Arguably the most vital part of any indoor grow is the lighting. While many new gardeners mistake nutrients for “food,” light is the real source of food for plants. Simply think of nutrients as vitamins. But which type of lighting should you choose? How many watts per square foot are optimal? Many factors, including genetics, Co2 uptake, medium, and nutrients, can all affect how much light your plants need. Let’s take a look at the optimal numbers for the three most common types of indoor grow lights: CFL, HID, and LED.
CFL’s are the most common type of light bulb (now that incandescents are being phased out) and are often characterized as those “little spiraly bulbs.” While the penetration and output of CFL’s are relatively poor, the heat output and upfront cost is very low. However, due to their relatively low efficiency, indoor growers should aim for
100 watts per square foot of canopy coverage with CFL lighting. Fortunately, with the vast variety of bulb sizes, and the lack of the need for ballasts like HID lighting, CFL lightning can be heavily manipulated and shaped to the plants as they grow.
HID lamps include two common types: Metal Halide (MH) and High Pressure Sodium (HPS). Based on their color spectrum, growers typically use MH bulbs for the vegetative cycle and HPS for the flowering period. While HID lamps tend to run hotter than any other form of lighing, and also require a ballast to operate, they also provide for some of the greatest canopy coverage and penetration. When using HID lighting, an ideal range is
60-75 watts per square foot. Plants can flourish with as little as 50 watts/sq ft but as mentioned before, light is their source of food. As long as everything else is dialed in, you should aim for 75 watts/sq ft.
While LED lighting is currently the most expensive per watt, there are a variety of other factors that have make it a great option. Some of these bonuses include a smaller vertical profile, a precise light spectrum, and focused light output. While you can get away with a lower amount of lighting with LED’s, an optimal amount is
50 watts per square foot.
As for the tent size 1 x 2 and 40 watts it will grow a plant but not at what its capable of ???? being your litterally 20 watts per Sq foot well below optimal and again adding efficiency even less wattage per Sq
More or less VEGGING RANGE MORE FOR CLONEING AREA IMO
hence the less nutrients needed doesn't matter what size of plant you got in there think of that plant as a battery running at 1/4 capacity its not going to give you more power when there is non to give light power dictates liquid uptake and plant growth speeds
like saying how come a 250 watt light is the same as a 1000 watt light a light is a light plants are getting light
here 2 week old plants @ 40 watts plus per Sq foot and what they look like 10 days later 3 - 4 times the size there buddy with stalks that will hold its own weight rather then thin flimsy stalks that with less power needs to be staked up to support plant
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I am just stating facts people grow in less desirable conditions but one thing new growers should take out of the equation of plant issues is having there grow lights in optimal areas one less worry right ???
