Good number of plants under a 430W HPS?

I am in the process of building my first grow room and have a question regarding the light source for the flowering section. I know this is pretty vague since various strains will grow differently but I am wondering how many plants can I grow in a 4X4 space using a 430W Son Argo bulb.

My target is to grow 4 to 5 plants using a ebb flood/drain system. I would love to use a 600W or even a 1000W HPS light but I'm vary concerned with the electric bill at my present location. In the veg room I plan on using 4 standard (2 cool / 2 warm) fluorescent tubes and will supply water using a custom top drip system. 2 oscillating fans, possibly a squirrel cage fan and an air bubbler running 24/7 in each reservoir for the veg and flower room.

As far as the strains that I will be growing, hopefully 3 of the 5 will be blue dream and the other 2 I have yet to figure out.

Any insight I would love, especially on the electric bill side of things.

Regarding the "electric bill side of things" what is your concern? Cost?..... I say if you want a great product your pushing it using a 430W for a 4'x4' space. I say your better off with a 600W You won't notice the differance concernig electric usage. and still a 4'x4' is the most i'd ever try with a 600W and plant count could be one or twelve depending on how you do it with the same yeilds. good luck.

cazador said:

Regarding the "electric bill side of things" what is your concern? Cost?..... I say if you want a great product your pushing it using a 430W for a 4'x4' space. I say your better off with a 600W You won't notice the differance concernig electric usage. and still a 4'x4' is the most i'd ever try with a 600W and plant count could be one or twelve depending on how you do it with the same yeilds. good luck.

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Thanks man. Yeah, mainly cost for right now until I move into a house. Since this will be my first grow, I just don't know what to expect bill wise. I did not want to rack up a high bill nor raise any brows. I think I will look into some good 600w HPS lights and give it some good thought. I'd hate to put in serious work for a poor yield or even worse...bad product.

Get a digital 600 watt ballest it will run either MH or HPS. and your only running it 12 hours a day not to bad on the $. Use T5's or CFL for veg. Get good venting and you'll get great product. Good luck

Thanks for the insight. I'm going to look into going with a 600w light. Glad you mentioned the T5 flours. I was a little confused on what kind of florescent lights to use for veg. I'm looking into getting either 2 4 foot fixtures that have 2 bulbs each or 1 4 foot that has 4 bulbs.

I figured having 2, 2 bulb fixtures I can adjust the heights independently based on the different plant sizes. I.E., mothers, clones...