How much space/lighting for 3 short sativas? - Newb needs education to start grow

Happyjoy

Well-Known Member
hey there everyone! im new here and really happy i found this place.
im very serious about starting my first grow, and really need some input and advice about the best way to go about it.
(i need to say that ive spent alot of time reading around here, but i would still appreciate anyone who could read through my thread and advise me on the best option for my particular space and goals. thnks!)

ill list my overall goals, and hopefully thatll help make it clear what im after, and get the correct advice

so here goes:
-my goal is to grow as nice quality bud as i can in my position. i dont care about quantity (im a very light smoker, but enjoy quality. 10 grams a plant would be more than enough :))

-being that i dont live in the USA, we dont have all the same products and nutes, so ill just be going with standard potting soil bought at a store. it is fertilized to begin with though, and aired out well enough.

-instead of growing 1 LARGE plant of 1 strain, i would like to grow 4 SMALL plants of different strains.
-the strains i have are:
A)Durban poison (dutch passion),
B)Maui waui(niravan),
C) Medi Haze(CBD crew),
D)a freebie auto, (auto speed, or auto sour crack)

one of my issues is that i would like to throw the auto in with the grow, but im considering perhaps building a small closet just for it in order to keep it on the best lighting for an auto.

so heres my different questions that i have before i can start:

1)GROW SPACE:

what size grow space should i make for these plants and my goals?.

-just to point out again, my goal is to grow 4 different strains and each plant can be small (10 grams a plant would be awesome for me!)

heres different spaces that i have to set up the grow in:

option 1) Under Desk Spac : 23"x46". the height is: 28.5"
theres this space in a work room, under the desk, which i noticed might be perfect for a micro grow. (i dont need to use the whole width if its too wide)

heres a pic of option 1. (obviously ill take that printer out if i need the whole space)
Full_Size_Render.jpg




option 2) cupboard: 24"x22"x38"
a cupboard i built once from firmaika wood, (the type used in kitchen closets made out of sandwich wood, that has a white gloss finish)
-im guessing that this cupboard option #2 might be too small to grow 4 different strains?. but if so, i was considering it maybe for just the auto, so i can keep it on the best lighting hours for an auto, and use option 1, or 2 for the other 3 strains....

option 3
if none of those options are good. i have a different space.
Back closet space. 26x36 inches (height, up to 6 feet, can be adjusted smaller ;p )



ok so thats for the first part.

2)now i need some advice on the lighting:
yay, i know there quad billion opinions out. but ill try to break it down, after everything ive read here.

my two options seem to be:
1)DIY CFL settup.
2) a budget LED setup. (im considering marshydro marsII or reflector seriers)

so assuming i got together enough money for an LED, which size LED board should i go for from the marshydro selections for the space options that i have?

if i cant afford the LED's nescesary, than how many watts of CFL would i need for the project? assuming we use whatever space u deem best.

remember, im not looking for huge plants.
were talking about 3 or 4 small plants. ill be happy even with 10 gram from each plant, so ill be keepignn them small and flowering fast.
(again also considering, if you think i hsould do the auto in a seperate space, then i guess ill use cfls jsut for that one?)


3)method of growing small in this space
lastly:
im a real newb at growing. so how exactly would i grow to keep the plants to the restricted size?

from the research ive done, i kinda got the feel for lst'ng. (in the actual journal ill be keeping everyone posted to make sure i do it right)

but what else do i need to be doing to keep it small? ive read the micro threads, but i think that i have a little more room, even in my under computer desk settup, than a standard computer box grow. so how will i grow everything to make sure from the begining that i dont outgrow my space?


i hope i gave enough info and that im not drying you guys out. this is my first grow, and im posting it hopefully so that i can do it in the best way possible, and so that me and others can learn from this for the future.
thnks:thumb:
 
Re: help,how much space/ligthing for 3 short sativas?newb needs education to start gr

