plant spacing

I was wondering from experience how far apart everyone places there plants for optimum growth/yeild. i was thinking i would go with 8'' pots side by side.

1 sq ft per plant for hydro setup.

thanks because I was wondering the same

and what if i did aeroponics at basicly 8-10'' apart, or is 1 square foot needed? becuase i was trying to optimize my area for maximum yeild. 4x4 would have 36 plants in it at a 8'' spacing it would only have 16 at 1 per square foot.

another thought. what if i trimed the low branches that shot off to far to give more nutrients to the main stalk could that aid more vertical growth with the same yeild with out bad side effects?

my babies have been really short. Only 4 inches high yet 11 inches wide leaf span. On their 7th node to. I choped the bottom set of leaves off that was not gettin any sun 2 days later over an inch of growth up. dont kno if its just their growth or less underbrush seemed to help