Help with design efficiency...

Hi,

I'm not a new grower but I'm new to these forums. I have grown in small spaces for the last 10 years for personal consumption. I've moved into a place with tons of space to grow and want to grow bigger without exceeding the 6 mature plant rule in my state.

My plan is to keep one mother in veg, have a cloning area (T5 probably), a veg area (400-600 watt) and a flowering area (thinking 4 by .

My main issue is I want to grow 5 plants under 2 1000w HPS lights with hoods. This gives me over 60 watts/sq. foot but since the lights will be air cooled the glass will eat up some intensity.

I am planning three weeks in veg (plants should be a foot tall at this point) and then 60 days flowering.

Questions - am I going to be able to fill a 4 by 8 footprint with 5 plants (using scrog)? Assuming good growing technique (pH, temps, nutes, moisture all regulated) is it possible to light 5 plants with 2 lights efficiently? I'm not opposed to running 3 600w HPS lights. Getting these lights closer to the canopy and with a more even distribution over a 4x8 space - would this improve results?

CO2 - I haven't messed with CO2 before and am wondering if a generator will create too much heat in a 8x12x12 space with only 2000w? How do the economics of CO2 work? At what point is a generator burning propane a better source than a tank? (The temperatures in my area go from just below freezing to 95 in the summer). CO2 obviously occurs naturally - isn't it more efficient to pull a ton of fresh air into a room (with plenty of exchanges) than to close the room and add CO2 but also contend with humidity and heat more? Can a lot of fresh air create the same results as supplementing CO2?

Sorry if some of these questions are vague. Money isn't an obstacle. I just want to build the best system for the plant limitation.

I have scrogged two plants into a 4x8.

You can use CO2 with a controller. It won't have to burn much if your room is sealed with very low ambient aircon. Propane tanks weigh a lot less than CO2 bottles, but ng pipe is nice. I would vent from the sounds of things. You will do well w/o CO2. The economics have a lot to do with your time and fuel. Run lights at nite to contend with heat in summer.

Stick with the 1000 watters over a 4x4 footprint.

No answers for ya but a few questions if ya don't mind. How big are your areas going to be? And doesn't hood size and style kinda dictate light foot print to some degree?

I didn't expect responses this fast. I plan on the canopy being 4x8 with 12 foot ceilings but housed in a room at least 3-4 wider in each direction. The space isn't a limiting factor. I'm now thinking of scrogging 1 plant per 4x4 and per 1000w HPS. This would allow me 3 plants in flowering, one mother and two in veg as they fills in the grid. It wouldn't be hard to do a perpetual harvest where one plant comes down every 3 weeks. If I can veg a new clone to fill out a 4 x 4 in 6 weeks then I'm in business (This would be after a few weeks in a cloning bed if needed).

Snaps - do you remember how long it took to go from cloning to day 1 of flowering with your scrog?

I currently have Raptors (hoods) and with air cooling they are manageable and have a decent foot print. 4 x 4 is a good size for a 1k HPS. 5x5 seems a little thin on the edges from my experience. Some of the vertical hoods can have an even tighter footprint.