1000w penetration?

How much penetration would a 1000W provide? It's also air cooled so has a glass in between the bulb and plants as well.. right now it sits approx 18in from the tops, im trying to gauge the right amount of bushiness to trigger flowering, i topped and LST'd it's been about 5 weeks now, they're pretty bushy, but only maybe 8in tall, whereas they are about 15in in diameter.. (topped for 4 colas a la Uncle ben) and i had 1 mutant that im lst'in thats pretty sweet also anyway, in 'dense' foliage how 'much' canopy will it penetrate, thanks!

I have never used anything less than 3000 lumens/ft² for vegetative plants and 7500 lumens/ft² for flowering plants (in HID terms: 35W/ft² for veg and 60W/ft² to flower). Intensity degrades exponentially as you get farther from the source so the lights have to be kept close to the plants. To the indoor gardener that means less penetration through dense foliage. Ventilation is the key to keeping the light close. But its also dependent on amount of plants your trying to light up, but 1000w should be fine to do all you need.

theweedguy said:

I have never used anything less than 3000 lumens/ft² for vegetative plants and 7500 lumens/ft² for flowering plants (in HID terms: 35W/ft² for veg and 60W/ft² to flower). Intensity degrades exponentially as you get farther from the source so the lights have to be kept close to the plants. To the indoor gardener that means less penetration through dense foliage. Ventilation is the key to keeping the light close. But its also dependent on amount of plants your trying to light up, but 1000w should be fine to do all you need.

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i appreciate the effort, but you didn't answer lol, i know keeping the light closer will in turn give more light, i know what the inverse square law is... anyway, LAST time, my canopy was about 18 inches total and the lower budsites were wispy and unnecessary, hence me wanting to know approx what it should be good for, but, ill just do trial and error at worst , next time going with 12in or so.. .and if i think i can squeeze an inch or two extra next time i will

just stick your hand right over the tops of the plant and get it as close as possible without your hand getting hot. im not sure how much penetration it has sorry i know it has a lot, my 400 watt doesnt penetrate very far.i really dont understand the question.

You have 3 good feet of lumen output under a 1000 watter. Don't sweat it