1st try at something real. Is more always better?

[calverde]

This is my first real try at real grow. I've harvested a handful of times but who cares.

What I would like to ask the pro's is.....I've just went into flowering and I'm using a 1000w hps. I happen to have another 400w hps or MH lamp not in use. Question is, should I be using the 400w as well, even though my eleven plants that are 14 inches tall do not seem to be shadowing each other. The light seems good.

Is the old saying true, more is better? Another thing to consider is....I do not have good reflection. Only olive green paint. I'd paint but I'm moving in the next month.

What do you guy's think?

Thanks a bunch for any help.

 

[Jdizzel]

i'm not much of an expert but i would say more is always better, and buy some mylar it's cheap and really good shit! and easy to take down when u get out.

 

[clp]

How big is your grow? You want around 50 watts per square foot. If you are under that add another light, if you are over it or right around it I wouldn't. Adding anything over 70w/sqr foot could result in light bleaching and ineffecient use of electricity.

 

[calverde]

The canopy is 4'x4'. It's basically in the corner of a 10 x 10' room. So, two sides of my grow area have walls and the other two are in open air.

 

[Hazy Lady]

If you add the 400 you will produce larger, firmer buds and further down each plant, more is always better as long as heat is not an issue.

 

[ibjamming]

The canopy is 4'x4'. It's basically in the corner of a 10 x 10' room. So, two sides of my grow area have walls and the other two are in open air.

Hazy Lady is correct...the more light the better. If you want the very best...it needs a lot of light. If she doesn't mind, let me expound on that a bit further.

If absolute yield isn't a major concern for you...I would try the 1000W alone and see how you like it. I personally have basically the same setup as you...I took a small corner of the den and turned it into my grow area. I use a lowly 400W but I hang it vertically. It works.

That 400W puts out a quite a bit of heat...1000W much more...1400W makes a lot of heat. Think of running one of those small portable electric heaters in that room 12-24 hours a day... If you don't have a way to draw in fresh air, and then exhaust that heat outside, your cooling bills will be extreme.

I didn't want to damage my house by making holes in walls/floors/ceilings...so I just grow in the fall/winter/spring. When I'll have the heat on anyway.

These are from my last grow...400W

Good enough for me...and easy. Nothing fancy.

But, like Hazy Lady said...more light...better buds.

Good luck!

 

[geopolitical]

Heat is your big issue with "more is better". As long as adding the 400 doesn't require you to up the distance between lamp & plants a lot or bumps up heat into stress territory, then yes, go for it.

 

[calverde]

Heat would be my biggest concern as well. The guy at my grow store told me a 4" can fan would be enough to cool my 1000w, but now I have my doubts. I've got two vents that go under my house where there is cool air. But, there is not much draw even when the door is closed.

Volume/density/quality, of course..haha, is my goal.

Also, there would be a concern with the difference between the lights from the plants. The 400 would have to hang down lower and maybe rotate the plants??

What temperature is too hot? Right now I have 85 degree tops. Do I buy a portable A/C unit?

Thanks again for your thoughts!

By the way ibjamming....very nice plant!!