first big grow by twitch

i have had 3 other grows on this site where i had 1 to 4 females, now i am
doing a grow where i a hoping for at least 8 if not more. i started with 50 seeds
of different genetics from people i have gotten over the past 4 years.

i now have 26 seedlings they are under a 4 ft 4 bulb t5 lights, they are in fox
farm potting soil and in the next couple of weeks they will start on a half dose
of fox farm nutes

i also have a 400 watt switchable ballast with an hps and i am getting a mh
bulb for it tomorrow

if yall have any suggestions let me know
here are some pics

first question how high should i keep the t5 of the top of the plants?
right now its about 3 to 4 inch from the light... higher lower same

put your hand on top of the plant and bring the lights down till you hand starts to get warm. take it back a bit and that should be good. The closer the better.

i have seen people us hps lights for veg and flower what are the downs sides to
this anyone know?

From what I've read(in the lighting section of this forum).

MH put out a higher blue spectrum and are best for Vegitative growth. There is also some belief that the UV put out by these produces more resins.

HPS put out a higher RED spectrum thus simulating the Fall sun. Which in turn is needed to flower.

It has been said running both the entire time is best. However next best is MH to grow and HPS to flower

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Vancefish

HPS put out a higher RED spectrum thus simulating the Fall sun. Which in turn is needed to flower.

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the red spectrum or fall sun is not needed to flower. what is needed is the amount of darkness to cause a plant to flower. 12+ hours of solid darkness.

everything else you said sounded good thought!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by twitch

first question how high should i keep the t5 of the top of the plants?
right now its about 3 to 4 inch from the light... higher lower same

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you can put the t-5s pretty much on your plants and they won't burn. they have much more surface area than a CFL so they don't get as hot to the touch. so just get them as close as you can.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by canni13is

put your hand on top of the plant and bring the lights down till you hand starts to get warm. take it back a bit and that should be good. The closer the better.

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a good rule of thumb is to keep your hand on top of the plants and lower your light, when after ~5 seconds you can't keep your hand their any longer due to heat then back up the light just a bit.

good growin!


-shake

Yes AND No!

Red spectrum is not NEEDED to make flowers. IT IS however a factor in the size and potency of those flowers. You could flower a plant under pure blue CFLs sure, but lets see you pull the same kind of weight per plant at a high red spectrum HPS.

Are you actually saying RED has no benefit to flowering???:wtf:

and sorry,

I've been reading all I can about lighting for about a month now. I understand that this doesn't make me an expert. However I see RED spectrum lighting in nearly every lighing fixture intended for flowering. I've read post after post saying HIGH red spectum is best for flowering. Although I've seen people's grow logs who don't and they DO get flowers. Just not the bigger denser ones the higher red does.

I read a VERY long explanation for this around a month ago. Something to do with not only what the plant is growing but what the plant uses in the nutes and what photo synthasis is doing with those compounds to grow the flowers.

Unfortunatly I need to go to work instead of hunting proof that RED spectrum is best for flowering. I only posted to this thread to point out HIGH RED HPS is what is best for flower and MH was best to grow (as Twitch asked about):thumbsup:.

no thats actually not what i was asking about...
i understand that red for flower and the blue for veg, and what shake was
saying is it isn't the color of the light that sets the plant into flowering its the
fact that u turn the lights off for 12 hours, the flowering process only happens
in total darkness and if that darkness last for 12 hours thats how u sex the and
for flower not by changing the light but by changing how long they are on and
off for

what i was asking is what is the disadvantage of using an hps the whole way
through? i mean i ma getting an MH today anyway i was just curious as to why
i see these people with the monster grows that they use hps on there veg
stage too.... i was kinda hoping for a response from someone that uses the
hps for veg, no offence to the people that put their :twocents: in
oh and i dont think a MH can help with resin production since all the resin
production i have seen comes in the flower stage

You use the MH along with the HPS in flowering stage. It helps create light that is more similar to the sun.