"bump"
an additional thought. i recently read about PLATINUM leds P150. i saw that a bunch of people updated from the mars to the platinum.
how do people here think a P150 would compete with the mars reflector or marsII?
i know that the appeaprent wattage strength looks less. however the plantinum uses secondary lenses with 60deg. also the 'coverage space' quoted looks like it might be good for my grow.
any ideas, opinions? thnks
 
Re: help,how much space/ligthing for 3 short sativas?newb needs education to start gr

I would go with the space under the desk and have three plants side-by-side.I cant help you with the lighting much. I only use HID lighting. LEDs may work. I've never used them but there are billions of users of them on this forum. I'm just not sure if you could make the height work with them in that space. From what I have read they need to be couple feet away from the plants -if so that would rule out LED under the desk or in the cupboard.
I think, especially because they are sativas ( I didn't look up those strains to see what percentage sativa they are) you would be best to go with a scrog. That's training the plants under a screen- using it to spread the branches and keep the canopy even, and the whole grow very low. A true sativa can take a long time to flower and stretch a lot during flowering- so 'micro' and sativa don't seem to me to go together. But with a screen you could do it well. Here is a pure sativa (2 actually) under a screen - 19"x24". I put these into 12/12 lighting when they were 4" high, and topped them one time. Also used Light Addict's backbuilding technique which keeps the buds stockier. Next time I'll veg longer to try to get a much fuller screen (and use one plant per screen). But maybe this gives you an idea of how they stretch. I don't know how much this screen yields, I haven't harvested it yet.
image22442.jpg


Another thought- be careful and do your homework with that soil. It doesn't always work out that well using soils that are enriched with nutrients. For one thing, you generally want different nutrients during blooming than during the vegetation growth period. Also, some types of these soils are just too rich for the young cannabis plants and really cause problems. Sativas need less nitrogen than indicas so would be more delicate this way too probably. So do some research on the soil before you buy.
Alright- talk to you later. Good luck
 
Re: help,how much space/ligthing for 3 short sativas?newb needs education to start gr

I would go with the space under the desk and have three plants side-by-side.I cant help you with the lighting much. I only use HID lighting. LEDs may work. I've never used them but there are billions of users of them on this forum. I'm just not sure if you could make the height work with them in that space. From what I have read they need to be couple feet away from the plants -if so that would rule out LED under the desk or in the cupboard.
I think, especially because they are sativas ( I didn't look up those strains to see what percentage sativa they are) you would be best to go with a scrog. That's training the plants under a screen- using it to spread the branches and keep the canopy even, and the whole grow very low. A true sativa can take a long time to flower and stretch a lot during flowering- so 'micro' and sativa don't seem to me to go together. But with a screen you could do it well. Here is a pure sativa (2 actually) under a screen - 19"x24". I put these into 12/12 lighting when they were 4" high, and topped them one time. Also used Light Addict's backbuilding technique which keeps the buds stockier. Next time I'll veg longer to try to get a much fuller screen (and use one plant per screen). But maybe this gives you an idea of how they stretch. I don't know how much this screen yields, I haven't harvested it yet.
image22442.jpg


Another thought- be careful and do your homework with that soil. It doesn't always work out that well using soils that are enriched with nutrients. For one thing, you generally want different nutrients during blooming than during the vegetation growth period. Also, some types of these soils are just too rich for the young cannabis plants and really cause problems. Sativas need less nitrogen than indicas so would be more delicate this way too probably. So do some research on the soil before you buy.
Alright- talk to you later. Good luck

I asked some local growers about the particular soil. They said it's great. It's just standard potting soil (it does have some nuetriants mixed in, but since it's a standard product, it's friendly also to little seedlings. I hope they're right

Wow. Thnks man for all the advice. All the strains I got are early finishers. Durban (8 weeks flower) Maui (I think nine). Medi haZe (also around same time)
I was planning also on flowering early and scroging with lst

As far as grow size, I don't need to use the under desk space. I can use a different space I have which is same size, but taller if that's the issue.
I was thinking about it, after I add the flower pots+lights, I won't be left with much space

