Well I have been using a HPS light though out my whole grow but I have heard so much about MH lights being better in veg so I went to lowe's and picked up a 400 watt MH bulb. I was looking for your opinions on Metal halide vs HPS during veg stage. Should I save my 30 bucks and put the 400 watt HPS back in or would using this MH help my grow and be a well spent 30 bucks? As for now im using 1 400 watt MH and 1 150 watt HPS.
4 plants.... I have 2 more that are not seen in picture sorry. They are about 2 weeks younger than those that are at day 35. Stain is Northern Lights. Im really just getting on my feet man this is my 2nd grow. First one turned out 2 males. I need some killer feminize seeds cause turning out males is a real get you downer. Also this is a private garden only for personal use. Wouldn't wont no more that 4-6 plants going.
The blue spectrum light promotes veg growth and is also said to increase the male/female ratio so you may end up with more females. HPS is more of a flowering light by using the MH for veg and the HPS for flower you will increase yeild. Run the MH 2-3 days into flower then swap out to the HPS. This is what I do only at 1000w. good luck
for sure i dont doubt it....its one of those things you can do but you dont really have too you know what i mean. My hydro guy told me what would work best and i said ring it through...lol..also he said it was one of those things if you do it once you wont go back to running HPS in veg. sort of like going from soil to hydro.
HPS is the way to go especially the son agro or hortilux with added blue specturm light. the main reason people use the MH is because the more % blue it has the tighter node spacing there will be..HPS is more efficient...not to mention the hortilux use 430 watts and put out like 53000 lumens for a 400 peace...
Ive had very lush growth and very short internodal spacing with a HPS Hortilux bulb about just the same or even better than a mh.
I was having no problems with the 400(53,000)+150(18,000) watt HPS lights.Tight nodes and plenty of new growth. I was just basically looking to improve my grow but as I said before this 30 bucks could goto some feminized beans if the MH isn't going to make that much of a difference if any....
Your setup is great...there is never such a thing as too much light, even for one plant. (except for those 4000w's ...they will bleach our plants lol) Anyways I aprove of using MH in veg, it gives the plant the spectrum it needs and switchin back to HPS to flower causes little to no stress on plants I believe. I like how your HPS bulb is standing, I might experiment with light placement after seeing your setup. CD
do what you want to do man. if it were me, i would probably use the dirty 30 for the fem. seeds. growing plants for a month or two then having to throw them away (male) is always a let down. i have never tried fem.seeds so if you go with em, let me know how they work. peace out
I know what all the grow guides and hydro shop "guys" say. However, i HAVE used MH for veg in the past. I have also used HPS for veg as well. I like HPS myself. plants seem "happier" under the HPS. That's just the way i see it. to each grower his own. is that HPS bulb you have rated as a vertical use bulb?
Old thread but noticed quite a few hits by guests. Please refer to the Growkind Lighting Faq in the cultivation section. http://forum.growkind.com/showthread.php?t=27328#.VCmKuPldVS0 There is a current ongoing discussion about this. Not to put down advice from such an esteemed contributor to GK as Wawona (especially since he's not here to defend his position) but, it has been verifiably demonstrated MH is a far better choice than HPS when vegging cannabis. The advent of of High Output T5 flouro tubes has made both essentially obsolete in an energy efficient vegging garden.
Agreed. I learned a good amount from Wawona. But... things change over time. MH is essentially obsolete. That's like running a 500MHZ processing cpu in today's age. High output T5's, CMH, and LED beat out MH. CMH is a great full cycle light. You can veg and flower very effectively under CMH. T5 is great for veg while lacking for flower. LED.... lots of variables and the most consumer educated purchase. For veg you can get by with store bought led screw bulbs to panels. There is no such thing add a cheap panel with LED n because what's cheap went last and what will last isn't cheap. Either screw type CREE bulbs from home depot, or diy with cree xlm2, or cxa 3590 or cxa 3070 in 5-6.5k. Led will cost the most up front but give the best performance with leas heat. T5 cheapest with still good performance with slightly more heat. Then chm does more than t5 but more heat and higher costs. Depends on your wants and needs. And your pocket book too.
See I have to disagree somewhat here, I've always been a t5 guy for veg but I am slowly beginning to like MH. I think MH is a massive waste though in a young garden, but once plants are about 18" it helps them stay compact WITHOUT the lack of light to the lower branches and helps the switch to HPS. Another drawback of t5s is that you wind up packing plants in there just do try and get them directly under the light. This is fine if you have 4-6 plants in a small area, but whatcha do when you have 50+ in solo cups...shit be getting knocked over :roffl: I will absolutely be the first in line when hortilux starts selling their t5s in a few months because vegging under t5s for small plants, clones, etc is PERFECT.....but MH will always have a place in a garden but now it's more defined. I use to go t5 straight to HPS...from now on I will go t5, mh for a few weeks, hps
Keeping 10 moms under 4 T5's (200w's) right now with no problem. 2 gallon pots with perfect coverage for 20" plants. Used to do the same thing under two 200w cfl's or one 400w MH and was always juggling plants into, and out of, the "sweet" spots. A 4 bulb 4' HO T5 gives damn near perfect 4'x3' coverage for veg plants. Less wattage, less heat, equal or better performance. All the checks on my list. Gotta agree there's a drawback going over 20" plant height. Most indoor guys don't go that big so it's not a problem imho. assit: fun revival.
The t-5 8 bulb 4' array completely covers a 2X4 flood table. Completely. It's the same damn size! I'm a floro guy for sure. I know the MH has more punch to get light through a canopy, but I'm only vegging till the plants are 12" tall anyway, so who cares.
