How many plants under a 600W Light, 4'x4' ?

I'm getting a 600W HPS light and have a 4 foot by 4 foot grow area.

I will use soil as my medium. I cant decide what size pots and how many to have under the light.
I was originally thinking of having 16 plants in 1 gallon pots.
Does that sound about right? or Should I go 2 gallon pots with 16 plants? Or 24-36 plants 1 gallon would seem to fit?

Any experience with this would help.....

it all depends on how tall they are. if you flower right after a strong root system develops im assuming 20??

Bizzler said:

I'm getting a 600W HPS light and have a 4 foot by 4 foot grow area.

I will use soil as my medium. I cant decide what size pots and how many to have under the light.
I was originally thinking of having 16 plants in 1 gallon pots.
Does that sound about right? or Should I go 2 gallon pots with 16 plants? Or 24-36 plants 1 gallon would seem to fit?

Any experience with this would help.....

Click to expand...

I grow 6 to 9 at a time under my 600 but I'm growing in 5 gallon buckets too.

It really depends on how long you veg them.

agreed it all depends how you manage your veg phase

I figured I would Veg in 1 gallon pots for 2 weeks then to Flower......

Right now I have a small cabinet. I grow 18-24 plants in 6" pots.. No veg. Clone to flower. under a 400W. Want to go way bigger..


Thanks for the imput

get as many as you can bro right now i got 14 girls under a 150 hps in less than 2 square feet of space and less than 3 feet high. i have 10 2L pop bottles and 4 20 oz pop bottles as pots and use coco for medium with gh nutes so far everything going well rh under canopy is around 40-50% so that is something i might have to worry about in the next few weeks. thats the first downfall i see to coco, it increases ur rh considerably in small spaces since you have to water daily. If i was you id get the most possible but making sure you can get some airflow benath the canopy and you will be fine. you can also prune some of the lower branches to get more air but for me i wanted most yield so my option is to add an additional pc fan that will move air in the middle under the canopy. heres a pic that was taken sunday night. have 1 confirmed bagseed female and 10 feminized big bang that havent showed sex yet. and one mazar yet to show and 2 bagseeds wet to show.

thats a good question dont want to hijack ure thread bud, but i have similar question for you experienced growers. i plan on vegging about 10-15 plants (hempy method) in 2liter soda bottles or 1 gal milk bottles, after this i plan on transfering over to 5 gallon buckets for flowering. My question is how many plants can i transfer over to the 5 gallon buckets? in others words can i bog like 2-3 plants that are in the smaller containers into the 5 gal one? if yes whats the max? my veg space is about 2x2x7, my flower space is 4x2x7

big ass buckets aren't necessary especially with a hempy bucket the point is that the roots get a lot of oxygen and get fed often and this usually makes the roots more efficient. i would put those 4 in separate 1 gal instead of the 5 gal but the truth is you can get away with it

I'd go for 2 gal pots for more root space. Flower when the plants are around 12" and less for stretchy varieties. Depends on the style of growing as to how many plants in that area. If SOG go lip to lip with the pots(fitting in as many as you can in the space) and flower even earlier, trimming lower growth early in flower.

Personally, I'd go for 6 plants in 2-3 gal pots and let um GROW!! It all depends on your reason for growing. I do it for personal reasons only so there is no need for excessive amounts of plants. No need for the extra time either if ya get caught.

Boneman said:

Personally, I'd go for 6 plants in 2-3 gal pots and let um GROW!! It all depends on your reason for growing. I do it for personal reasons only so there is no need for excessive amounts of plants. No need for the extra time either if ya get caught.

Click to expand...

That's fine if you have the space and the lights. I find that if I veg Indicas to 12 inches then flip them they finish at around 26 to 28 inches. Light doesnt really penetrate more than a foot into the canopy anyway so bigger plants are useless unless you're blazing 1000 watters or something.

I'm getting ready to grow a big scrog under my two 600 watters...... I'm hoping to break 50 ounces from 9 plants on a 4x8 scrog.

Bizzler said:

I'm getting a 600W HPS light and have a 4 foot by 4 foot grow area.

I will use soil as my medium. I cant decide what size pots and how many to have under the light.
I was originally thinking of having 16 plants in 1 gallon pots.
Does that sound about right? or Should I go 2 gallon pots with 16 plants? Or 24-36 plants 1 gallon would seem to fit?

Any experience with this would help.....

Click to expand...

I very seldom grow in anything smaller than 7-gallon pots. Keep in mind that the above soil plant size is pretty close to being equaled by in soil root growth, plants are pretty close to being a 50/50 split size-wise between above soil growth and in soil growth, so your plants roots need some space to grow in if you want happy healthy vigorous growing better yielding plants. If you cram your roots together you stress the plants and your plants will not be all they could be if given more root space.

If you are doing a SOG and will not veg long and will throw your plants into flower very quickly and all you are going for is colas then you can use small pots and cram plants close together but if you want maximum yield per plant then they will need pot space for roots and space in between each other for light penetration to get decent or better production from the lower portions of the plants.

