Need some advice on flowering tray layout

Ok, so I have been working on my grow room.
I'm working on the layout of flowering tray.

In my plans, I originally called to have 4 trays (I'm doing sog) at 18 in x 18 in so that my foot print in my room if I squared them up with be 36 in x 36 in. On paper it looks fine, and as recommend I would have about a foot around the area to walk around, but I did the layout today in the room on the floor, and just felt so cramped in there. When I'm in there I want to feel comfortable and be able to work freely without tripping or hitting my head or something.

I had one solution was to make the entire set up smaller, but I'm really sold on wanting to do at least 9 plants per tray(with the ability to go as much as 16 per tray) . My mothering area is large enough to support larger actually. So I don't really want to go smaller.

So my latest idea is to just stretch the footprint from a sq to a rectangle. So with my idea, I can make each tray about 16 in x 24 in giving me the ability to still keep my 9 per tray but could potentially hold 24 plants per tray now. The lay out this style would line them up across instead of putting them in a square configuration. This would spread the foot print and smash it up against the wall and really free up the work area I have to walk around in. instead of walking in a "U" pattern around the original plan , I would have a full rectangle in front of me un obstructed and more comfortable.

The original plan was going to call for 1 single 600W HPS or 100W HPS above the flowering bed (36in x 36in for those who forgot by now I know my posts are long) Would I be better off going this route and still use only one of the lights? Remember, the light would need to now cover about 6 ft x 2 ft. I know that is is only 12 sq. ft, but in my mom area, I'm not satisfied with the spread of my 400W MH which is covering 5 ft. Albeit I don't have a batwing on there yet.

Any thoughts? What would you guys do? I'm really not sure if 1 light can manage the 6 feet. Although 2 lights isn't out of the question either. But I'm not sure what 2 lights would be bestto flower the 6 ft run.
All thoughts welcome.

RECAP: Which should I do?

A.) Keep my 36in x 36in flowering area with 1 600w or 1000w HPS covering it and be cramped and uncomfortable in the room.

B.) Change the layout of the bed so it's 72in x 24in with 1 light. And be way more comfortable.

C.) Same as B, but with 2 lights?

Here is my original plan. The flowering tray is in the top middle of the room. It's not to scale, but if I do this in the room, it will be hard for me to work in. The changes would call for the tray to be lined up in a row on that top wall there.



Thanks

~~ Flams ~~

24 views and no opinion
=(

I have a perpetual grow.
I harvest a quarter pound every 2 weeks.
In my flowering room I have 4 trays, They're 2X2.
4 plants per tray.
Only 4 plants will fit, where light and air reaches every plant.

You don't want to over crowd your plants, even if your growing SOG style.
Yes, the light only needs to reach the tops of the plants, but you need the air to be able to circulate freely through the plants.

A good rule of thumb to live by is, 1 plant per square foot.

right on thanks for the heads up, but still doesn't involve my question. Am I unclear on what I'm trying to do or change?
Thanks

BTW I'm using 4" air pots, I'm going to attempt my best to just focus on that top cola. I may even try to trim half instead of a third during weeks 1+ and 3+ I'll have to water a lot more often I think because of the pot size, it will kind up being sort of a ebb n flow mist system or something because of how those pots are supposed to work. I'm just worried about how to line up my trays to get the best light coverage for them while still being able to work comfortably in my room.

Fwiw, I'd go with setting them out rectangularly, so you have room to work, (nothing worse than being uncomfortable in your groroom imo) and use 2x 400w lamps, this should give you the coverage you're after, a 400 will give plenty of light for it's 2x3 area, and two light sources will give more even growth, as the plants furthest from the light aren't as far from the light.

right on man. Do you think I would be losing on penetration using 400s instead of the 600s?

Not at all, lumens will penetrate just as well from a 100w as a 1000w, there just aren't as many of them. A light photon doesn't travel any further because it's coming from a stronger source, there are just more photons being emitted so you can cover a larger area.
In your case even a 1000w won't adequately reach either end of a 6' tray, but having 2 600s in there would be overkill, that'd be 100w/sq ft. 50w/sq ft is a guideline, and above 60 or so you start getting diminishing returns, cos' your providing more light than the plant can use, and increasing the work your fans have to do to cool the place.

Hmm that is very interesting. You don't post that often, but when you do, it's very very insightful. I was under the impression that people used the large lamps (ie 1000w) not only because it could cover more area, but because it would "penetrate" deeper into the leaves of the plant. Based on this logic I had in my mind, I was going to use a larger light to make the fattest top colas I could get rather than focus on how many plants I could get under the light.

So if all other factors being equal, would a top cola from a 400w lamp be comparable to one from a 600w and 1000w?

Thanks again wise cat. When I get some more time, I would liek to read up more on the lights to see if I can reinforce that idea there that I somehow missed the first time learning. Either way, I feel comfortable now starting smaller. With the option of always being able to upgrade down the road if needs be, but it sounds like I won't have to. I like this.

You pose an interesting question, which I can't give a definitive answer on because I've never tested it. I'm still a pretty inexperienced grower, I just do a lot of reading!
In theory, there are more photons being emitted by the stronger lamp, so it holds that the parts of the plant closest to the source (ie; the tops) would recieve more photons and so grow better. However, the rate of photosythesis has a limit, and plants can only take so much light before it starts being wasted (not in a good way). This cut off point can be difficult to calculate because it depends on a lot of environmental variables, co2 is well known for it's ability to increase the rate of photosynthesis if used appropriately, and of course simple things like maintaining the correct ph, balance of nutes etc. Even with all variables controlled, genetics comes into it so what's just enough for one strain might be too much for another.
If light is the only limiting factor, then a bigger light will give bigger yields. 2 400w hps in a 6x2' area, light will not be your limitation!

Ya right on. There is a lot to look into, and it's going to be something to upgrade and test later. It's like on your sig. I know that it's an extreme example, but 1000W over 1 plant is going to have some fat ass buds compared to the CFL lamps over 1 plant. I'm not as concerned about wasted light(within reason, there will come to a point between cost and size/density etc...). What I want to achieve is the fattest top colas as possible.

Consider the case closed for now. I'll start off with 400 watts over the line, and then upgrade and play around down the road.
Thanks again for all the input.