I have some questions
1) how much buds did u get when u flowered at 4"?
2) what size container to use for plants if I don't want to take up too much space?

heres my new rephrased question:
the thing is, i dont want to start setting up so many spaces. this is more of a one time run, in one place, so that ill have what to smoke for a few months (i go throuhg like 1.5 G a month ;) ). so technichally i would need just one plant, but since im kind of a connisouer, i would like 3 different strains (one for morning, one for worktime, one for chilling etc).

so thats why basically im trying to go 3 plants, in the space that i would need for one.

technichally i have enough space to grow three full sized plants, but the reason im not is because of cant afford to buy the lighting for such big space,



so it seems that the space under the desk is too small for flowering a normal sized plant, correct?

if so, i can put together a space somewhere else that has similiar dimensions, but taller.

which brings me to my next question:

1)whats the minimum practical (not shotglass grow) dimensions needed to grow 3 SMALL plants that would yield me 10G a plant.

2)and how much lighting would i need for that space?

3)what size containers to use for each plant?

thnks a million :smoke:
 
Re: help,how much space/ligthing for 3 short sativas?newb needs education to start gr

Why grow 4 plants and get 10 grams a plant, when you can grow 1 plant and get 40 grams? Seeds cost money.

Keeping them small does not mean they'll flower faster. The Veg time will be reduced, but flower time will essentially be the same. Why wait 9+ weeks for just 10 grams?

Why do you want to grow so many small plants instead of slightly bigger ones?

What is a small plant, to you? How tall? How wide?

The desk and cabinet will work fine for CFLs, but will be a little short for LEDs, as you said above, once you add all your gear, you won't be left with much space. I would go with option 3. You don't have to use all the vertical space, but it's nice to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.

If budget is a concern, look into Mars Hydro Old Model. Cheaper than what the reflectors or Mars II will cost you, but also effective.

CFL will also raise temps of small areas, you'll need good cooling if you go with those options.

Each light covers a specific area, or you will also find ratings of watts per square foot. For LED, you can grow with 20 watts per square foot, but 35-50 is highly recommended.

It's impossible to tell you dimensions you'll require to yield 10g per plant. Some growers can do it in solo cups. Other growers need 5 gallon pots, environment is key, plant training, grower experience, lighting, humidity, temps, medium, pot size, etc.. all play a role in yield.
 
Re: help,how much space/ligthing for 3 short sativas?newb needs education to start gr

Why grow 4 plants and get 10 grams a plant, when you can grow 1 plant and get 40 grams? Seeds cost money.

Keeping them small does not mean they'll flower faster. The Veg time will be reduced, but flower time will essentially be the same. Why wait 9+ weeks for just 10 grams?

Why do you want to grow so many small plants instead of slightly bigger ones?

thnks. good question.
i guess for most people it wouldnt make sense. however in my case, im a very light user. maybe 2g a month. but i really enjoy different strains. for example for my grow i planned 1)pure sativa(fast flowering one),
2)a 70/30 sativa indicia.
3)a 2/1 cbd/thc.
this way i have something for each different occasion. i dont want the worry of growing 120G of bud. and i can afford to buy lights for four big plants. also laws here are very strict. and im trying to keep things as simple as possible.
so, i know it would be easier and simpler to just go with one big plant, but i want different strains,and i dont want to grow (right now at least, 4 big plants)
 
Re: help,how much space/ligthing for 3 short sativas?newb needs education to start gr

It's very hard to answer some of those questions without typing a small book to cover the possibilities. Check out the last two links at the very bottom of Antics post- they are amazing resources that will answer a lot of your questions.
This is the first time I've grown that sativa indoors. I don't normally put plants into the flowering room at 4 inches high. I did that because the sativas naturally tend to grow very tall, and that is why I included the picture as an example because you said you were going to try to grow small sativas. I haven't harvested those plants yet but they will for sure be more than 10 grams each.
I would do some reading on the different types of lighting and how that would affect the way you're going to be growing, then based on whatever type of light you get- a few other basics will follow- like ventilation needs, and space requirements
 
