Veg Lighting

Ok this is a topic thats driving me nutz. I bought a 250watt SON T AGRO (HPS) as a veg light but when the light is on it doesnt look very blue to me infact it looks yellow and more like a flowering light which in turn makes the plants too tall and spindly :mad:
They take too long to grow under this light and i am wondering if anyone can give me any pointers for the 'best' blue veg light to use?
I don't want one of those energy saver lights cos i heard they are great when directly on top of a plant but useless for throwing light over a distance which isnt any good if you have several plants on the go.
Basically i want my plants to be as short as posible and bushy as posible using the 'right light'. My whole setup is ok eccept for the lighting, can anyone offer me some good advice? thanks

If the ballast on your light can run both MH and HPS bulbs then get an MH bulb to veg with. MH bulbs are high on the blue side of the light spectrum scale as HPS bulbs are higher on the red side of the scale. If your ballast cant burn both types of bulbs then get yourself an MH conversion bulb ..... problem solved .... NEXT!! :jointsmile:

You can also try the hortilux blue bulb. Looking at the specs it puts out way more blue and a good bit more red. It is meant for the whole grow. If you can stand the price. Other wise what tinytoon said.

Make sure you have fans blowing across the tops of the plants so you can get the light as close as you can.

yup i have a sunmaster ballast wich can handle upto 600watt and MH or HPS so thank god i wont have to buy another ballast :thumbsup: i will look into getting a MH bulb. I do have a 400watt MH bulb (fitting E40) but its colour temp is 4000k. When its on it looks just plain old white and it lets off loads of heat. I guess this wouldnt be any good for my friendly trees :(
thanks for the tips, its much appreciated:thumbsup:

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Originally Posted by sirruler

..... I do have a 400watt MH bulb (fitting E40) but its colour temp is 4000k. When its on it looks just plain old white and it lets off loads of heat. I guess this wouldnt be any good for my friendly trees :(
thanks for the tips, its much appreciated:thumbsup:

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That's the right type of bulb, and I have heard you can use a 400 watt bulb in a 600 watt ballast but I would not fancy trying it or recommend it as it may be a fire hazard!

Maybe someone can shed more light (:D) on it......

:jointsmile:

lol no its perfectly safe to use a 400watt in a 600watt ballast :thumbsup: i sometimes run my 250watt bulb in the same ballast, As long as you dont try to put a bulb of a higher wattage into it then all will be well :jointsmile:
only trouble is the heat from my MH bulb is too great even from a distance of 3ft it cooks the top of the plants and i dont have a shade with a cooler its just the normal open shade.