800 watts for 8 plants, will this work?

[tekneeqs]

I was planning to fit 8 plants into a confined space of 3x2ft. Hanging above are 2 x 400W metal halide lamps, so that's 800W of power in total. My question is, with this much light, will I be able to saturate all the plants even though they're going to be touching and layering eachother?

tekneeqs Reviewed by tekneeqs on 08-18-2006. 800 watts for 8 plants, will this work? I was planning to fit 8 plants into a confined space of 3x2ft. Hanging above are 2 x 400W metal halide lamps, so that's 800W of power in total. My question is, with this much light, will I be able to saturate all the plants even though they're going to be touching and layering eachother? Rating: 5

[tekneeqs]

ignore this.. sry..

[BlueBear]

Light isn't the problem, the heat will be the problem in that area. What is your plan for that?
Adieu

[tekneeqs]

Oh I been running those lights for a while now with an exhaust fan and heat is ok.. not a big deal.. So it would be ok? I mean my plants will get all the lights needed even if they're stacked and layered?

[slave2thagroov]

the MH are gonna give you wispy herb. 2 400 HPS w/ 8 plants, in a small place would be perfect.

[babystarbud]

the plants will be very crowded, im growing 6 in a simmilar space with 1 400w HPS and its packed out in there, they are growing fine, but theres literally no more space.
im surprised you had the room to hang two reflectors to be honest!

[jamstigator]

Heh, here's just three plants, in a space larger than that. They were vegged quite a while though. But still. Eight plants can be a lot of plants!

[stinkyattic]

That's plenty of watts. Go with the HPS for flowering though.
I'm only using 800w total -one MH, one HPS- to illuminate 32 plants in my flower room and they are quite happy, and so am I. Bud density is fine. Don't worry that the leaves overlap a bit. Just arrange your plants so they don't shade each other: shorties in the middle, lanky ones around the edges.

[tekneeqs]

babystarbud, actually there are no reflectors, only 2 lights hanged in there with a socket and bulb, but speaking of which, I should make one huh.. yes I should..

stinkyattic, even if i got a HPS I wouldn't even be able to fit it in the grow room since there are already 2 bulbs, and with 3 lights I would probably have an issue with the heat unless I add another exhaust. Besides, I can't remove just one of the MH light since those 2 MH's are running off 1 ballast.

jamstigator, damn those 3 plants are looking nice as hell.. What was ur growing schedule, how long did you veg. and flower for? How much do you yield?

Oh I forgot to mention, in my space if I grew 6 plants, like I have now, I think it would be ok, not much overlapping and such. But my goal was to yield 1 pound each harvest and this decision lead me to grow an extra 2 would mean I would be using pots which are smaller to fit in the area of 3x2. The pots are about 1 gallon, maybe less. That's another problem, should I or not? Would I get more yield in 8 plants in smaller pots or 6 plants in larger pots if given the same grow time? 1 week veg. 8-10 weeks flower. Thanks

[BlueBear]

Don't worry about the wispy buds. There are still old school growers that use MH all the way through the grow. HPS will give you a quicker flower time, but bud density will be a very little difference. Also, 8 plants will be allot for that space unless you grow SOG meaning you only veg for about a week and then switch to flower. You could use 6 plants PSF in a SOG, and even with that some EXP growers use 8 which is too much IMO, but can be done. Over on another board there is a member that grows 36 plants in a 4x4 area with stellar results.
I have even read Zandor saying that he knows growers that still go MH the whole way. I have 2 1000w MH grotech ballasts and a 1000w digital ballast with a Hortilux mMH and HPS so I can pretty much use what I want except for the fact that I don't have the room to use everything right now. Maybe I will have to actually do a side by side grow with pics and post some day a full MH grow. The reason I don't post pics is because my vision is so bad that my wife would have to do all of the work and with my sight problem she does enough work right now with helping to maintain our babies as it is.

Adieu