Number of plants in 5x5 box?

[Proph]

To me, these type of questions are kind of like asking "how many ADHD kids can I fit in my day care if I've never watched adhd children".. My answer.. As many as you have time and ability to properly care for.. Could be 1.. could be 5..

 

[Simplicio]

Hey guys,

my seeds finally arrived and now I am wondering, since this is my first autoflower grow should I go with 9 or 12 plants on 5x5 or 1.5x1.5m tent?

They will have approximately 2.5gallons or 10liters per plant (no pots - whole tray ebb & flow) and I am not sure how big will their cannopy get, all strains have 70-120cm height) but I don't think 9 will be enough to cover the whole light 5x5 surface?

anyone got any suggestions on this subject?

The strains are The Devil Cream and Dark Devil from Sweet Seeds and Crystal Meth and Purple Lemonade from Fastbuds.

I think I could squeeze in 12 plants without major issues, since I don't plan to top them... maybe LST a bit but then again it could be overcrowded, should I do 9 plants for first run then see if I can squeeze in more on the next one? :S

any input is appreciated people!
thank you

My experience is that autos do best when each plant has at least 4 sq ft of canopy area, except for very smallest autos.
I've got 2 autos (mephisto RipleysOG and dinafem Critical+2,0) in a 2 x 4 ft tent, and they fill it all up without any topping or training.
I've grown some other autos that didn't get enough canopy area, and they yielded small.
For 25 sq ft, I'd grow 6 or fewer.

 

[Smoking Frog]

Coming the the end of my first grow,i think a little room to move things around in the tent is needed.
I think 9 nice ones in a 5x5 is a good number!

 

[IndoorTropics]

I am about to run 6 Mephisto NCH (3) and Chemdog (3) in a 4x4 tent. 5 gallon soil pots. 550W actual power draw. Mars Sp250 + TSL2000

I have 12-16 seedlings and will allow them all to grow in the 6 pots and will select 6 "champions" after 1-2 weeks, then transplant/murder as necessary.

At what age is it recommended i transplant them?

 

[Arthur]

I am about to run 6 Mephisto NCH (3) and Chemdog (3) in a 4x4 tent. 5 gallon soil pots. 550W actual power draw. Mars Sp250 + TSL2000

I have 12-16 seedlings and will allow them all to grow in the 6 pots and will select 6 "champions" after 1-2 weeks, then transplant/murder as necessary.

At what age is it recommended i transplant them?

if you keep them healthy, those 3 NCH alone will fill the 4x, it's a good sized girl. Culling great genetics is a waste. I've had well over 100 meph girls thru, out of all, maybe 3 came up odd enough to chuck.

 

[IndoorTropics]

if you keep them healthy, those 3 NCH alone will fill the 4x, it's a good sized girl. Culling great genetics is a waste. I've had well over 100 meph girls thru, out of all, maybe 3 came up odd enough to chuck.

Yeah man i can appreciate that. Thing is the first seeds i germinated i dropped 6/7 at least once lol. Then couple of taproots stuck to the tissue paper a bit. Then i overwatered them by mistake and obviously confused slightly the Biotab nutes to round it all off. after all of this 6/7 are now showing above the soil. so i have to agree that the genetics are solid. I expect the final 7th one be up soon.

This time i have thrown 3 chemdog and 3 cheese haze into a cup of water and they have been soaking for about 24 hours already. Tomorrow i will chuck them in the soil. If they grow faster, then i will use the new ones. Bit of a waste i know but with all the freebies it doesnt feel so bad and id rather be more confident that i havent shunted them or something, as being inexperienced i could prob hardly tell the difference.

regarding space yes man i know 6 is pushing it and am happy to once again get rid of "the runt" if space becomes an issue...

 

[pZychedelic]

Size of the tent isn't nearly as important as your lighting.
5x5 is 25 square feet. With autos you can get away with 25w of Quality LED lighting per square foot. So, provided you have 625w (wall draw) of cobs or Quantum boards...
Depends on what you want. If you want a little roo. Around each plant, probably 4 or maybe 6, depending on strain. If your going to pack them in and run more a scrog look with a flat deck of buds...9 or 16, again depending on strain. These are for smaller to medium plants. I've had a couple XL strains nearly max a 4x4 by themselves.

Quality means COB or Quantum boards. Not blurple, or box lights with 5 or 10w diodes from Amazon.

Yea I got an Optic 8 plus which is like 500w 8 cobs + UV\IR. Its already in the process so looking good so far, need to take some pictures these days and upload to show you folks hows its going

I went with 8 plants, its pretty much optimum space wise for my setup, think it will be just enough (considering there are no pots but plants are all in the same tray even more so)