ive grown a few types of chile peppers (currently jalapeno but they will be removed soon to start another crop) under a 400w MH light. i grow in a 4x4' area (four plants in 3gal buckets in a top feed drip system) and thats all my 400w can cover because the plants get so big. if you plan on growing 9 plants i suggest you pick up a 400w and use it along with your 400w to cover a growing area large enough for 9 plants.

Thanks for the input chinaman! I purchased a 600w digital unit this weekend to use in place of the 400. They end up outgrowing the space I have to work with Ill just have to scrap a couple of the plants.

We will see how it goes with a 600 If I can cover a 5'x4' area I should be able to fit all 9 in those buckets (which btw are actually 2.5 gal).

On another note, yesterday my first seedling sprouted... 5 days from planting!

ozzz,

I agree with chinamon re four plants for a 400w, they do get big. In my experience, Bhuts grow wide and tall in hydro. Here's a shot of two Bhuts @ 8 weeks after transplant in a simple bubble bucket.

Four weeks later they were huge. Sadly I lost them due to stupidity. I rolled the dice on salt buildups and killed them before they produced fruit.

400w technically covers a 3x3 area but in my experience 4x4 is fine. Just curious why you went for 600w instead of 1000w? 1000 would easily cover a 7x7 or 8x8 area and allow for more pots. No judgment, just curious.

Bill

Sorry guys - I don't do hydro but when I read:

"Sadly I lost them due to stupidity."

Now that's something I can relate to lol.

Well said my friend.

Rick

"No judgment, just curious. "

None taken. Mainly I went with a 600 because its the most efficient of the bunch @ 95,000 lumens. I think that should adequately cover a 5'x5' area. As you guys have mentioned, whether or not those nine plants in 2.5 gal buckets will fit in this area is another story. The other thing is the amount of power vs. reward. If I was to go up to 1000 watts, at that point I might as well just get 2 - 600's and cover a 10x10 :P

Thats another reason, if down the road I do want to expand the area I can add another 600 to do it. I would rather have 2 - 600's then a 1000 by itself.

Im going to plant all nine plants. If things get too crowded Ill just pick the six best plants of the group and scrap the others or let them go dormant or something.

As mentioned, one sprout is up and Im waiting on the others to pop! Who knows, maybe I wont end up with 9 sprouts off those 12 seeds regardless.

Thanks for all the input guys~ I appreciate all the suggestions!

BTW, keep in mind I already have a 400, so I could add that into the mix as well if need be. The bulb's rated at 55,000 lumens so with the 600 that would be right at 150,000 lumens. Im not wanting to do that at this point, but we will just have to see how things progress.

Thanks Rick, nice to know I'm not alone!!!..

ozzz, thanks, makes perfect sense. Please keep us up to date on your progress.

Bill

Will do!

Its official, as of today.... 9 out of the 12 seeds have sprouted .... so looks like its going to be 9 plants (at least in the beginning) afterall ;)

As soon as the seedlings grow a little Ill get some more pics to update the thread.

Snapped a few pics today, as mentioned I have exactly 9 out of twelve so far... but I only planted them the 7th so I still expect a few to pop up.

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......... and this little guy fighting his way through ;)

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Also, today I got the 600 digital in, runs either MH or HPS-with a 6" aircooled hood and an agromax enhanced blue spectrum HPS bulb.

WOOT WOOT...... I love toys.

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The 600 is hung, 10 and ten sprouts are standing tall. Next update will be at transplant time.

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Even though Ive got it in an open room, its an aircooled reflector and I wanted something so the heat didnt build up inside the hood. I rigged up an 85cfm 120mm PC fan to an old digital camera AC/DC converter to pull air through the hood.

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Here it is fired up .... I really should build some sort of enclosure to capture all those lost lumens, but we'll see how ambitious I get.

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Hi Ozzz,

you can tape some foil (shiny side in, toward the plants) like a tent from the fixture to the floor and capture the the lost lumens. I do this with my regular flourescents over the winter. I only do two sides to still allow airflow.

