How many plants under a 1000W(HPS) to maximize the yield?

[9KtuFK]

Hello guys, I wanted to get your opinion on how many plants to put under a 1000W (HPS) to maximize the yield? A 1000W covers a 5X5 space right?

I do not want to use the SOG technique cause it too much work and Iâ??d ratter be caught with fewer plants if something goes bad ... I heard it didnâ??t increase the yield anyways !

I was thinking about

16 plants (How tall should they be before the swich to 12/12)
OR
25 plants (How tall should they be before the swich to 12/12)

Thanks in advance.

P.S. I will be growing Blueberry â?¦ Is it any good?

[Weedhound]

I started with 8 plants in about a 4 x 6 space and a 1kwatt light. By the end of the grow I had five females which took up every single inch and needed more. Working around them became really hard; the branches got bumped and broken, and trying to do maintenance on them became an extreme hassle. Make sure you leave enough space at the beginiing if you can't move things around later. My plants got to be close to five feet high by the end and about 2-3 feet wide apart. They GROW.

[Tom Green Thumb]

I have grown the same way for years but the way I do it is tree style. I veg for two months and clip one or two times during. I use 5 gallon pots filled with Promix and when the plants reach about three and a half feet (not including the pot) I trigger. I place seven plants under each 1000 watt HPS and arrange them so that the plants in the center sit lower than the plants at the sides. If you were to look at just the bottom pales on the side you would see what looks like an inverted plate, with the middle highest. Also I place the plants 'around' the light so that it strikes them at about a 45 degree angle. If more than one light is used it maximizes growth. If only one light is used you will have to rotate the outside plants so that they receive light equally. Using this method I get 2 pounds bone dry after curing.

I have done numerous configurations and this is what seems to produce the most for me. Others have different methods, may be better but I have found it works for me.

I am in the process of changing the way I grow to utilize a perpetual garden setup. It will be quite different, but i'm sure it will work out great and pull off a crop every 6 weeks.

TGT

[Toolfan33]

Tom do you have any pics of your room?

[Weedhound]

Yes I'd love to see a photo too. Do you use mylar or any sort of reflective stuff?

[santacruz_organic]

im using 2000w for my room which is 7x9x8 and im growing 17 plants. i know that if you plan on growing this many plants then you will need at least my size room or bigger cause i can see that my room is going to be a tight fit. it is more important to have 8 prime clones with space then 16 scrony clones. your yield will be about the same if not better and it will be easier to manage.

[Racerx]

I do 15 plants per 1000 watt if they are growing large, or 30 plants per 1000 watt if they are planter box style single colas. I now use 600 digitals instead; growth seems to be about the same as regular 1000 watts, but less energy and significently less heat. Penetration seems just about as good too. Cant imagine 750 digitals or higher.

[Racerx]

I do 15 plants per 1000 watt if they are growing large, or 30 plants per 1000 watt if they are planter box style single colas. I now use 600 digitals instead; growth seems to be about the same as regular 1000 watts, but less energy and significently less heat. Penetration seems just about as good too. Cant imagine 750 digitals or higher.

Forgot to add a picture. If you do large # of plants per light, then 12/12 them almost immediatly (week or 2 depending on how established the clones are and if they are used to HID lighting). If your doing less plants, veg longer.

[Tom Green Thumb]

Sorry I've been away for a couple days. I'll see what photo's I can find and post them soon.

TGT

[Tom Green Thumb]

I looked but can't find any better pictures as I recently changed computer hard drives. I will hook up the old one when I have time as there are some very good one's there that show my setup perfectly.

These photo's are kind of close because I was focusing on the buds and not the set up, but you can see how tall the plants are. Also, you can see that the lights are not directly over top of the plants. I find with this particular strain of AK47 that if the lights are directly over top it produces pop corn buds. If the lights are on a 45 egree angle with the big plants almost surrounding each bulb, it produces long fully developed cola's that ultimately have more weight.

