Im not looking to make anything on these plants this is simply head stash and a cool hobby im trying to
You'll enjoy it. I grew a plant under a epi-whatever LED and it had airy buds due to insufficient power (for epi-whatever). Smoking any bud you grew yourself is better than paying a dealer. And, it's fun to improve your skills over time. So, you'll be happy with your first harvest however it comes out.
Ok so u r basically saying i should add some cree led side lights to help my productivity
I think sidelighting with *anything* is a massive improvement over single-source top-lighting. More angles, more coverage. (Growing with a bunch of CFLs surrounding a plant would probably be as efficient as a more efficient top-down fixture. it just seems to work that way.). For example, if you used CMH as top lighting for a future grow (at 35w/sq ft) you could use your Mars Hydro lights as sidelighting (maybe on a dimmer, so they could be close to the sides of plants).
If you intend to grow your plants to be 4-5' tall (above the soil), you'll need 55w/sq ft of Mars Hydro. How you get there is up to you. Reduce the square footage you grow in, add more light.
The first question is what your lights' actual draw is. Is it around 360w each? If so, and you're in a 4x4 tent, that's 45w/sq ft. That would be good for a low-profile SCROG. I wouldn't grow over 2' above the soil. That would limit your yield compared to taller plants. But, you have a few plants so you can't go too tall anyway.
Adding some supplemental light to increase those watts would help. There is a point of diminishing return. With T5HO it's around 40w/sq ft. With epi-whatever LED it's probably 50 for a shorter grow, 60 for a taller.
What you use for sidelighting is your choice. If you use Cree lightbulbs, you get more useable light for less watts (than, say a CFL). Less heat (which you're concerned with). You pay more, but get a 10 year warranty. You would have to decide whether to use lower-wattage light bulbs like the A19 9.5w I use, or the PAR38 18w. (Depends on how distributed you want the light to be, how many sockets you're willing to rig up.). Two Par 38s attached to each tent leg could help (add 144w, brining you up to 54w/sq ft with 20% of the watts coming from more efficient light which typically only requires 30w/sq ft. I.e., those 54w/sq ft aren't comparable to 54w/sq ft from Mars Hydro. More like 60w of Mars Hydro.). Spots have a optimal focus of 14", floods are around 8-9". So, which you used it would depend on how distant you can/should/want to keep them.
I wouldn't sweat the details too much on your first grow. Just be aware that your lights are your limiting factor. You can improve that a few ways (flip to flower now and keep your plants short; reduce the footprint of the light, increasing intensity; add more watts.
