New Grower Lighting Questions

[SpaceGod]

Hello AF community! Good chance you will be seeing me around here quite frequently.
So being completely new to growing I have a question that probably has a simple answer.
I am buying grow lights that work for Veg and Bloom but i dont know how many watts I actually need, 300w, 1000w, what is the difference??
Thanks!!

 

[AutoWonders]

Lets start with your budget and how many plants do you plan to grow?

 

[arpowre3]

Yeah where will you be growing etc? You can't use a 1000w setup in a stealth cabinet. Haha

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

[SpaceGod]

I was thinking 10 autos @ a time, should i do more?

 

[SpaceGod]

I have as much room as i need, a full basement to be exact so room is not an issue, i just need to know whats watts i need and what makes a difference in how much to use.

 

[Son of Hobbes]

I was thinking 10 autos @ a time, should i do more?

I would advise starting with a small amount of plants. You're new to growing, so every extra plant is another chance for something to go wrong, to not address things that you otherwise might be able to address, and to get a better understanding of the plants. You can grow 10 mediocre plants, or 5 amazing plants that will destroy the yield of your 10. I say this as a guy who likes to grow large quantities of smaller plants, at the end of the day, it's just far easier doing less pots in terms of management. It's entirely possible to get too ambitious when starting out growing lol.

 

[SpaceGod]

Yeah I can deffinitly feel the rush of ambition, the extensive research and step by steps i've been following is what I am relying on for a great grow, I just hope with the help of everyone here, I can set my expectations high, and enjoy some delicious, great buds!

 

[autogogo]

I have as much room as i need, a full basement to be exact so room is not an issue, i just need to know whats watts i need and what makes a difference in how much to use.

cool man, can we come over and play in your basement. What I wouldn't give for a whole basement. HID are usually judged by watts for instance one 400w mh will cover about 2x3, 600w 4x4. LED is judged by par and footprint. LED watts are meaningless it is simply the wattage of the diodes times how many diodes the light has. But that doesn't tell you much. Start with a 600w mh from amazon or ebay. That is good for 4 autos. And checkout a grow by blackdog that uses a 400w led in just a 4x4 space. I think they got 3 pounds from it. I use a 200w led for just 1 plant. at $500 a pop 12 would be very expensive. At anyrate, you already have what most of us can't buy and that is space and I assume height. Run all your lights 24/0. Is that ok?

 

[Frogster]

I would advise starting with a small amount of plants.

I concur with Son of Hobs,

But remember, Lights are just one part of the equation, you also need to think about fresh air from a screened intake, tent airflow, filtered extraction, type of medium, nutrients, hand or auto watered, etc.

But regarding lights... 4 plants under one Lumatek Digital Dimmable Ballast pro system 6oo watts at 400 volts, with a Dual Spectrum enhanced Lumatek 400v bulb, will see you right the way through.

This should give you a footprint of about 5ft square (when raised to full height) of high intensity light, the plants love it.... if you want to scale up, just do more of the same.

They are very reasonably priced, and give you good "Bang for Buck".

The extra penetration from the above type of light produces a very high quality and dense bud at all levels of the plant.

There are other ways, and I am sure others will advise on their choice, but for me, this would be my way - based on results I have achieved so far..... for example....

 

[SpaceGod]

cool man, can we come over and play in your basement. What I wouldn't give for a whole basement. HID are usually judged by watts for instance one 400w mh will cover about 2x3, 600w 4x4. LED is judged by par and footprint. LED watts are meaningless it is simply the wattage of the diodes times how many diodes the light has. But that doesn't tell you much. Start with a 600w mh from amazon or ebay. That is good for 4 autos. And checkout a grow by blackdog that uses a 400w led in just a 4x4 space. I think they got 3 pounds from it. I use a 200w led for just 1 plant. at $500 a pop 12 would be very expensive. At anyrate, you already have what most of us can't buy and that is space and I assume height. Run all your lights 24/0. Is that ok?

Thank you, as far as autos go ive read giving the plants some dark time will be helpful. If I am going to use LED, maybe like the mars brand 300w, would 2 work for a set of 8 plants?