Hope this helps,

Ravi

Thats a great idea ravi, I appreciate it ...... the more I think about it I believe I am going to put up some kind of structure to increase light penetration.

Ozzz,

I haven't been using high-powered HID lights very long, but I learn fast.

The first thing I learned, and learned real fast, is that if you use HPS as the only light, you will get very leggy plants. It will not make any difference if you are growing tomatoes, peppers of basil the plants will have a significant internodal length.

Secondly, a 600-watt MH will be stretched covering a 4x4' area unless you cover the walls with Mylar.

Mike

...and one of the common sources for mylar is the "space blanket". You can find them in the camping section at Walmart for just a couple bucks.

Rick

Thanks for the input guys. Rick, Ill definately look into the space blanket. I really do think I need to build some type of grow box to capture the lost lumens.

Mike, I have grown under only HPS and had good results. This is a peach habanero plant grown under a 250W HPS. As you can see, its not leggy, or weak at all - however I do appreciate your input.

Whats more, this 600 has an agromax bulb that has 30% more blue spectrum ... which means these plants will be much better off then that peach hab was ...and it did great. I also have grown three different types of tomato plants (mostly determinant), bell peppers, lettuce and basil all in a bathroom with only a 400w hps and they did well too. I had tomatoes all winter and fresh lettuce and herbs to boot. The bell peppers did only OK, but I had them in really small containers so I suspect that was part of the problem. Either way Im rolling with the 600HPS on this one and going to see how they do.

Thanks again though I really appreciate all the suggestions!

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Due to the suggstions Ive received on this thread, Im in the works of getting an enclosed grow area (thanks China, Bill, Rick and Mike).

The demensions will be 56"Wx56"Dx78"H. With the 600 HPS that comes to just over 4350 lumens per/sq ft and should be adequate. Im looking to be able to keep the light approx 12" above the plants (once they're transplanted and matured a bit) since its an air cooled hood and I have obtained a 424 cfm blower for it which should be sufficient to keep the temps down.

Once I get it constructed Ill get some more pics up.

Oh ....and 11 out of the 12 bhut seeds have now sprouted :)

Thanks again to everyone for the input!

the final seed has sprouted as of yesterday, making 12 out of 12 germination rate. Also, I ordered my grow tent and other supplies. I ended up getting a 48"x48" tent to go with this 600w HPS. That puts it at 37.5 watts per sq ft or right at 6000 lumens per square foot, and thats with a 12" distance from the light. With the 424 cfm vortex fan I bought for the air cooled hood it sounds like I should be able to get down around 8" or so from the plants canopy.

Several of the first plants to go have got first and second sets of leaves. Some look different than the others so Im wondering if I have a few cross pollinations going on. Most have this purple hugh to their leaves but a few do not and look somewhat different. Time will tell!

All my toys officially came in. I got the grow tent, a secret jarden DR120 (48"x48"x78"), a no-name brand vortex type fan @ 424cfm, with the 6" aircooled hood and ducting. Here she is on a couple dry runs. The 600 puts off an insane amount of heat compared to the 400 I had used before. Holy sh$t! As of now I have it vented into the same room its in. After 4 hours though that rooms ambient temp shot up to 98 degrees! No joke ... the inside tent temp was also 98 deg so that tells me that my vortex is more then adequate since its enough to keep the tent at ambient temps.

The next step is to vent out the window that is located behind the tent. Either that, or vent into the heat duct that is right above it. After all winter is coming, Im only in a 1200 sq foot apartment and if that freaking light can push a 14'x15' room to 98 degs (from 72) inside of 5 hours... possibly it could heat the entire apartment to 68 deg or so?? Who knows... but Im gonna give it a shot! lol ... only question is if the 424 cfm vortex is powerfull enough to push heat throughout the place. I wonder how powerful typical furnace fans are... anyone know??

Anyway here she is ;)

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The seedlings are coming along .... about time to give them some week ferts though.

