What size light do I need?

[Natural_Meds]

Ok I'm helping a friend set up grow room and we need to know what watt light would work best for the number of plants we want to go. We have a space that using partitions we can make as large or as small as we need it up to 10'x10' with a 10 foot ceiling. We plan to grow 9 to 12 plants and already have the veg area done using 4' flouro's for vegging and cloning.

The flowering area though is where we need help. Originally we were going us flouro's for that too and had a plan for multiple lights from all angles but then realized the over all wattage was going to be more then it was worth. So what we want to do now is use a HPS with some flouro's to the side or even below the green.

I do not and canot get pix but the set up will be either 3 or 4 rows of 5 gallon buckets placed as close as possible. Each row will be 3 buckets. If we do 4 rows we plan to add a 4' flouro facing the bottom of the plants and then maybe one at each corner standing up.

I have done a 3 plant grow using 3 4' flouro with ok results but want to try a HPS with this one. So with the flouro's help what size lamp do I need to flower and get good results?

Also any other idea's would be greatly appreciated. Keep in mind we are growing for ourselves only so we are not really looking to do anything huge but if we can grow 4 rows of 4 with the same light as 3 of 3 we'll think about that.

 

[Hick]

you need to shoot for 5,000 lumens per sq. ft.
A 1,0000 watt hps is good for "about" 20 sq ft.
IMHO.. if you use a HID, the flourescents are a waste of power and space. Flo's "need" to be wihin a few inches(6" or less) in order to benefit the plants. "Under" lighting is a waste, too.. IMO. The receptors that utilize light for photosynthesis are on the tops of the leaves.

 

[Natural_Meds]

Thanks. We'll focus on using one HID light then. I did not realize that under lighting did not work well.