Brick Top said:

I very seldom grow in anything smaller than 7-gallon pots. Keep in mind that the above soil plant size is pretty close to being equaled by in soil root growth, plants are pretty close to being a 50/50 split size-wise between above soil growth and in soil growth, so your plants roots need some space to grow in if you want happy healthy vigorous growing better yielding plants. If you cram your roots together you stress the plants and your plants will not be all they could be if given more root space.

If you are doing a SOG and will not veg long and will throw your plants into flower very quickly and all you are going for is colas then you can use small pots and cram plants close together but if you want maximum yield per plant then they will need pot space for roots and space in between each other for light penetration to get decent or better production from the lower portions of the plants.

Click to expand...

hey thanks for all advice guys. I plan on doing LST. ill veg in 1gallon for 1-2 months or until they reach 12" wtv comes first then transfer over to 5 gal for flowering....sound ok?

Brick Top said:

I very seldom grow in anything smaller than 7-gallon pots. Keep in mind that the above soil plant size is pretty close to being equaled by in soil root growth, plants are pretty close to being a 50/50 split size-wise between above soil growth and in soil growth, so your plants roots need some space to grow in if you want happy healthy vigorous growing better yielding plants. If you cram your roots together you stress the plants and your plants will not be all they could be if given more root space.

If you are doing a SOG and will not veg long and will throw your plants into flower very quickly and all you are going for is colas then you can use small pots and cram plants close together but if you want maximum yield per plant then they will need pot space for roots and space in between each other for light penetration to get decent or better production from the lower portions of the plants.

Click to expand...

while the root mass is proportional to the size of the plants its true but there is another factor that is the effectiveness of your roots/feeding system. if you have smaller root space like a hempy bucket 1 gal and you feed once a day they roots absorb nutes more efficiently. soil seems to be a place where the need for root growth is very important because roots are not fed as efficiently or as often becuase of overwatering problems and such. so conclusion if you use a hydro type medium you can have smaller root mass and achieve higher than normal plant size for that amount of rootmass. simply put you get more plant with less roots in a hydro stylie gro

2EZY said:

I'd go for 2 gal pots for more root space. Flower when the plants are around 12" and less for stretchy varieties. Depends on the style of growing as to how many plants in that area. If SOG go lip to lip with the pots(fitting in as many as you can in the space) and flower even earlier, trimming lower growth early in flower.

Click to expand...

I decided to do exactly that. 16 2gallon Buckets. in a 4x4' area it fits great with plenty of room to let them grow out. My thought Exactly with the Veg. 12" Then Flower.

i have a similar set up a 600w in a 4 x 4 x8 space i have 3 girls in 5 gallon buckets and a 4 2 gallon buckets and a 1 gallon bucket to see what i get from it and may be sog in one gallon buckets and put shelves in around 3 sides of the room and put some plants up there to more more of my room

Dude.. 3-4 Plants and youll get a LB. in 5gal pots Long veg you can get 4-5 oz a plant. given the genetics.

Bizzler said:

I'm getting a 600W HPS light and have a 4 foot by 4 foot grow area.

I will use soil as my medium. I cant decide what size pots and how many to have under the light.
I was originally thinking of having 16 plants in 1 gallon pots.
Does that sound about right? or Should I go 2 gallon pots with 16 plants? Or 24-36 plants 1 gallon would seem to fit?

Any experience with this would help.....

Click to expand...

i agree with you mate 6 will go nicely into that kind of space thats roughly the space im using and ive got six on the go you should think twice with the juice bottles the roots wont grow in the light wrap them in foil or something just a little tip for u

Boneman said:

Personally, I'd go for 6 plants in 2-3 gal pots and let um GROW!! It all depends on your reason for growing. I do it for personal reasons only so there is no need for excessive amounts of plants. No need for the extra time either if ya get caught.

Click to expand...

That's what I do, why crowd many plants in tide space? More work, more cost, more risk, and likely same or less harvest than from fewer well grown healthy and happy plants!

can be any number up to a certain point, could be 16 small plants in a 4x4 formation, 9 slightly bigger plants in a 3x3 formation, 4 large plants in a 2x2 formation, or one great big dirty ScrOG spread over the whole area. depends what room you need for kit as well.

i grew 7 in a 2x4 pot wilma system and it got crowded a fair bit, but that was in a pot layout space of about 1100mm x 550mm. i needed some space for a fan. if it is your first grow i would go with 4 plants in big pots. veg until the plants are about half the size of what you want your finished plants to be. just remember, they grow OUT as well as UP. lots of plants doesnt mean more bud. you are likely just to cause problems with more plants. and i would definately NOT go with more than 16. less is more.

try with 4 plants, and when you are done, you can judge as to whether you can do more. the more space you have between plants, the better the air flow will be between them, less chance of mold, healthier, happier plants, better light penetration, etc etc.

happy growing