8'x11' room, how much light do i need?

I only plan on having 9 plants in dwc vegged in another room on a perpetual cycle. I'm thinking 4 1kw in air coolled hoods. I plan on vegging for 9 weeks as well so I should have decent sized bushes. I guess my question is, do you think that's too much/little light for that space

"120,000 lux Brightest sunlight
110,000 lux Bright sunlight
20,000 lux Shade illuminated by entire clear blue sky, midday
10,000 -25,000 lux Typical overcast day, midday
<200 lux Extreme of darkest storm clouds, midday
400 lux Sunrise or sunset on a clear day (ambient illumination).
40 lux Fully overcast, sunset/sunrise
<1 lux Extreme of darkest storm clouds, sunset/rise, moonlight"
Courtesy of Wikipedia...

"The sun averages 7k lumens,most plants have adapted to be able to handle the sun. Over 10k or about 110,000lux if your a weirdo will bleach your plants. That's the sun at its strongest...when this bleaching occurs the plant is not being able to keep up chlorophyll production at rates necessary...likewise 2100 lumens is required to sustain photosynthesis

Heat burns the plant in a different way, similar to having too much wind. From moisture being drawn out the leaves (transpiring)faster than the plant can replenish"
Courtesy of me...Googling myself again


Oh and lights are rated at 1 foot

I'd say that if you can keep it cool, well ventilated, and the glass in hoods a good foot or so above the top of your plants.... blow it up! I run four 1kw HPS's in a space just a little larger than that.

go vertical and use 4-5 1ks. 9 weeks in dwc will make some huge trees. I had a ph problem/calmag problem for the first 3-4 weeks and they were 2 feet wide bushes at 7 weeks. those hoods can only penetrate a canopy so far. you would have to make super short trained bushes for 9 week veg plants under a hood.

about 500w a plant!?!? Over-kill if you ask me. My own rule of thumb is 125w per plant...other's go with 100w per plant. Unless your plants are going to be far apart from each other, two 1000w bulbs will be more than enough. I personally have 400w MH and 600w HPS on a light-mover over 11 plants (5x7 flower room) and all are happy with the set-up (I do have 500+w of side-lighting).

lilroach said:

about 500w a plant!?!? Over-kill if you ask me. My own rule of thumb is 125w per plant...other's go with 100w per plant. Unless your plants are going to be far apart from each other, two 1000w bulbs will be more than enough. I personally have 400w MH and 600w HPS on a light-mover over 11 plants (5x7 flower room) and all are happy with the set-up (I do have 500+w of side-lighting).

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The 500w of side lighting is what makes your setup viable. Without that, you'd be 750 watts short of the standard recommendation which would be noticeable at harvest time imo.



50 watts per square foot. 8x11 is 88 square feet x 50 WpSqFt is 4400. I think you could get away with four 1k's and be fine. Or section the room so it is 8x10 and you'd be spot on.

non.unique.name said:

The 500w of side lighting is what makes your setup viable. Without that, you'd be 750 watts short of the standard recommendation which would be noticeable at harvest time imo.



50 watts per square foot. 8x11 is 88 square feet x 50 WpSqFt is 4400. I think you could get away with four 1k's and be fine. Or section the room so it is 8x10 and you'd be spot on.

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The side-lighting was an afterthought. I grew all summer with just the two lights on the light-mover. The watt's-per-plant thing gets skewed with a roving light set-up. The plants grew well without the side-lighting...better with it now that it's cooler and I can run the side-lights.