Greetings I started out here as kind-of a complete newbie. I have learned an amazing amount in the first months and have my first grow up and cooking.. When I built out my room, I did two tents - one with a 600W HPS and the other with a 4x4 t5 array. From talking to folks on here it seemed like the T5 array was a cost effective approach for the veg tent. I am several weeks under the T5's now and the plants look good and are growing - they just dont seem to be going as fast as some others i see on here. A couple days ago, I got my hands on some new genetics so I picked up a 600W MH bulb and moved my girls into the other tent (24x7 MH). The plan was to keep the new mom's in the veg tent. Overnight they popped. Lots of new growth, brighter color leaves Am I wasting my time with the t5 array for veg??
Hmmm................sensitive subject round here. So, my lighting is on the poor side-150W mh/hps- I substitute a few cfl's and flouro's in with it. But, IMO, flouro's are cheaper to run and run cooler than the HID's, the downside is, to get as much light from a flouro you need a lot of them. Cost could balance out, some of the OG dudes here have awesome flouro grows, and some have out of this world HID grows. It's all about your pocket size and planning/prep for what you want to do I've come to find out. Headed to Walmart for some garden stuff so I'll check ya later.asssit:
t5s are good for sustaining a plant for a momma plant for instance, for slower low temp growths, it generally produces a weaker structure from the stem base on up, but they do have a purpose and serve it well, I use a 4ft 4bulb for my mommas 600s are the most efficent bulb for the money, lowest heat for the most lumens put out to copy the spectrum, best choice in alot of professional growers eyes
Now where's Sue when you need her. :roffl::roffl: Seriously though I'm surprised that they didn't respond better to the T-5 array you had cooking. I'm really thinking there were other issues at play specifically root mass temperature. Perhaps things were a little on the chilly side. I know I've notices a dramatic decrease in growth rate at temperatures below 75. As soon as I raises the temp to 77 things appeared to really take off. Perhaps the extra heat from the Mh bulb was just as effective as the extra lumens to the clones.
It's a cost vs efficiency vs garden needs thing. I can veg a heck of a lot quicker under HID than flouro....but I don't need to. Most hobbyists and small timers don't. If you're running one flower room you only need new plants every 8-11 weeks on average. What am I gonna do with a fully vegged plant in 4 weeks? Throw in the added hassle of yet another large heat source that needs to be dealt with and flouros win hands down for most of us when it comes to veg growth.
Well - I just ordered a new 1000/600 ballast - will use that one in flower tent (will allow me to go to 1000 watt) and the 600w watt ballast will go in the veg tent with the new blazer hood. Should have not gone the cheap route with the t5 array........
I love my T5s for rooting clones and vegging small plants. In fact I am gonna be getting a nice 8 bulb T5 for vegging my mothers. I use 600 watt MH bulbs for vegging my plants to full size before they are moved to the flower room. T5s are great for a lot of things but if you desire quick veg times for a perpetual grow then HID is gonna suit your needs better.
I always had a bit of down time between flower cycles to veg my girls a bit more and get them acclimated to HID light (my smallish veg room was lit by t5s and cfls). It added about 2 weeks in between flower cycles. You don't have to do it that way with that sort of setup, but it worked well for me.
If you are going up in size remember to make sure you have your heat issues under wraps.. I am running a 5x7 bloom room with twin 600s and a 4x4 darkroom tent with a 250mh and a 4 bulb 2 ft t5 system side by side.. And they run my room 8-10 degrees hotter then my house.. so i run them at night and keep my house a/c at 72 ... My temps stay around 75-78... Good luck!!!!!
incredible waste of money, probably the single biggest mistake in growing supplies.. not being a jerk, just my opin
I'm running one of Cali light works light and ive been happy with my results. For small spaces they work well... To each their own. NEG
