt HID may have been more than enough to grow the plant to optimal maturity. Most strains available from reputable breeders are high-yielding plants, which is why growers can sometimes use a single 1000-watt light and pull sometimes two pounds or more of bud from the one plant.
Cannabis Seeds Sativa, Growing Marijuana Pictures, Cannabis Culture
Lumens and Marijuana Growing
You are probably wondering: How many lumens do I need? This depends on three
things:
1. How much you want to spend
2. How many plants you have
3. The size of your grow area
You never want to use less than 2500 lumens, even for one plant. In general, one light that casts 45,000 lumens is enough to cover a grow space of about 3 feet by 3 feet.This is quite an average space and you'll probably get anything between 1 to 12 Indica plants in that area. Again we must keep in mind the strain that we're growing. One large Sativa plant can cover a nine square foot grow area in no time. Short Indica plants are different. If you really want to pump up your plants, then you could consider a lamp that casts 100,000 lumens or more. If you have a big grow area then you might consider two lamps that cast 100,000 lumens each. It's all relative to how much you want to grow and the size of your grow room.
Let's say that you would like to grow four Indica/Sativa hybrid plants. What you should aim for is a light that casts 45,000 lumens. This means you should buy a 600-watt HID system. If you want to pump up your available light to around 60,000 lumens, you should buy a 1000-watt HID system. If your area is bigger still, you might need two or more 1000-watt HID lights to achieve this.
The General Illumination Formula
You need roughly 50 watts of HPS or MH light per square foot of your grow
area. The simple formula looks like this:
250W HID = 2'x 2'area 400W HID = 3'x 3'area 600W HID = 3.5'x 3.5'area IkW HID = 4'x 4'area
This simple watts-per-square-foot calculation assumes that each square foot of space receives the same lumens but in reality bulbs do not cast lumens equally to all areas of the space. We need to include depth in our calculation. As light travels away from its source, its intensity diminishes by a factor of one quarter each time the distance traveled doubles.
There's nothing wrong with using a 1000-watt HID light on a few plants or even one plant they will grow bigger and better for it but you need to make sure that you choose genetics that can use all the available light. Lighting overkill occurs when a single strong HID light is used to grow a genetically poor yielding plant. You will find that a single 400-watt HID may have been more than enough to grow the plant to optimal maturity. Most strains available from reputable breeders are high-yielding plants, which is why growers can sometimes use a single 1000-watt light and pull sometimes two pounds or more of bud from the one plant.