Re: help,how much space/ligthing for 3 short sativas?newb needs education to start gr

right ok. thnks
for ventilation i figured one outtake fan on top, and one intake on the bottom. im not sure what size i need, i guess whatever i find in the store thats reasonable.

the reason ive posted, is because ive been burning hours and housr reading everythign online. and was looking for actual peoples different perspectives and experience do help decide whats best in my situation.

ive been reading so much, but just getting endless information and having trouble compacting it all to decide whats best for me. for example: i could just germ, and pop the seeds into 1 gallon pots, in a 24"x24" space, and start lst'ng, and then after a month find myself needing to build a new space. and afterwards perhaps getting rootlocked etc. and then finding out my light isnt sufficient...

i dont want to post grow problems in the future when its too late, and have people on the forum saying 'you should have......, bigger room.... or bigger buckets.... light too small..... etc. i wanna take care of the problems now before i start.

so im trying to put together a good plan ahead of time by getting advice from peoples experience, to figure out exactly how to start.
 
Re: help,how much space/ligthing for 3 short sativas?newb needs education to start gr

It's easier to try to answer specific questions or problems that arise farther down the road of actually growing, than to try and set up everything perfectly on paper.
Ok- well, pretty much any size plant can be trained low, like 8" above the top of the pot, especially with a screen. Add at least 10" (or more depending...) for the pot height. Add whatever space take up by the light, fixture, and possible reflector. For me that's probably another 12". Then add whatever the minimum distance you can put that light from your plants, which for me is roughly 18" to be safe.
This would add up to the minimum height of your grow space. In my example above- 48". I'm being a bit conservative with those numbers now. You could squeeze some plants in a 28" height if you tried hard enough. Fluorescent lighting/cfls can be very close. LEDs I think not.
If you are going for the higher closet space, then get a light that will cover that area- 26x36. That shouldn't be hard to figure out. There's the basics- ventilation, temperature, odor control, whatever. Plant some seeds, start a journal, you'll get help, and flower them when you decide they're big enough to fill your space after the stretch. (?)
 
Re: help,how much space/ligthing for 3 short sativas?newb needs education to start gr

Alright, as for Autos, they're not as fast as the breeders claim. They usually take weeks longer, and take almost as long as normal photo strains.

Why not grow 2 plants at a time, different strains? That's what I do. My last CFL grow yielded 3 total ounces. You can easily do one grow of 2 plants, small to medium sized, get a decent yield, and then take a break from growing for a couple months. That'll save money on electric. Which also brings up the point of electrical costs for 4 small plants, with a lower yield, vs. the same electricity used to grow half the number of plants, but slightly bigger.

Those 2 plants that I grew were barely 16" tall, yet had a decent yield. You can easily do the same. I would just rather have a larger quality yield with nice potency, over 4 smaller plants, with lower yields, just so I can try other strains. You can easily grow 2 more plants later to try other strains.

As Weasel suggested, check out the links in my signature. Specifically the How To Grow Cannabis one. It's a massive collection of topics that covers everything you'll need.

I would just suggest considering fewer plants, with better yields, and less grows.

With pharmaceuticals, the important thing is to have your medication, you don't have to visit 12 pharmacies to do it.
The same applies to Cannabis. 1 plant will easily provide the necessary medication needed, you don't need 4, or 40 strains to do it.

ESPECIALLY on a first grow. My suggestion now is to learn the ropes, grow 1-2 plants. Learn as you go, because there may be various problems you encounter during the grow. The more plants you add, the more it may compound the problem, which usually results in a discouraged grower, who gives up, and resorts to buying unknown bag weed on the streets from unknown people.

As you learn more, it's much easier to branch out, train your plants to grow how you want, and if you really want, you'll be able to grow 4 small plants, and at the same time have a great yield from them. But don't get in over your head, I've seen far too many new growers do that. Start small, keep it simple, make it easy on yourself, and work from there.
 
