Will 150w HPS outperform 372w of T5HO?

Whoo, wait a min there baby. Moma uses CFL's for side lighting. Specifically the GE REVEAL 20 watters. CFL's put out a little more uv than other fluorescents. 20watts puts out 1200 lumens, & the REVEALS are very warm at 2500K. Mixing the two make the plants happy! Sometimes I run a 4', 2 tube shoplight up the middle between 2 rows of plants; laying on its back as underlighting, but that takes a lot of space. Now I'll only be using cfl's as supplement. At 2500K, I think reveal cfls help beef up the smaller lower buds more than straight tube flourescent underlighting. A lot of lumens in a sm packagefrom these little guys. :) :) :)

You know, you could sidelight one side with the t5s & the other with a few cfls for a comparison. That would be interesting. If I have two rows of plants, I underlight between the rows where they would otherwise be shaded, but because I keep short plants, it actually lights the sides between the rows. Google 'parabolic plant growth' sometime. Think you'll find it interesting. I prune the lower part of my plants. Then I prune out the smaller branches that wouldn't produce much. That way, all the side/underlighting really gets put to use & the plants energies can focus on making the remaining buds plumper. I like it when all those prunings are big enough to clone. :) I like cloning. Saves so much time.
-- I worked on my cabinet a little today. What ever I could get done that didn't require going outside & playing with electric in the rain. I was gluing & screwing a sawmill slat to the ceiling to attach the lights to. And I dropped the damned board right on my head, glue in my hair, screw hole in my scalp. You know, sometimes I really need a helper. Then I could drop boards on somebody else's head! I would have been fine, but my damned nose started running. I had to wipe it, but I let go with the wrong hand! That gorilla wood glue was hell getting out of my hair, so if the screws don't hold, that glue surely will! You know, now that I think about it. I had the drill in one hand, & wipped my nose with the other... humm................. :) :) :) ouch!

I went way back & looked at your pics. I just noticed something.... Mine are stacked on books too! Hahaha! :)

Hahaha...whatever is handy! Those are auto manuals for cars I don't own anymore Mama catbuds, gotta make use of stuff I got lying around. :)
Hmmmm....so use the CFL's on the sides? I think maybe the HPS plants are the ones that need the help though...Lol There's a thought, I should add CFL's to them to make it more "even".
Those girls sure are thirsty! About a quart a day for each of the 4. I have been giving them H2O and Terra Flores 2-2-4 every 3rd day. They seem to be doing well, though I will change things up in the next round. FF Oceanic soil will be my media of choice, gotta get off the Black Hills Gold fungus Gnat crap....Rookie!

Ahhhh, the fungus gnats! That's what happens when soil is packaged too wet & stored improperly. Probably not sterilized/pasteurized well either. Fox farm products are quality. Never had or heard of that problem with them. Just don't use ocean forest untill plants are no longer in seedling stage, use happy frog (gentle enough to start seeds in) untill they're in rapid veg growth, then transplant to ocean forest. I don't use nutes untill the plants show signs they need them. These soils are very well ballanced. Big Bloom occasionally, light on the nutes. It was good timing for me to find a store where fox farms is always available, since I can't turn a compost heap anymore. But I Do want another earthworm farm. The ones you can buy now require very little labor! :) :) :)

What are Earthworm castings anyway? Poop?? I'm confused about 'nutes too...I thought things like my Terra Flores or Big Bloom were 'nutes? Damn, for a guy who has done a lot of reading, I don't seem to know some of the basics!
Good thing they are "weeds". Lol

Fungus gnats. I had them pop up a few weeks ago when I was overwatering. I adjusted my watering routine and installed blue sticky cards at the rim of each pot. Now the only gnats I see are the ones stuck to the cards. I've heard people complain about FFof having gnats, but those things are everywhere. If conditions are right they will appear no matter what kind of soil you use. Earthworm castings are indeed poop! The worm's gut is filled with bacteria that break down organics in the soil. The poop is loaded with bio-available stuff. Assuming I hinted strongly enough, I may be getting a worm-casting factory for Christmas! If not, I'm going to build one.

