Lighting LED Watts per Sqft

[BigCheezeDog]

Light naming conventions can be confusing things. Lots of lights are labeled at the theoretical output. Your typical chinezium 1000 watt light probably does have 100 10w LEDs, so technically not a lie, but not true either. The name is simultaneously a lie because those fixtures are never operated at full power.

So Just as an example, I run a mars TS 600 in a 2x2. The light is rated to draw 100 watts from the wall, and in that setup is a perfectly suitable econo grow.

I bet that those 500 and 1000 watt fixtures are probably drawing 90-150 watts from the wall.

Some years back, a light building YouTuber Growmau5 did the basic math for sizing a fixture build. The math is well known, so using the plug wattage is not pure bro-science; there are known maths behind it. At least enough to get you to the point of getting going with a good chance of success.

A LED from a reputable manufacturer drawing between 100-150 watts from the wall will grow good buds in a 2x2, if you do your job on the other parts of the growing conditions.

You can always geek out later

unless you are growing small autos you will not gain anything by running 2 plants in a 2x2 1 plant in a 5 gal pot will fill the grow space out easy

 

[automan2]

Thanks! i tried a dehum in the tent and didn't work so i'm saving for a big one for the room where the tent's in. In the mean time, my buds still come out nice and i get enough for my needs, plants just dont fill up as much as i now they would with more light.

By the way... damn... 70w sq ft of hps+blurples not matching what almost half of that of cobs/qbs can... @shendomoto, that shows you how watts can be misleading!

Oh yeah, regardless the parameter variances, I too grow more weed than I'd ever burn but the hobby is worth it....the difference in the hps/blurple nuggs vrs cob/qb was the nuggs under bluple/hps just aren't as tight and firm....

 

[The Iconoclast]

300W would be a good amount of light in that space. You could probably get away with 200W. Anything more than 350W would be overkill.

 

[The Iconoclast]

was the nuggs under bluple/hps just aren't as tight and firm....

Having grown under a good quality so called "blurple" light like the viparspectra PAR700 which has separate control for red white and blue, I do prefer the QB96 because they are more efficient and more versatile, however while the viparspectra is a bit less efficient, the quality of weed is identical. There's normal variation not just from strain to strain, but also from seed to seed from the same packet.

I got 13 zips of high quality bud from a single OG Kush auto with a viparspectraPAR700 in a 2' x 4' space. Purple lights are pretty, and they work, but they are less efficient and a bulky all in one unit is harder to move around and finagle into jaunty angles.