Prepping for my next grow-need advice

my current grow is now entering the last month of flowering, and i have begun to plan my next grow that will begin the day of this harvest, or within the week at latest.

i will have plenty of seeds from my current grow, plus 4 amsterdam seeds that a friend says are "awsome", as well as a single feminized sacra fresca seed (amazing sativa)


I currently have an underpowered 6-bulb 150w cfl grow (25*6) which produced underwhelming results for 4 plants, needless to say.

i therefore have set my mind to getting a 600w hps setup so i can flower up to 10 girls at a time, and will use the cfls for seedlings and mothers in another room.

does this sound ok? i will be using cheap garden soils and will use proper ferts and molassas (no specific brands yet)

looking for hps bulbs, im finding that hydro shops are gona charge me an arm and a leg, as well as 300-400$ for the bulb, ballast, reflectr kit.

owever, i have found em on ebay for approx 150-200 cheaper. are these still good quality?

and i also found this: Lithonia High Bay 400 Watt High Pressure Sodium Lights - Mississauga Buy & Sell Items - Kijiji Mississauga

its a bit of a drive, and the ballasts are 347volts (:wtf:) however the price is worth it. how easily would i wire a 347v into a statndard 110-120v socket?

ps: what does a ballast do? regular lightbulbs dont need em for thier specific wattages....

there are many on ebay, but i dont know what i want. should i go digital? what kind of reflector (def. horizontal, but batwing or angulated)

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Originally Posted by klondike_bar

my current grow is now entering the last month of flowering, and i have begun to plan my next grow that will begin the day of this harvest, or within the week at latest.

i will have plenty of seeds from my current grow, plus 4 amsterdam seeds that a friend says are "awsome", as well as a single feminized sacra fresca seed (amazing sativa)


I currently have an underpowered 6-bulb 150w cfl grow (25*6) which produced underwhelming results for 4 plants, needless to say.

i therefore have set my mind to getting a 600w hps setup so i can flower up to 10 girls at a time, and will use the cfls for seedlings and mothers in another room.

does this sound ok? i will be using cheap garden soils and will use proper ferts and molassas (no specific brands yet)

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That sounds great, it's almost what I do, except for the molasses thing. However I highly recommend getting a 400W MH to complement that 600W HPS, and doing SOG or SCROG grows. Also hydro grows are way easier than dirt and give larger yields. And 600W could handle 10 plants, but realistically it's more like 6 or 8.

How far from the plants did you have the lights klondike bar? How long did you veg for? And finally, how much did you yield off those 4 plants?

Oh Klondike, a ban is a ban. You're not special and you should have followed the rules and advice in the first place. Had you done that you would still be posting. You lost that right because you refused to listen to Her Dankness, Queen Stinky. Consider not being able to ask questions in your time of need part of your punishment. Now you have added more time to your original ban for trying to sneak back in.

Have a Good One! :jointsmile:

sigh....ok im back. personally, i feel that punishment cruel, seeing as how in the forum rules when igning up i found nothing against multiple accounts...but im not here to argue.

ok, my 4 girls (3 of which are 99% certified dead b/c i overwatered) are under 6 lousy cfls hovering about 3 inches abouve them. i vegged about 3 weeks (until preflowers), and at its current state (5 weeks flower) id approximate that id get under a 2oz harvest if all 4 survived.


molasas also caused a slight surface mould, any preventions/is it normal? i soaped it a little, so it should dissapear.

my concern w/ the 600 is ventilation. i have a small fan unit that i will place near the bulb blowing directly on it, but i have no cooltube or professional exhaust system. will i overheat and how high will th bulb be from the plants?

you know if you using cheap soil go to orchard supply and get this soil called super soil, its really cheap but i been using it and no problems
where are you gonna get ur 600 hps from??
:rastasmoke:

got it for 310$ on ebay. whole setup w/ timer bonus. its a digital presumably.

im definitely gonna check out some kinda good garden store for my new soils and some flowering nutes for sure.

yeah ebay is the way to goo
always has good deals
have you every tried craigslist?

looked about, but it was about the same cost as ebay (same sets actually) for 400watters. the 1000w bulbs were good deals tho...

i wanted 600w, and i found the best price and package on ebay. its got a backup bulb too, so im good for a while w/ it :p

how much ventilation am i gonna need? i got an entire room in the basement so it wont heat up easily, but i rarely vent into the rest of the house, and not outdoors.

With HPS bulbs, you get what you pay for.
Be sure that the bulb is designed to be used in your type of reflector (vert-burning vs. horizontal), and produced for agricultural use. Can you get a HPS1000 bulb for $30 if you look hard enough? Probably. Will it be efficient for cultivation? Nope.
Zandor used to remind people: You go cheap, you grow cheap.

true, i agree, but at the same time the difference in cost vs. output on a 600w thats gonna be doing crops of 10 seedlings (clones once i get mothers) is not my concern.

its a horizontal bulb id hope seeing as its a horizontal (ceiling hung) reflector. i could get the EYE bulbs, but im not looking for ideal crops now, just for some good experience in my path of upgrading.


my general plan for the next grow starting soon:

1 week germination to seedling
2-3 weeks under 6cfl lights @ 20/4 veg
1-2 weeks vegging under hps or hps/cfl combo

entire flowering period will then take place using the hps on a 12/12 or 13/11 cycle

about 1 month before harvest, the next set of seeds/ seedlings will be planted.

new lamps are in. i set them up in the big room and put the cfls in the smaller room for my new cloning and seedling zone.

the reflector needs some minor adjusting since its slightly off-shaped.

whats the regular start-up on a bulb btw? mine took about 3 seconds from plug in to go bright blue, then over about 2 minutes went to a blinding orange light.