Chromophore, good luck on your xmas gift. Leaving catalogs lying around open to the earthworm farm pics might work! Yep! Earthworm poop is is awesome shit, literally!
-- Big Bloom is a nute, just not your typical high npk heavy feeding. Minerals, bio-nutes, trace elements in wide diversity, but not over powering. Its almost more of a 'tonic' than anything. ALWAYS use it at transplanting. Its a great root booster too! I love the stuff. It really promotes over all plant health. They should change the name to Big Bloom & Plant Tonic to do it justice. I dilute 1/2 throughout growth, then recomended strength for bloom
-- Chromophore, you work in a lab with plants. Read the organic ingredients of Big Bloom, then look into the minerals & different hormones naturally occurring in those organics & get back to us with what you find. I think everyone following this thread will go to this product as a very happy customer. :) :) :)

Big Bloom is essentially worm castings, bat guano, seabird guano, kelp, and some phosphorous and potassium salts. The composition of guano and worm castings is very complex, but both contain a very complete array of trace minerals eg, molybdenum, copper, etc. But there are some differences. Guano can be very high in nitrogen, which castings typically are not. This is because bats and birds eat insects, which are basically protein nuggets. Digestion of protein yields nitrogen. But from a chemical point of view, what is remarkable about these organic nutrient sources, as opposed to synthetics like Miracle Gro, is that the nitrogen is in the form of uric salts, nitrate salts, as well as ammonium oxalate. These are superior forms of nitrogen to plain ammonium hydroxide (the form often used in fertilizers). Why? The answer is interesting.

Plant roots take up minerals and other nutrients one molecule at a time. And most of the molecules being absorbed are in a form where they carry an electric charge, negative or positive. Such a species of molecule is termed an ion. For example, ammonium ion is NH4-, water liberates H+ and OH-, Nitrate is NO2-, Sulfate is SO4-, etc. But at the level of the root cell membranes that do the absorbing, each type of ion exists within a "pecking order" so to speak. Some ions will flow in rapidly, AT THE EXPENSE OF OTHERS. This is critical. Miracle Gro knows this, and they also know that ammonium ion is taken up faster and more efficiently than any other. So they load the fertilizer with ammonium ion. The result of this is a very rapid and noticeable greening and growth spurt. But this is akin to shooting heroin as opposed to drinking poppy tea. There is a price to pay for this trick. Ammonium ion is so robust at the root level that it precludes absorption of other very important ions, Ca+, Mn+, even H+ which is essential for proper metabolism. So they jam a whole bunch of that in there too, in forms that are taken up rapidly. So you are basically pumping the plant up with the equivalent of super Human Growth Hormone mixed with steroids and some clean Bolivian flake for good measure. In the end you will have a green monster, but it may lack the ability to fight disease, repair wounds, properly form fruit, and on and on. Doesn't matter if its a zinnia in a flower pot I guess, but for agriculture it's terrible.

The ionic forms of N,P,K and all the others found in castings and guano are a perfect balance for proper, orderly and timely uptake. Depending on what the worms are fed you can have a very rich smorgasbord of ionic species and trace elements. There are also many other organic molecules important for plants (humins, fulvins, ulmins, fatty acids, glomalins, and many many others. Many of these compounds are formed in the guts of birds, bats and worms as they digest. I have used Big Bloom for years with the Salvia species I study, and there is no question that it is a superior fertilizer for constant feeding. Two years ago I started growing all of my Salvia in Ocean Forest and fertilize only with Big Bloom. The plants have dramatically improved in health and trichome production (Salvia has trichomes similar to Cannabis and these are filled with essential oils and aromatic terpenes).

I'm not trying to be a shill for Foxfarm, as I'm sure there are many other brand nutrients out there with similar properties. But in my experience, both as a biochemist and as a grower, organic ferts and soil mixtures based on worm castings and guano are the only way to go. And we haven't even discussed the effects on the aroma and taste of the bud. Save that one for later.

AH YES!!!! aroma & flavor! Organics effect terpinoids in ways chem nutes miss by a long shot! But you missed my FAVOURITE part of Big Bloom! Sea birds eat fish. Fish & their by products have gentle, natural growth & other hormones that effect plants in a healthy & positive way. Sea kelp too, in addition to all the other wonderful properties it posesses. (You know, native americans were really showing their smarts when they would drop a minnow or two into their planting holes)! I knew if I put you on the spot you pump out the info! Gets the point across when info comes from more than just one person. I can't help but sing the praises of a product I love this much. It would be so awesome if Fox Farms were to become one of our sponsers here, dontcha think? :) :) :)~~~ thanks Chromophore! ;)