Adjusting light intensity during Grow?

Fellow growers,

I need some help with my new game plan.

I just replaced my small cabinet with a Dark Room 100 tent and upgraded to a 600w dimmable ballast.

Some are saying that a 400w HPS is more than enough for a DR100 tent (100cm / 40 in x 100cm / 40 in x 200cm / 80 in). But still i'm thinking of running 600w for at least 4 weeks sometime during flowering.
I'm hoping to achieve a significant increase in yield while saving electricity (as oppose to running 600 all throughout).

So my plan is something like this:

Veg week 1: 5 seedlings under 110w fluorescent
Veg week 2 - 3: 250w HPS
Veg week 4-6: 400w HPS
Veg week 6 start of flowering week 1: 400w HPS
Flowering week 2-6: 600w HPS
Flowering week 7-10: 400 HPS

What I want to find out is at what stage during flowering will plants benefit most of increased light intensity? I'm just guessing mid flowering stage, cuz thats how it works in the nature?

Or is it even worth to swtich to 600w at all?

Feel free to suggest something different.

Peace!

Please do not ever dim down to 250. You're robbing yourself of intensity during veg. when your plants are trying to stack on all the growth they can.

You can run 600w from week 1-8 of flowering, then dim down to 400w the last week or two to let the plants mature.

Don't let anyone convince you that less light is better. This is rarely true.. You may save a bit of electricity but also yield.

Yes I understand more light is generally better. That is if you have enough space and ideal conditions. But some people are saying that 600w is too much for a tent like mine, so that the increased electricity consumption doesn't proportionally increase the yield, as most of the extra light wont be used by the plants... Well i would like someone to confirm that or prove the contrary.

greenops said:

Yes I understand more light is generally better. That is if you have enough space and ideal conditions. But some people are saying that 600w is too much for a tent like mine, so that the increased electricity consumption doesn't proportionally increase the yield, as most of the extra light wont be used by the plants... Well i would like someone to confirm that or prove the contrary.

Click to expand...

I think the best thing would be to do a run with both and test it out yourself.

As long as you can control heat a 600 will be perfect for your tent. I run a 600 in a 48"x48"x78" tent and wouldnt personly run any less.

Edit: a 600w on 12/12 costs me just under $30 a month. Very reasonable