How much lighting needed per cubed foot?

[Buggy]

Ok, I know how many lumens are suggested for the square foot. BUT! What about square foot when the plants are taller???

Such as, when your plants are 4' tall, if you have CFLs that produce 4000 L per sq', what about the lower levels of the plants? Or do you just work at lessening the number of leaves lower down?

I'm just thinking consistancy.

Bug

Buggy Reviewed by Buggy on 08-01-2013. How much lighting needed per cubed foot? Ok, I know how many lumens are suggested for the square foot. BUT! What about square foot when the plants are taller??? Such as, when your plants are 4' tall, if you have CFLs that produce 4000 L per sq', what about the lower levels of the plants? Or do you just work at lessening the number of leaves lower down? I'm just thinking consistancy. :) Bug Rating: 5

[growdemon]

2000+ lumen per square foot is the minimal a plant needs to live

add more light to the lower area.
this is about 14 cfls estimate. 25,000 lumen 25w bulbs

[Buggy]

Just re-looking over everything, and noticed your toilet. LOL! What do you do when you have to poo? Or is it straight ferts? (JUST KIDDING!)

I'm working on just 2000/sq foot right now mostly because one of our light sets stopped working - will be fixed soon.

But, I'm still wondering about the cubed footage. Something to play with later on other grows. I WANT to be at 5k lumens personally, but... That's a high energy bill.

Wondering, what is the trade off for more lumens? You have higher production, but what is the cost? Is it worth the cost when it's just a grow for 1 person? Is it worth the heat, cooling needs, higher energy costs, higher maintenance for the added production?

Also, what about the different types of lights? Do the lumens they give off actually affect plants differently? As LED lights give out little (from what I've read so far) yet the plants can use it more efficiently? How does that compute for fluros/cfls? our plants vegged quite well under "low" lumens, although I was purposely keeping them short with topping and they only vegged 6 weeks indoor with an inexperienced noob. Just wondering how the low levels from them affected the whole thing.

I WILL be adding more, just have to wait to get out to the store that has the right one items for how I'm working things! (also, have to get a better block method for my closet sides - what I had wasn't able to be moved like I had hoped when we reduced the space in half when removing the males. I need something adjustable for my space. That is also hurting the amount of light everywhere.

I like how you have things set up with the tinfoil over the light stretched out to help reflect. I'm considering using that for the divider as well.

How can you tell the plants are not happy with the amount of light? They aren't stretching since the lights are only a few inches from the plants, they are nicely green and growing well from what I can tell. Thanks!

[growdemon]

Lol... yea its a spare bathroom.

2000 sq ft? that cant be right, my space is around, 9 sq ft. like 3x3, and I have for the flowering cycle, 25,000 lumen

basically, in my space here is my light cycle 3x3, I also re-pot into larger pots during each phase
seeds/sprouts, 2-4,000 lumen
6-8 inches 8,000 lumen
16-36 inches 14,000 lumen
then flower, throw as much as you can. 14,000 L is enuph to flower some great buds in a 3x3

also the reflector I made is not tin foil, its thin metal, you can buy it in a roll in various sizes & thickness's at the hardware store; not sure what type of metal but it does not contract very much heat at all.

any light you give a plant it will be happy, if you want them taller raise you lights higher, you need some space in between the leaf's, those become bud sites.