Re: help,how much space/ligthing for 3 short sativas?newb needs education to start gr

wow. thanks to both of you. thats some really sound advice from the two of you.

as far as what you said antics about taking 2 plants for better yield, vs more for smaller yields, in general i would certainly agree with you. especially about the point that itll be much easier for a first grow, to deal with 2 plants, instead of 4. however im really so curious to try each of these strains that i picked.
at least the durban, maui, and medi haze.
i guess i can compromise and leave the auto out for a different time. or just throw it somewhere with a cfl and not pay too much attention to it, just for fun to see how it goes, but put my main work and learning on the main 3 plants....
ill have to meditate on it.
thnks!
 
Re: help,how much space/ligthing for 3 short sativas?newb needs education to start gr

If you're just starting out, one wise approach would be to sprout one seed under some CFL's. As it grows you can get your grow equipment together and sprout more seeds later on. Eventually you could also have two of those spaces growing and have a perpetual grow going on. This is what I do. I grew one strain for three years straight, trying to get it growing reasonably well. Before that I did various grows over the years, indoors and outdoors with all sorts of different strains. I'm a slow learner I guess because I am still making some of the same mistakes that new growers make. Currently I have about a dozen strains growing and I am constantly learning how to deal with each one. I'm working on narrowing them down to have two or three of my favorite strains growing. Perpetual growing means -one room for flowering, one for veg. This gives many options to grow what you like. You are going to come up against the same issues that every new grower does, so it might be wise not to sprout all your seeds at one time. Once you make a few basic decisions which are for you to decide, start a journal and you will get help on each point as you go. It's a lifetime, never-ending learning curve and constant money outflow with equipment upgrades. Keep it simple at first and you'll actually get something to smoke while you're meditating on the thousand things you have to do and learn next
 
Re: help,how much space/ligthing for 3 short sativas?newb needs education to start gr

hehe. great advice again.
i really wanted to start growing with 1 seed (probably the auto) with cfl's in the cupboard option that i have. but i didnt think it was worth putting the effort into rigging up that whole closet, and setting up cfl's that can be moved up and down etc.
but that actually sounds like a great idea.

how much watts of cfls will i need for one plant in my 24"x22"x38" cupboard?

as far as one room for vegging, and one for flowering. i guess thats the most proffesional way to go. and would allow me to also learn about clones, and keeping mothers going. but i dont know if i feel safe yet having a constant grow always going on.
as of now, the goal is more of a one time shot till i need more buds. and to enjoy the learning on the way, so that next time itll come out even better.
 
Re: help,how much space/ligthing for 3 short sativas?newb needs education to start gr

Yeah start simple and go from there. Or it will just be a lot of stress in my experience. I can't answer your question about CFL's, unless I google it or search it so I'll let you be the one to do that instead
 
Re: help,how much space/ligthing for 3 short sativas?newb needs education to start gr

hehe. great advice again.
i really wanted to start growing with 1 seed (probably the auto) with cfl's in the cupboard option that i have. but i didnt think it was worth putting the effort into rigging up that whole closet, and setting up cfl's that can be moved up and down etc.
but that actually sounds like a great idea.

how much watts of cfls will i need for one plant in my 24"x22"x38" cupboard?

as far as one room for vegging, and one for flowering. i guess thats the most proffesional way to go. and would allow me to also learn about clones, and keeping mothers going. but i dont know if i feel safe yet having a constant grow always going on.
as of now, the goal is more of a one time shot till i need more buds. and to enjoy the learning on the way, so that next time itll come out even better.

You'll find most of the answers to your questions here: How to Grow Marijuana Everything You Need to Know

Keep in mind, with CFLs, you WILL NEED TO CUT HOLES for ventilation. This isn't optional. Temperatures can easily hit 90-100F

For small plants, I suggest a minimum of 100w in Veg, 150w in Flower. That's PER PLANT. If you're using 23w bulbs, use 4 per plant in Veg, 6 in Flower, and you can see how it adds up fast.

