MH wattage guide per plant

[pdgenoa]

I've been trying to get a straight answer to a simple question for a few weeks but everywhere I've looked the answers are argumentative or not addressing the question.

Here it is: *as a general rule* how many watts per plant when using an MH bulb?

I don't want watts per square foot.
I don't want lumens per plant.

This is for four, potted autoflowers if that helps.

A simple answer (in as much as that's possible) would really be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Leafy Greens]

A lot of folks consider a 1000W metal halide in a 4'x4' grow tent to be the gold standard. How many plants are you able to fit in that space? It is more important to measure 800 umol/m^2/s photosynthetic photon flux density at the plant canopy than Watts. Only 40% of the Watts from that type light help the plant. The rest turns into heat.

 

[pdgenoa]

A lot of folks consider a 1000W metal halide in a 4'x4' grow tent to be the gold standard. How many plants are you able to fit in that space? It is more important to measure 800 umol/m^2/s photosynthetic photon flux density at the plant canopy than Watts. Only 40% of the Watts from that type light help the plant. The rest turns into heat.

I sincerely thank you for trying to help so please don't take this the wrong way, but that is exactly the kind of answer that does not help me. I only want one thing: the recommended wattage - per plant - with an MH bulb. That's all. As I said tent space, square footage, area - none of that helps me. Just MH wattage per plant.

Thank you again for your input, I know you're just trying to help.

 

[gbauto]

I sincerely thank you for trying to help so please don't take this the wrong way, but that is exactly the kind of answer that does not help me. I only want one thing: the recommended wattage - per plant - with an MH bulb. That's all. As I said tent space, square footage, area - none of that helps me. Just MH wattage per plant.

Thank you again for your input, I know you're just trying to help.

Kinda hard to give a definite answer because some plants fit in a 2 sq ft area while another strain covers 4x the area. From what I've read from folks who are much smarter than me is that MH/HPS is about 60W/sq ft. For a 2x2 space I'd shoot for 250W.
I know that you just want a number but to get dependable results you need to estimate the total amount of area that you want to spread the light source over-then you can determine how much power/intensity each lamp/plant will need.