growing with MH's only?

I would search for this topic, but 'mh' is not a valid search input, and most people never spell out 'metal halide'

so anyways, I work for a maintenance company and have access to a few MH ballasts/bulbs that are going to get tossed. Its going to be my first indoor grow, so I dont want to throw a bunch of money into it yet. So, if my only two options at the time are CFLs and MHs, what should I use?

well if i can find an MH bulb that will work with a HPS ballast i would be willing to bet you could find an HPS bulb that works in MH ballasts

but if you cannot, or spending money simply isnt an option im sure you can grow with just MH except your yield will just not be as much as it would be with an HPS during flower

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Originally Posted by Stemis516

well if i can find an MH bulb that will work with a HPS ballast i would be willing to bet you could find an HPS bulb that works in MH ballasts

but if you cannot, or spending money simply isnt an option im sure you can grow with just MH except your yield will just not be as much as it would be with an HPS during flower

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I know its not going to be as yielding as an HPS, but strictly using MH lamps will be better than using strictly CFLs, correct?

Yes you can flower with a mh the buds just aren't gonna be tight. They should be just fine for your first grow and are better then cfl's

Any MH bulb will work in a HPS ballast theres just an extra kick and the possibility of blowing the bulb. HPS however wont work in a MH ballast cause theres no igniter.

Plants grown under strictly MH with no HPS lighting will produce much stonier buds, but the yeild will suffer. Metal Halide lamps emit light containing UVrays HPS's dont emit light containg UV rays. Study after study has shown that UV rays increase the resin production in Marijuana plants. It would be ideal to have bothe MH and HPS lighting, but you can get yourself started nicely with the MH lamps. The buds wont be as tight and you wont yield as much as witha HPS, but the bud sure will be stonier if you know what your doing.

Plus any HID is better than CFL's.

I know heat would be a big factor, but what would the advantage be to using both of these in a 4 x2 closet? If heat is the major prob, then I will just use the MH for veg and the hps for flower.
Comments?!?!?!

I have an interchangable 400 watt. When you induce flowering, could you run a MH for week 1 then switch to HPS for week 2 then keep alternating until harvest? Would this be beneficial in any way or do you just stick with HPS for flower.

Thoughts

Thanks

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GodBud

I have an interchangable 400 watt. When you induce flowering, could you run a MH for week 1 then switch to HPS for week 2 then keep alternating until harvest? Would this be beneficial in any way or do you just stick with HPS for flower.

Thoughts

Thanks

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I have read where many, very experienced growers discussed this:

half of them said it was a good idea...the other half, said it was a waste of time....go figure....:cool: