what height should i keep lights from plants?

hi i just got a 400 watt hps what height should light be from plants at all times?

You'll get lots of different answers, but as a rule, if you can keep your hand there comfortably you are fine.

My Kushberry plants grew so big that they were less then 4 inches from the bulb, I had great airflow which really helped.

ROBinBKK said:

You'll get lots of different answers, but as a rule, if you can keep your hand there comfortably you are fine.

My Kushberry plants grew so big that they were less then 4 inches from the bulb, I had great airflow which really helped.

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i am scared i wont have enough room once they are fully grown! my closet is about 7 foot in height & the light is 1 & a half foot long so that leaves me with about 5 foot growing space!

depending on how often you check them.... I would typically leave just under a foot between the light and the plants, however one day, one of those little buggers grew right into the light and burned herself.. shocked the crap out of her, but she made it...

The key is you want to be as close as possible without damaging the plants from the heat.. those air cooled bulb enclosures work very well for that... even with the light running for 18 hrs, you can still touch the glass closest to the bulb (obviously not the actual glass manufactured with the bulb) So no matter how fast your littles babies grow you will be fine..

it20810 said:

i am scared i wont have enough room once they are fully grown! my closet is about 7 foot in height & the light is 1 & a half foot long so that leaves me with about 5 foot growing space!

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you will be tying them to the walls and lying them down... My first one, the last one, I had so many strings in there holding them up it looked like a puppet show... lol

As RF says, you will be manipulating their growth through tying them down so don't worry too much.

I would consider LST'ing her/them nice and early too if poss.

5ft should be plenty (including pots) for most indica's. Unless you are growing sativa you are fine. In that case LST is needed

thats great thanks for help