The more lights you can add beyond that, the merrier.

You can also follow the square foot suggestion, 20-30 watts per square foot as a bare minimum. For your space, the guideline would say 20-30 watts total, which we can both agree that a single bulb won't grow a plant to produce a nice enough yield, which is why I always offer the other minimum, of 100 watts per plant in Veg, 150w per plant in Flower.

You can grow with less bulbs, but it will directly affect yield.

When I grew with CFLs I had over 50w per square foot, and even then I only yielded 3 ounces. The less light you have, the less results you'll see.

And make sure you look at actual wattage used with CFLs, ignore that "OMG 100000 EQUIVALENT WATTS" crap on the packaging. That's only to help people replace incandescent bulbs with a CFL of similar brightness.

And I noticed above you said: "i guess i can compromise and leave the auto out for a different time. or just throw it somewhere with a cfl and not pay too much attention to it, just for fun to see how it goes"

I can save you the trouble of figuring that one out. These are pictures from my first grow, trying to grow too many plants, with not enough light.

This is how it goes with not enough light:
2014-05-07_10-01-56_719.jpg


And here's the amazing yield you have to look forward to:
2014-05-23_15-21-19_887.jpg
 
Re: help,how much space/ligthing for 3 short sativas?newb needs education to start gr

wow, thnks antics. that certainly gives me good direction. u just saved me wasting a good auto seed!
so its not true that people can just plant an auto and leave it by a window, then... u got 0.87 gram from that one plant, on not enough light. thats a good thing to keep in mind.

and thnks also for ur so detailed info on cfl ligthing. u saved me alot of time of looking around. exaclty what i was looking for.

i didnt understand what you meant in this part:
You can also follow the square foot suggestion, 20-30 watts per square foot as a bare minimum. For your space, the guideline would say 20-30 watts total, which we can both agree that a single bulb won't grow a plant to produce a nice enough yield, which is why I always offer the other minimum, of 100 watts per plant in Veg, 150w per plant in Flower

what dyou mean by, 'for my space, 20-30 watts total"? my space is bigger than a square foot...

also when u mentioned that u got 3 ounces using 50 watt per sq foot. is that 3 ounces from 1 plant, or per square foot?

so ive adjusted the room size thanks to all ur advice ;).
im not going to use the under desk space. instead im building a small room in a different space.
the dimensions are: 28"x36". and height is 48".

im gonna try to get an LED that works for that size.


and in addition i think ill be doing a CFL grow with the auto strain, in that cupboard, with the suggested wattage suggested here previously.
thnks
 
Re: help,how much space/ligthing for 3 short sativas?newb needs education to start gr

I was calculating by the previously mentioned cupboard, which was 24x22, but was thinking too fast for my own good, and was thinking of 24" increments as 1 foot. Sorry for the confusion.

See, that's where the lighting stuff gets a bit confusing, and takes a little time to get the hang of it. Sometimes I just don't explain things clearly because as I'm typing one thing, I'm thinking of something else I need to say, then I lose track of myself.

I grew 2 plants. My grow closet is 40" x 26" and about 7' tall. We don't include height in calculating square feet, so ignore that for now.

With CFLs, a lot of people will suggest 20-30 watts per square foot. My grow space is a little over 7 square feet, so I should aim for at least 140-210 watts total. I added as many bulbs as I could find a fixture for, which ended up being 14 total bulbs, and a total wattage of 361 watts. My total yield for the plants, I got a little over 1 ounce from one, and a little over 2 ounces from the other. Both were different strains.

One plant yield:
2014-09-05_09-25-58_165.jpg


Second plant yield:
2014-09-19_08-56-31_138.jpg


I only yielded .24 grams per watt. Which isn't bad, but could be a lot better.

Grams per square foot really doesn't mean much here, since I didn't use the whole grow space for the plants. That number would be better suited for SCROG or SOG grows.

28x36 is perfect for two nice medium sized plants, or 3 slightly smaller plants.