EDIT: for whatever reason, i cant see my pics properly, but there are 4 links if you move the mouse around in the attachments area.

loks good so far, is that a conversion ballast??

i believe so. it is a digital at least, i believe that means the same thing??

any tips for the reflector? as you can see, its a huge room that is completely lit by the bulb practically. (it would be about a foot lower next time, since these are on stands ANd stretched from vegging under weak cfl light.

when vegging my next set, im thinking of putting em under the hps for the 12/12 sessions and then back under the somewhat under powered cfls at night for the extra 8 hours so they will gets lotsa light. or will the orange bulbs offset the lumen amounts in veg?

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Originally Posted by klondike_bar

i believe so. it is a digital at least, i believe that means the same thing??

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It doesn't, chief. A conversion ballast would allow you to run a MH and an HPS bulb in the same socket without having to use a separate compatible ballast for each of them. Digital ballasts are nice, though. I received my 1000w digital (and switchable) system about a month ago, and can really tell a difference in heat from that ballast, and my old one. Plus, they're reported to be quite the energy savers, as well. Although, naturally, I haven't had enough time to see any noticeable difference. If the power consumption is significant enough, though, I plan on adding an extra 600w HPS that I have lying around to my grow room during flowering. I'm really excited about the potential there'll be with that much extra light. Guess I'll be looking into a light mover pretty soon, too.

But, on a lighter note, you can find MH conversion bulbs that you can use with your HPS system. And they work just as well as a switchable system, itself. Also, there's a significant difference in heat output between the fluros that you've been using, and your new HPS. You're really going to need to set up a proper ventilation system when you have that thing burning full-blast. Just something to keep in mind between now and then.

Lastly, I'd recommend trying to set the fixture up in a corner of the room you're using, as opposed to right in the middle. With at least two walls surrounding the grow area, you'll be able to cordon off the area much better...thereby preventing so much light from escaping. You can build artificial walls out of plywood, or even stiff cardboard lined with mylar...which will help keep the light directed where you're wanting it to go. As opposed to being scattered all throughout the room. Good luck with it. And be prepared to see some dramatic differences between CFL yields, and HID yields!

Clandestine is right, i like the conversion ballasts. I have one and i use the MH for veg then switch over to the HPS for bloom.

presumably itll run both. the ebay auction said mh and hps in the title....i dont have an mh bulb anyways tho...

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Originally Posted by klondike_bar

got it for 310$ on ebay. whole setup w/ timer bonus. its a digital presumably.

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What do you mean "presumably"? You bought a ballast hoping it's digital but not knowing? If it didn't say anything about being digital in the feature list or whatever, it's not.

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Originally Posted by hatenme

yeah ebay is the way to goo
always has good deals
have you every tried craigslist?

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Yeah Craigslist is pretty cool. It doesn't have near the selection of ebay of course, but it's all stuff you can drive to pick up.

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Originally Posted by klondike_bar

presumably itll run both. the ebay auction said mh and hps in the title....i dont have an mh bulb anyways tho...

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Yes it will run both. From the pictures it certainly looks like a digital ballast, and those run HPS and a MH conversion bulb. So essentially, it can do the same job as a switchable ballast. It really is to your advantage to get a MH bulb as well, since it is better for vegging. Your plants won't end up as lanky and will reward you with more nodes.

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Originally Posted by Opie Yutts

It really is to your advantage to get a MH bulb as well, since it is better for vegging. Your plants won't end up as lanky and will reward you with more nodes.

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I can't second this statement enough. Before I ever bought a conversion bulb for my 600w system, I grew both phases with an HPS. I got some horrible stretching early on, which always gave me tall, lanky branches...and nowhere near enough nodes. I also generally stick with indica-dominants, which are supposed to stay squat and compact...yet I generally ended up with 2' tall plants, with minimal branching, before flowering. Once I popped in a MH conversion bulb, this changed instantly...and my plants finally took on the classic characteristics of vegging indicas. I was finally able to get some density in my buds, too.

KB: Get you a conversion bulb. You won't regret spending the extra money on one. That, you can take to the bank.

well im gonna use my cfl rig for veg and cloning/mothering in....wont that be decent?

im planning to overlap the veg and flower cycles by having 2 rooms, since time is of essence, and i need as much as i `can grow on a low mudget by september or october. by vegging seperately, i can fit 3 grows i think.

would 2 grows using an mh in veg be that much better than 3 with cfl vegging?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by klondike_bar

well im gonna use my cfl rig for veg and cloning/mothering in....wont that be decent?

im planning to overlap the veg and flower cycles by having 2 rooms, since time is of essence, and i need as much as i `can grow on a low mudget by september or october. by vegging seperately, i can fit 3 grows i think.

would 2 grows using an mh in veg be that much better than 3 with cfl vegging?

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That will be descent.

Thats a great idea to have a room for the mom's and babies, then one for bloom, u can have a constant bloom going thhat way and in turn produce more fruits.

I dont see how u figure u can get 3 w/ cfl and 2 w/ MH. If anything the MH will make them gro a lil bit faster than the CFL, but not too much, it will not let u get a whole other harvest out of ur time if that is what ur thinking???

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Originally Posted by Opie Yutts

Yes it will run both. .... those run HPS and a MH conversion bulb.

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Notice it runs a CONVERSION bulb. That is different from a standard one. You can't run any ol' MH in a HPS system.

digi ballasts will run regular mh too, tho right? i thought conversion bulbs run in ANY hps ballast?

the reason id run more crops with cfls is that by having the second room unaffected by the 12/12, id be cloning and vegging seedlings so that they could rotate in as the old plants begin coming out for harvest.

also, any way to direct the hps more downwards? alot of light is going EVERYWHERE in the room, and if i could aim thet extra 10-15% down, itd be nice.
ie: whats the best shape for the batwing: semicircle or 1/4 circle?