What’s the Best Grow Lighting Solution for Different Planting Methods.

Speaking from the angle of LED grow light adopted for indoor home plant, the 1st question should be how many plants can grow in a 4x4 grow tent?

The most consideration for this question is your local law. At present, for example, in USA most states still have strict control overplanting. For example, in California, if you are an individual grower without a medical license, you can grow up to 6 cannabis plants (and of course you must be at least 21 years old).

And then it's the planting method chosen decides the plant quantity for a 4x4FT grow tent a lot --

1. Sea of Green (SOG) method.

This is a great way to grow massive yields and make the most use of limited space. This technique is when you tightly pack your plants together, you speed up growth through the vegetative stage, and move quickly into the flowering stage. By using the SOG method, each plant only needs about 0.5 square feet of space, meaning, in theory, you can grow 32 plants in a 4×4 grow tent. But be aware, when a plant goes into bloom, they usually grow 2-3 times the size during vegetation, so 16 plants will likely be a better target.

2. Screen of Green (SCROG) method

Compared to SOG, SCROG requires much more space by creating a flat grid to train the plants and moving the netting to mobilize the plant during the growth cycle. Growing with this method requires that you allocate about 4-6 square feet per plant. A 4×4 grow tent yield is about 1.5-2lbs by growing about three plants.

3. Low-Stress Training (LST)

The LST method is simple and refers to slowly removing the top portions of the canopy so that the lower sections of the plant have access to the light, allowing your plant to grow greater quantities of bud. For this method, you will need 2 square feet of space to grow one plant. In a 4×4 grow tent you could hold around 4-6 plants.

4. Topping

Topping is an easy and efficient way to increase yield. The key to doing this is pruning the plant at the right time during the growth cycle. Start when your plant has its fifth node, but preferably no more than seven. Your plants will require enough space between them to do this—about 2-4 square feet apart. You can grow 4-8 plants in a 4×4 tent with this method.

So in summary, you can grow between 1-16 plants in a 4×4 tent, depending on your planting methods and strains. How many LED watts you are using in your 4×4 grow tent will also affect your plant count; if you do not have sufficient light, we don’t recommend that you grow too many plants. So, how to illuminate a brighter growth in a 4x4FT grow tent?

The universal way is to adopt a commercial grade LED grow light nowadays directly. One of the basic hidden tip among all the planting methods is that to let the light to achieve the plants (especially the part below canopy) as much as possible to yield higher.

Side lighting grow light (inter canopy light) is used in commercial cannabis farm or vertical farming as supplemental lighting method to produce good yield.

So it comes the idea to adopt the smart designed side light as supplemental lighting in a 4x4FT grow tent by installing on 3 sides of the tent (except the door).

400W 4-bar side light adopted for 3 sides of the 4x4FT grow tent to provide sufficient supplemental lighting for higher yield

Obviously this method could is a perfect solution for the SOG method (Sea of Green), which has as many as 16 plants in a grow tent, because PPFD shall be greatly inproved and uniformly get on the plants to assure better yield.

1000W, 800W or 480W LED grow light could be adopted as the major light source for top lighting, depending on the exact quantity planted in a grow tent.

Of course, you should adjust your growing targets according to your actual situation. Whether you are new to growing or an old hand, we know you’ll have a great time!