Hopefully some of you more experienced growers can point me in the right direction, first of all I’m very new at this, I was very disappointed with my last harvest, 12 plants provided me with only a pound and a half of smoke, albeit it was very potent I feel like I should of did a better job.
I have a 10×16 grow room and I believe I’m using good nutrients, I changed from my last grow, however I’m using 3 bestva 2000watt LED fixtures and I’m starting to wonder if I have enough power, any help or advice would be great!
What are the specs on the lights if they are the ones I just looked up you only have around 1,000 watts ide imagine to use a 10x16 grow room you need much more lights, I think a lot of growers are putting 500-1000 watts depending on light efficiency in just a 4x4 grow tent
i prefer HID’s to really drive the flower power on a budget… i veg under various LED’s and have a few LED supplemental lights in my flower room but the HID is what drives the bulk of it… if $$$ is no option there are some great medium to high end LED’s out there for a space like that as long as you have the power to drive them…
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The norm is between 35-50 watts per square foot. Actual watts from the wall
I’m referring to LEDs
I have literally just joined my first forum so bear with me here, but I did switch over to bestvas about 2 years ago and have 12 2000’s running as we speak. If your space is 10x16 feet then yes you are massively under done and I’m impressed with 1.5p dried. 1 2000w bestva is good for a max 4x4. Which is still really good for a led. There is a whole lot more to consider than just light and led growing is different to hps or MH however based on what you achieved with insufficient lighting I assume that you are doing most else right.
Simple math
10x16=160 x40 (blurple watts) = 6400 watts needed
6400 / 390 (DC 2000W consumption) = 16.4 fixtures
Ouch
Even using its bloom coverage area of 4x5.5 = 22.5 sq ft you are looking at 7 + fixtures. And, as we know this coverage area is very generous. Personally, I would run that fixture in a 3x3.
In my 3x3 my primary led is 320W. During flower I add another 150W from high quality samsung & cree LEDs
Ya you need at least 8 of those fixtures in a space that size. Your yield would be so much better. I just got shy of 2lbs dried in a 4x4 with 6 plants and 1 550 hlg. Unfortunately for high end lights comes a heavy price tag but quality and quantity will prevail if you do most other things right.
Pros:
with quality LED’s you can get the same light output as an HID but use 1/3rd less power.
They’re more circuit friendly drawing less amps which means more lights per circuit.
They produce less heat.
They’re much slimmer for those with height issues.
Cons:
Start up cost is quite a bit higher than a HiD setup.
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Thanks everyone for your feedback, I thought I would include a couple of pics of my last grow.
I was thinking about packing them in a bit tighter rather than running the full length of the room, my theory is less room more light, and since I’ve set up 25 pots " still waiting on my seeds " I really dont have the extra cash for more lights
I definitely understand the cash problem. I don’t see a problem with packing them in I have 6 plants in a 2x6 space, just make sure you have plenty of airflow in there… stupid mold lol have fun good luck 
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The simple fact is unless you increase photons, your yields will not improve much. You are WAY under lit for that space.
Also; using blurples is not a fair way to judge the efficacy of LED’s. Modern fixtures from HLG and others are by far superior to any other lighting system out there. Except for the sun.
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I agree, you are way low on light density. If you cannot improve there, try training your plants out more similar to a scrog method so that all of your buds are at top of canopy.
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@Vette62 you will be fine with what you have until you get a couple bucks ahead for more. Just figure out what space you have enough light for and hang a lite rope or bar to separate the space from the rest. Then hang a sheet, blanket, or shower curtain like you would a shower curtain as a wall that you can attach some mylar to. It will give you a reflective wall which will help you with getting the most out of your lights around the edges. Won’t cost but a couple bucks to do and there will be a noticable difference and it’s as temporary as it gets. You can obviously grow and that gives you an advantage over any amount of money you can spend
Thanks for the advice, I just had a friend point out that I’m not utilizing the full 10×16 space I have, so my lighting dynamics have changed, I’m really only using 5×10
agreed your gonna need much more light to fill that space… an HID rig would really bring some life into that space if you can manage the heat… i grow open room with some box fans with mine and no issues… a 600w HID is prob less $$ than one of those lights you have in there and will make about 95,000 lumens in that space and your yields will quadruple + …
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Those 3 lights are total 1200watts.
Basically I agree with everything everyone has said, looking at your grow area and style i think hps would be a better choice of light if you can deal with the heat. They have much better footprint and much higher density light than even the best leds. While I love my leds, they do have some limitations and even with your revised floorplan I believe you will need at least another 5 bestva 2000s to give you adaquate light. You can look at stepping up to the 3000 or 4000s but it won’t save you money. In my experience leds work at there best in confined space, large number of plants, quick turnaround sog style systems. Which is what I now do. Basically if any part of the plant is more than 24 inches from the light it will not get sufficient light to flower. If you want to keep growing big then do what dbrn32 suggested and go with maybe 6 plants and scrog them into the light. They look really good for plants that are not getting enough light so don’t change much else.
here is a typical example of what i get from my HID setup… im sure others out do this also… i have never had an LED get anywhere close to the yields or sizes… hope its ok i added a pic… just wanted to use it as an example of expectations…
I couldn’t agree more, that pic is what you can expect from a good hid setup, and the one I have attached is what my bestvas are capable of.
It is nothing like the density but if used correctly very fast and efficient. The clones for this system where taken on the 9th of August and was put into flower on the 23rd of August. The big advantage leds have for me is running costs, as some one mentioned earlier they draw a lot less current than a hid ballast which makes them more solar friendly. I drive 12 from 8.6kw of panels running through a 6kw inverter through 200 Ah of storage and back to the grid. Costs next to nothing.
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Not much price difference in 600w and 1000w either. Two 1000w HIDs would rock that space, but you’d definitely notice a difference in your electric bill.
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