How many 10 gallon plants would you grow under 4 1000w hps?

My friend tried 55 last time and some plants grew big some grew smaller and the yield was horrible about 0.4 grams per watt. They were skinny .5 to a foot clones with little veg time.

Now he wants to try a total of 27 and only growing the top colas. They are all around a foot or taller but look much fuller and thicker. The question is how long to veg for? According to an expert friend 55 was stupid and 27 will yield way more even with very little veg time..true or false?

Your light covers a good 5' x 5' canopy. You could fit 25 in a 5 by 5 array but that doesn't leave much room for growth unless these are single cola dominate plants. Your gonna have to trim away almost everything below the canopy though cause no light will reach it. Me, I think 16 plants in a 4 by 4 array with a little more space between them would produce better.

You mention 10 gallon plants, I assume your doing a soil grow? Even 9 plants in a 3 by 3 might work better for yield than 25 plants, and it's a lot easier to deal with. With 16 plants your only adding inches between them, a couple on each side so it is still pretty high density growing.

If numbers don't scare you and they should unless this is a legal grow, maybe a SOG grow with much smaller but more plants is your best bet for yield.

Depends, as me said, your friend obviously didn't have enough grow space and lights to accommodate all 55 plants which is why it turned out to be 0.4g per watt. You will get more yield off less plants if you have less light in a grow space, since alot of lumens are a certain distance from the plants which is only a couple inches.

The space gives off about 44w per sq foot which I read is optimal. So 27 should be alright then and make more than 0.4?

bump please need to know