CFLs work great, but lack penetration, so you need to keep the bulbs 2"-6" away at all times. So they're also great for tight areas, but they also produce a bit of heat, so a decent exhaust is needed.

LEDs work even better. They have a little better penetration, but they're intense, and can burn/bleach plants if they're too close. The closest I could get my lights was 12" and it started bleaching leaves, the bleaching stopped when I raised the light to 16". In Veg, you will need the light 18"-24" away from most strains. LEDs keep temps much lower than CFLs, but will still produce some heat. Only basic ventilation for temps is needed.

HIDs are the reigning champion. The MH/HPS combo has been used for decades, with amazing results. They have the best penetration, but also need a bit of distance between the plant and the light due to their intensity. In addition to that, they also produce the most heat. If used in smaller grows, real good ventilation is needed, and/or the use of a cool tube reflector.

There's no right or wrong choice with lighting (unless you want to use halogen, incandescent, or cheapo budget LED panels, none of which have ever worked). They all have their place in different grows.

With your 48" height, you can use them all, but with HID or LED,, you'll want to train them a bit to keep height shorter, and use shorter, wider pots to give yourself a bit more space to work with.

A quick calculation:

48" total space
-24" light distance
-8" pot height
-2" light height

And you're down to 14" left for plant height in Veg. In Flower you can get a little closer.

Is there any way you can go 60" tall? Or is 48" the maximum?
 
Re: help,how much space/ligthing for 3 short sativas?newb needs education to start gr

wow antics, ur just too good! ur really giving me the info im looking for.

i think can go 60" height, but there will be a wooden 2by4 cutting across the length of the room at 48" height. if that doesnt matter, then i think i can go 60". ill need to double check that.

so according to your calculations, i should also be shooting for around 360 watts for this room, correct?

whats annoying about the cfl lighting, is it means i need to buy 360 worth of bulbs for veg, and then 360W worth of bulbs for flower of the other spectrum. but i guess thats part of the game.

however a friend just told me hell lend me his 400w hps. so it looks like ill be popping that in this room (if i cant get the money toegher for a LED). i hope the 4 computer fans i got will be able to cool it.
and trying cfl's in a small 16x16 cupboard with one plant.
 
Re: help,how much space/ligthing for 3 short sativas?newb needs education to start gr

You can always hang one light on each side of the 2x4. What is the reason for the 2x4, structurally?

For your room I would suggest 35-50 watts per square foot. But you can get away with as little as 20 watts per square foot, which was what my current grow was until I added the 2nd light a week or two ago.

@ 20 watts per square foot, you'll be looking at 140 watt draw LED panels. (Don't look at the output, just the actual wattage used, also commonly referred to as draw power, or total draw)
@35 watts per square foot, you'll be looking in the range of 245 watt draw LED panels.

@50 watts per square foot, you'll be looking at 350 watt draw LED panels.

They'll all work, and will all grow Cannabis. I'd be willing to bet smaller panels can even be used for smaller plants, which is one thing you've mentioned. But just keep in mind, that with each increase in power, you're increasing the potential for bigger yields on each plant.

More yield = less grows you need to do each year, which will in turn, save electricity costs.
 
Re: help,how much space/ligthing for 3 short sativas?newb needs education to start gr

the reason for the 2/4. is that the grow space is in a storage room.
im putting them underneath a shelf. the 2/4 is supporting the shelf ontop of it...

ok so if i get the LED 144x3. the draw power is 250-300W. that means ill be at around @35 watts per sqF.
if i use my friends 400W hps, then ill be at the @50 per square foot.

so, the only reason i would go with the LED, would be to hope that its true that they are improved quality results over the HPS, even though the quantity would be less probably than the 400W HPS...

im sorry if you said this already, but how much yield on average (for a begginer, and obviously dependant on strains), could i expect per plant from @20 watts per square foot? and how much at 35watts per square foot.
i dont remember if we covered this idea. thnks for all ur help!
hj
 
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