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........ and here we go. Tonight I transplanted the seedlings. Instead of the new digi 600, I rigged up my old magnetic ballast 400 into the aircooled hood. I will keep the little guys under the 400 until they are ready to go into their 3 gallon containers. At that time, I will not only transplant them into the 3 gallon containers ... but I will swap out this 400hps for my new digi 600. I figure at this stage they dont need the extra lumens quite as much, and it will save a smidgeon off the electric bill.

I have them about 20" from the aircooled hood/400 combo. In the next few days Ill start to lower the hood slightly and let them grow into it. Ill probably transplant once they hit 8-12". Then its into the 3 gallon containers and under the 600HPS (you can see the 600's socket in the rear corner of the tent ready to swap out.

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A few days after being transplanted and basking under the HID and they are looking happy. Tripled in size and reaching for the stars :)

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cool. keep the updates coming this is interesting

Will do sly guy, thanks for the interest!

BTW I put them under the 600 the other day, and they are growing about an inch a day it seems. Doing great!! Ill get some pics soon...

The 600 is rocking them out .... coming along nicely.

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3 weeks since they have been transplanted into 3 gallon containers:

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Fantastic growth! Great set-up.
I really appreciate the progress pics.

Josh

Thanks Josh. Ya I topped them a few weeks back before I transplanted them and I swear it slowed them down a little. They are getting very bushy but it stopped vertical growth more then I thought. I cant say Ill top them again in the future, but it is what it is on this grow and Ill just have to roll with it. They are turning out to be stocky little buggers though thats for sure!

Yeah, when you remove the apical tips, it suppresses the auxins and causes lower/lateral buds to grow.
It results in a sturdier, bushier plant in the long run (which I prefer).
Don't worry, that apical dominance will return.


Josh

Sweet setup! thanks for the pics. keep em comin!

H

Impressive to say the very least. Never went even close to that far with indoor grows, and I've had reasonably good results. I'm sure you're results are going to be fantastic. How's the humidity level inside the chamber? And how often do you have to water? I assume that with all the ventilation and heat it should be pretty dry.

Hey Ozzz

Dont sweat the topping em off thing. Of course it stunted their vertical growth for a short bit. But instead of having one main vertical branch growing. yer now gonna have two! Everytime u cut a leading edge on a branch it makes the plant branch out.

I used this method back in my teen years on illegal grow stuff and the results was more buds to harvest. On pepper plants it has the same effect, more branches is gonna give u more pods.

Jim

I appreciate the input guys. They are all starting to bud now, I think Im going to start hitting them with high N to delay fruit set, promote more vegetative growth ... and actually encourage flower drop lol.

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Humidity levels are around 40-50%. I water only about once a week as of now and I havent noticed any drooping between waterings at that frequency although as they are getting bigger and using more water Im sure its been getting close at once per week.

I took a peek inside the tent today and found the first of what I hope to be many fruits. The plants have been flowering up a storm, but have looked rather yellow. After a top dressing of two tablespoons tomato tone on the last watering and a strong dilution of 4 tablespoons neptunes fish/seaweed and 1 tablespoon alskan fish emulsion to 1 gallon of water (came to about 3/8 a quart that I applied to each plant after watering them well) I dont see much of a change in coloration.

Usually they would green up well after a few feedings like that. Oh well, as mentioned they are flowering up a storm and I noticed this pod today so Im not going to feed them for a few more weeks.

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Hey, Ozzz, they're looking great.

Are they getting enough Calcium?

Maybe a little Dolomitic Garden Lime scratched into the soil, or a dilution of Epsom Salts
at the next watering.

Perhaps you could do a test on one of the yellowish plants.


Josh

This is fantastic stuff - in fact it made me just sign up for Gardenweb which I should have done a long time ago.

I just started growing some bhuts indoors for transplant in the garden around May-June. I've got around 15 seedlings at this point. I thought I would have some trouble getting germination so i started all 60+ seeds. I don't know what I'll do if I end up with even 50% germination :). Maybe I can sell some extra plants on craigslist for $10 a pop or something?

I will definitely be keeping an eye on this thread and I appreciate all the updates man!

Dave