What I have not done in these pictures is put up mylar or black & white. It was a quick setup and was far from perfect, but still yeilded almost 2 pounds bone dry each light. I think in this picture there were three 1000's in total.

This system works much better with multiple lights as when the plants are arranged in this way the light hit both sides, but still the outside plants must be swapped or rotated to keep the light even.

I have done this setup with 1 - 1000 watt HPS at a friends home because space was limited. We ended up yeilding 1 pound and a half bone dry. This smaller yeild was due to no cross-over light that you get with multiple bulbs. But even so, yeild still seems pretty impressive to me.

TGT

[BlueBear]

I think that you have a pretty proficient method IMO, not all fancy, but rather simple, I like it and seems a fair enough way to keep plant counts down without having to do a SCROG, whitch are still a very good method, just time consuming IMO. Have you tried any other strains and had similar success?
I am about to set up another room, 2K and I may mess around with something like this, except I think that if I have the extra change around I will do 3 40 gallon tubs with 4 plants each, giving me a total of 3 tubs and 12 plants using a top feed drip system. I think with that I could probably veg for 3 weeks to a month and get the same growth as 2 months veg in soil, but I am not sure if they would bush out too much for 4 to be in one 4 by 2 40 gallon tub.
Well, keep up the good work.
Adieu

[9KtuFK]

Thank you all for the great info!

After reading all your reply, Iâ??ve decided to use Racerxâ??s technique and go with 16 plants under my 1000W (HPS).

Now just to be 100% sure, how tall should I allow each plant to get before switching to 12/12 so I maximize the space and of course â?¦ The yield :D

Also, should I top using this setting ?

Thanks so much !

[The_Chronicler]

I was thinking about

16 plants (How tall should they be before the swich to 12/12)
OR
25 plants (How tall should they be before the swich to 12/12)

That many plants in that amount of space is pretty much a SOG. Try then with 3 plants and tie them down, if you dont want the SOG.

[Weedhound]

I want racer's set-up and tom's buds.

[Toolfan33]

Toms plants look like they've been out doors and maybe moved inside to beat the frost.The room they're in looks to be huge and tons of wasted space,he must be a miracle grower.I could be possibly wrong but highly doubt it,if so then i'd love to see a complete grow from him with pics.He has nothing to prove to me tho,16 years of growing under my belt and still learning....

[Toolfan33]

Look at picture 3 of Tom's plants and notice how big the lower buds are.If you have done any indoor or outdoor growing at all you will know that there is no way enough light down low to support those lower buds ,that big, in an indoor grow.Those are out door plants moved inside forsure...I don't usually call someone a bs'er but in this case i must... Tom i'll be waiting to reply

[TeeMoma]

What is Promix and is that all you use verses soil, rockwell cubes, pellets or per-lite/cocoa mix?
I have grown the same way for years but the way I do it is tree style. I veg for two months and clip one or two times during. I use 5 gallon pots filled with Promix and when the plants reach about three and a half feet (not including the pot) I trigger. I place seven plants under each 1000 watt HPS and arrange them so that the plants in the center sit lower than the plants at the sides. If you were to look at just the bottom pales on the side you would see what looks like an inverted plate, with the middle highest. Also I place the plants 'around' the light so that it strikes them at about a 45 degree angle. If more than one light is used it maximizes growth. If only one light is used you will have to rotate the outside plants so that they receive light equally. Using this method I get 2 pounds bone dry after curing.

I have done numerous configurations and this is what seems to produce the most for me. Others have different methods, may be better but I have found it works for me.

I am in the process of changing the way I grow to utilize a perpetual garden setup. It will be quite different, but i'm sure it will work out great and pull off a crop every 6 weeks.

TGT

[tlranger]

[quote=Toolfan33]Look at picture 3 of Tom's plants and notice how big the lower buds are.If you have done any indoor or outdoor growing at all you will know that there is no way enough light down low to support those lower buds ,that big, in an indoor grow.
Was thinking massive side lighting myself, but production level thickness is off the charts.