using a 70w HPS

just wondering switched to a 70w hps fixture, got a nice set up in a closet and prolly about a 20ish sgft i am currently using till i build a box or something in it, just wondering if thats a good enough light for abut 4 plants in that area, one of my plants has been having an issuse on and off with droppy leaves but still green and such, will have to add pics later, but was more or less wondering about the amount of light. but deff will post pics later. going to make some walls cause i dont want to use the whole closet, and not sure if i want to grow more then 4. thank you for any replies in advance.

70 watts of HPS is always better than no HPS. i would add some more CFL's if u can. But youll get results with the single 70watt, nothing crazy tho. I use one myself, in addition with 9 CFL's and 2 T5 lamps. Ive posted some pics latley of my plant, so you could get an idea of what i got. SLH a week or so till harvest.

just remember that the HPS light cuts thru a canopy more than other lights we'd use so def. use it. and i can keep mine inches away from my colas. I grew a full size plant with no pruning and id have to say it made a difference.

yeah i got 3 other flourscents think they are like 75w each, was thinking about adding 1 and seeing how well. but the 70w hps is bright lol. will post some pics when i make more perm walls in the closet was think putting 1 flurscent on each side and then one on bottom shining up and then have the 70w hps hanging above

was thinking w/ o going over the top say having i stay with 20sgft of growing room either stick with always growing 4 or down sizing here and there, would the 70w hps and 3 i think 75w florescents or even just one with the hps, they seem to give a real blue purple light and i am using potting soil as the growing medium. would that be enough to produce 4 or so plants of something decent to smoke till i can get a better set up? its kind of interesting as i am atm trying to do this fairly inexpensive, used seeds i got from commercial smoke, nothing to write home to mom about. Now a few of them are getting purple in the stems of by the leaves and some leaves have a slight purple hue to them. prolly within a cpl days i will post some pics of the set up and the plants. cause atm i dont have money really to dump into it. wish i had about $800 to put into it. plus just getting really started into it, this is my first time.

800 dollars would do any grower new or old a lot of good lol. But for a one-two man smoke your gonna get an ounce im sure of that. an ounce is a basic average you will yield with adequate lighting. just remember your HPS is for flowering more than vegging. I grow in a 3x3x7 tent specifically for growing plants and my single plant is lookin to have 3oz on it from guesstimates. but ya dude people on here have compiled lists of items they purchased at dollar stores and have had great yields and smokes. CFL's arent bad, just not the best. some ppl swear by them, others like them as an addition. expect an oz atleast id say. specially with 4 smaller plants. smaller plants focusing on colas seem to get more yield, while a tree like mine gets more popcorn buds. I did the whole tree like grow so id understand the plants properties. im looking to master the super lemon haze strain so i wanted to know what it likes to do.

yeah i am looking to grow some decent stuff for me and enough to maybe last through growing, kind of like rotation. deff think i will throw in the other 2 florescents when i make perm walls. whats the better vegging bulb, MH? and if so there is a difference in ballasts, or would i be able to swap out bulbs?

when u start growing it becomes a hobby. And like any other hobby you want the best tools, or items, or instruments for the job. Myself and other growers for example would use funds after the first grow of plants to say "upgrade" items on their "grow rig".

Lighting is always a good and crucial upgrade, but comes at a cost for 2 ways. Heat and Ventilation. Need to circulate air for many reasons. Which means you may have to put on attachments to your rig like fans and tubes.

Metal Halide (MH) is your vegging light. Blueish color. Youll see large ones on outside of buildings sometimes. Usually those are around 1000watts for reference.
High Pressure Sodium (HPS) is your flowering light. That famous orange color tint. More of your street light type color usually. Those are also 1000watts usually.

A Ballast is needed to give the MH or HPS light its power. These create noise and heat often but not super loud or nething but do give good warm temps at times. so keep far from plants if you can.

If you use those lights you are going to have heat as you know with just the 70watts. i will tell you from experience as a new grower also and have met other growers with professional like setups, and if you ever just want those fatass dense gooey sugary coated nugs then you need these light types.

I will say 400 watt minimum is efficient for getting big colas and nugs. I hear 600w is the standard basically for pros along with 1000w.

the recommended lighting for my 3x3x7 tent is a 400watt light. I have to air cool it because i will be in a tent (ebay 90bucks). They can make ur grow room 90+ degrees, thats not good you want 70f-80's
some people dont need to however. It depends on your hood.

A Hood is gonna usually reflect light and focus it on a certain large area. Some can be air cooled allowing you to cool the light bulb and the grow room, while filtering the smell too. And lets you move the light closer in.
A Reflector is not a hood. Its like a wing usually. large piece of polished metal bent around. these usually are not air cooled like the hoods.

Problem is, only a few options for the lights as you cant just plug and play the light MH and HPS lights into the same light setup. They require different stuff. So most people get the HPS first so u can flower awesome. They have bulbs that are conversion so it is half MH and HPS and work well ive heard. then you HPS the rest of the way.

Some digital ballasts and good socket fittings can support both Bulbs at the same wattages. a 400w MH and a 400w HPS. But those can get pricey.

Soil or Hydro?

thanks for the replies i been busy setting up more lights cheap ones i picked up at wal mart for right now. i am using soil, not sure about the hydro, deff a hobby but having way to much fun, after all we enjoy the fruits. but heres some pics and as you can see kind of having some issuses with a cpl plants but not the rest. but also i just switched over to the hps was a 120w grow bulb with the florescents and the plants were doing pretty ok. but just wondering is it possible to use the 70w hps and a combo of 3cfls 100w atleast each and get decent results next round, dont have the cash atm to get a tent and such like i want to heres the photos. got some sagging leaves here nmot sure if its over watering or not enough. i think the 70w hps would be better then 120 grow bulb was using before.

next batch though if these produce anything going to boost lighting with the cfl 100w+ would using multiple lower watt bulbs be better for a smaller set up like this versus a huge bulb?
using soil and i also germed these and after sprouts used solo cups till they were about 7inchs then moved them to 8qt pots, dont want to grow giantic plants yet. heres the rest of photos if anyone has any ideas or tips to get these to survie. using soil, 70w hps 3 75w grow florescents which give off a nice bluish light, which thinking could be good for veg. maybe after 2 batchs with this set up take some pics of the closet i am using to figure out a good light set up or go to a tent.

any ideas what might be wrong, dont want to lose these? been kind of struggling with a cpl since transplant into the bigger pots. but 2 of the 4 been doing ok.think prolly next time throw in about 400w of cfls. thanks for all the replies so far. first time grower dont want to lose my first try. so now i spotted a nice 400w combo light set up, would that be sufficent to grow maybe 6 nice plants? trying to talk my wife into it atm, and on teh those set ups witht he air ducts is it ok to mount fans right up to those or be better to run ducts? really only want to grow like 4-6 nice plants with nice smoke, get use to growing then thinking switch some of the different ferts. cant seem to find decent smoke around here, unless go to a fest.