Question regarding planting pattern

subarashii

New Member
First of all
hello everyone,
been reading the forum for a time now, and finally decided to join so i can clear my mind with this project of mine and go ahead with it with some sense of confidence.

My intention was to set a room(with plenty of space) with the plants set in rows. I'm not native english speaker and don't know exactly how to translate the concept, so the closest thing to what i'm refering to is "planting framework" or "planting pattern". So yeah, time and time again what i see of you growing folks is that you lay a number of plants in clusters, and i don't really know if its for a reason a part from space.

Is there any general consensus or common knowledge(that i'm unaware of) that leads to do this planting pattern in such fashion?

Because i would rather have them placed in rows for easy access and better care and for a more comfortable work/handling of cultivar.

This question derives from other questions. As i am going to try some diy with cobs the footprint and layout of the emitters will depend on wether the adding effect of a screen of leds(in ppf/plant) is needed or if for example one or one and a half cxb3590's per plant arrayed in a straight line would be viable.

That would be the other question, how many cobs/plant?

Ideally with this pattern(if its viable) in line i would go on and weld some kind of structer where i can hang white screens both sides and bounce back that light onto the sides of plants along the lane. In my head it seems better(until i get wronged out of fantasy world xD) in terms of efficiency. I mean a more diaphanus space instead of the cluster, more light per plant maybe, less shadow, more air and sanitized enviroment for plant and a much better working conditions.
Anyway that's in the land of ideas and all theoryzing, therefore i ask to you nice people :) fundamentally:

Given enough space and factoring in efficiency and economic viablity, growing in rows is an option ?
In this case, would ilumination needs vary? More or less cobs will be needed? One or one and half cxb3590 enough?(that would be 75watts of led light/plant)

Well that's for starters haha. i've got many other questions i will try to read thru all the knowledge here in the forums. Hopefully is an interesting enough question. Any kind help and knowledge is much apreciated.
Thank you in advance.
 

GroErr

Well-Known Member
You're starting off well going straight to COBs. I wouldn't worry too much about how to lay out the plants, other than leaving yourself some room to water/maintain them. Depending on how your room is laid out will depend on how many and what size plants you can comfortably fit in there. I'd suggest to plan a couple of layouts before building the lights so you can build/design them around your space/layout.

How many COBs per plant doesn't take into account the size of the plants. You need to think in square footage more than plant counts. You'll want ~30-35w per square foot of flowering space to cover them well.
 

subarashii

New Member
That was fast. Thanks for the reply.
I was about getting in cad to draw a picture of what's in my mind.
Ok so first i will define the space, that will determine my needs light this ultimately dictate how much to grow the plants or strains to be used.
Or the other way around i guess, lights->space->cultivar.
I'm goin to draw something and see what numbers come out
 

GroErr

Well-Known Member
That was fast. Thanks for the reply.
I was about getting in cad to draw a picture of what's in my mind.
Ok so first i will define the space, that will determine my needs light this ultimately dictate how much to grow the plants or strains to be used.
Or the other way around i guess, lights->space->cultivar.
I'm goin to draw something and see what numbers come out
Yeah sketching it out is a good idea. For example my main flower room is 4'W x 9.5'L x 7.5'H. Usable space is 3.5 x 8.5' maximum to allow me to get to the back of the room. I'm currently running about 3x8 which is more typical. I just leave the left 6"-12" side of the room open to the back so I can get to all the plants easily. If the room were wider I'd likely leave a 1 ft. space in the center and run plants along each side. So the room size can drive your layout more than anything. This is what it looks like when running 3x8' of flowers. Once you determine where the plants will go you can work out the light/frame design and square footage you need to cover. I run multiple Tasty LED 3590 bars spread out across the room.

All-Day45-Day63-Day78-COBs-1.JPG
 

subarashii

New Member
Ok so i did this lil math:
If 35w = 1 foot sq how much area is a 56watts cob. The picture is in milimeters.
The tile generated by this cob is 1ft 3" x 1ft 3". In the most dense(1ft 3" between chips) config,sqma.jpg 5 cobs occupy a row 6 ft long. I'm inclined to belive that more space between lights is posible.
For one thing avoiding clusterfuck plantation should help avoid unscapable shadows and closing on every plant with reflective panel should account for up to 20% more light(if what i read was accurate) bounced back at the plant al around its perimeter.
 

GroErr

Well-Known Member
You'd do well to post the spacing question over in the LED section, not sure what the optimum spacing is, somewhere between 12"-14" centers seems to be the norm and yours are 15" centers so should be alright. You'll get some overlap between the COBs also. Once you get a number you can lay them out and see what kind of coverage they provide.
 
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