Its a done deal, I'm going to do a sog grow starting my next grow which will be in about a month because I'm in about the 4th week of flower with my present grow, well hope all is well with everyone, peace love and hair grease!

I prefer 1000w lights for flowering as they produce the best bud density. A single 1000 HPS will light a pair of 4' x 4' flood trays with no drama if you prune the branching from the lower 1/3 of the plant.

If you need cuttings every 2 weeks, use a 250-400W HPS or MH on your mums.

If you're experienced with DWC, sure, do it. DWC can be a bit fiddly. However, if you're totally new to hydro, do a flood & drain system and use loose rockwool media in plastic pots. SO much less to go wrong. So much more forgiving when something DOES go wrong.

Not necessary. Flowering nutes work fine from wk 0-8 in 12/12 light. The photoperiod has a lot more to do with growth phase than the NPK balance of the nutes. Yes, do use a high-N nute for the mums, but once in flower, a high-P (flowering) nute is ok.

When I put a fresh clone in to flower, it has only known 24 hour daylight, either on the mum plant or in the clone box. It takes about 3 weeks in 12/12 to switch fully from vegetative to flowering mode, even on high-P nutes. The plants will grow vegetatively for a few weeks on 12/12 but will stop gaining height at wk 3-4 all by themselves at about 1 metre tall.

I wouldn't want to encourage any more height with veg nutes while I'm trying to flower. "Short" (compared to a natural plant grown outdoors, which may get to 3m tall) plants work better under artificial light for indoor growers.

SoG is the most space efficient, highest production way to grow indoors. Make sure your mums are good and healthy now so you can get a batch of clones into your flowering area as soon as it is emptied out from this crop.

rotsaruck, dood.

I wouldn't attempt this op in soil. The amount of soil required for one tray would weigh about 100kg- even before you wet it.

SoG relies on growing a larger number of smaller plants- or rather, just the top few feet of a natural plant. That means you need LOTS of pots- and a lot of growing media. Rockwool is practical when you need a large number of pots because it's lightweight, cheap, sterile and easily disposable. Fresh, sterile media each time eliminates soil-borne diseases.

You'd be better off closer to about 12 well-trimmed SoG style plants under a 430. However, bigger lights produce more bud weight. Each of your harvests out of your 12 plant rotation will be 3 plants. If you're getting 1oz a plant, you'd be doing pretty well. Not sure what you'll get with just a 430. I get about 1/2-3/4oz per plant with 1000W lights, but can do better with more attention to the op. I told you I was a fricken lazy stoner.

well my area overall is roughly 3x4 so would a 1000hps be enough for the whole grow then?

A 1000 in a 3x4 area is overkill. Try a 600. 50 watts of HPS/sq ft is the rule of thumb.

100 watt is what I have it is aircooled and all so i'll shoot for more lumens/sq/ft

Just keep track of the temps in the room. That's a big light for a small space. Allow at least 3' vertical clearance off your growing tips with a 1000.

well I'm running 800 watts in that area right now with this air cooled hood that I made, any time of the day I can put my hand on the glass and it is barely even warm, about 900cfm taking out the heat, Is a 1000 that much hotter than 800?

You'll put less heat into the area using a single lamp than with multiple lamps of lower power output. There's a certain inefficiency in all HID lighting- some power is wasted as heat. That efficiency factor is poorer per lamp watt in 400s and 600s than in 1000s. You can remotely locate the ballast, outside the grow room airspace, to mitigate that effect somewhat as the waste heat from that inefficiency comes mainly from the ballast. You have the aircooled hood happening already taking care of the rest.

A 400 HPS will be using about 500-530W power input to the ballast from the mains AC. A 1000 HPS uses about 1100W from the mains. You could be putting down significantly more lumens with a single 1000 than with a pair of 400s for almost the same power cost. A 1000 has better foliar penetration and will make tighter buds than a pair of 400s to boot.

settles that then the 1000 will be going in soon