I was wondering which light to get, metal halides or hp sodiums. which one do you guys prefer and why?
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I was wondering which light to get, metal halides or hp sodiums. which one do you guys prefer and why?
MH is better for vegging. HPS is best for flowering. If you can by a switchable system and use the bulbs which best suit the stage your plant is in. If you can't buy a switchable go for the HPS because it can be used for the whole grow successfully! Peace!
crispi prefers hps. cause hes a cheap bastard -n- can use it start to finish.
peace
crispi
I'm not a cheap basterd by any means when it comes to my plants, and I'd still purchase an HPS over swicthable's.
MH has it's uses. Very good light for veg. added uv, and what ever else I might not completly be aware of. However it lacks weight by itself. Using MH for a complete cycle is silly in my mind. I weeded out...hehe...all the MH equipment about 6-7 years ago when I switched to CFL's for veg.
What a couple of these bulbs can do in such a short amount of space is simply awsome! To think you can supply an entire bedroom sized area with healthy clones that were taken from a plant under afew of these is a very real wake up call if I say so myself.
So that was the main reason for the switch over to CFL's.
HPS on the other hand isn't all that bad for veg. i'd dare say roughy 50% if not more of indoor growers do use HPS to veg. even if only for a short amount of time. I Myself would veg. under an HPS for about 2-3 weeks, to help fill in the clones abit. Rarly did I have to veg for anymore time then this....(12 days average if i remember corret.
I could have gone the route with using a switchable. But to be honest over the years i've tried soooo many combinations from lights to space, nutes. systems, ect. I just never got around to using them. I'm confident though you could produce a beatiful mother under an HPS bulb. Done this many a times. Other then the normal growing pattern of cannabis, I've never noctied stress, or stretch!:jointsmile: GL
So, you're saying that CFL's have worked better for you than a MH bulb? One MH bulb= 38,000 lumens. How many CFL's do you have to use to equal that? I'm going to do the math- If you used one CFL that puts out 1600 lumens you'd need almost 24. One bulb compared to 24....hmmm. Each 1600 lumen bulb is 26/32 watts...that's 624watts whereas the typical 38,000 lumen MH bulb can run off of a 400watter...um....just seems more practical to use a MH and supplement with a few CFL's, or is it me? Peace.
have seen both mh and hps produce good results used for both veg and flower, a switchable ballast would probably be best but if you was limited to one or the other would probably use a hps.
flouros are great for starting clones and even vegging for a short amount of time while they will not have the lumens of a mh or hps its more efficient for alot to use a few small flouros when the plants are small as they take up less space and use less electric, then the plants can be thrown under a hid for longer veg or flowering.
How important are HPS bulbs? This guy I know is just using a G.E. crystal clear bulb (100w) he got at Home Depot. he is also using a G.E. plant light (120w), and a couple of Flo's. are HPS really nessasary?
HPS=bigger, denser buds.....CFL=smaller, thinner buds, but buds none the less! Peace!
Now thats a good reason to change. . .Quote:
Originally Posted by HiProGlow
the whole HPS set up is kinda pricey tho. . .
also i have a random question about temp. and venting. Do the plants need constant air flow (does a fan always need to be on) or is that only durring flowering? My buddy is using a closet with no vent, he hase a fan but doesnt know how often to turn it on. he is in the veg. state right now and doesn't know how to aproach the air temp/humidity in the closet. he says it doesn't get to hot in the closet since he is only using Flo's right now. he only turns the Crystal bulb on when he is hame with the door open. What should I tell him to do?
Personally I've only ever used a MH bulb(just picked up my fiirst HPS today yay!), so my opinion here isn't quite valid yet. But I will say that you get what you put into your plants. You can grow bud on your window sill using dirt from your backyard, but every improvement you make increases the yeild and quality of your bud. You get what you put in plain and simple, that includes lights, money, time, climate control, and most important you dedication. Balance and compinsation for short commings goes a long way.:stoned:
another point of view not yet mentioned is that mh's are much hotter than hps....making hps better for small rooms.fresh air is mandatory ,and to make my stems stronger i have a fan gently blowing them around 24/7.
So what i get from all this is that HPS is the way to go, and my buddy should figure a way to get air into the closet? what if he just opened the door to the closet nightly?Quote:
Originally Posted by divestoned
not enuff to open the closet you need fresh outside air really....plants have to breathe.
what if he doesnt have a way to get fresh air into the closet? does anyone have a way to cut that corner, maybe a air purifier ar some sort of filter?
leave a fan runnin 24/7 and open a window as often as possible.......or a 4" inline fan and a length of ducting to a window....
budding mj plants love the dull orange glow of the hps more than any other lighting imo. but for veg the blinding white light of the mh is by far the best lighting. i use flouros for veg myself to conserve power so that way i can use more hps wattage to flower. i did use a 400 conversion bulb for veg 1 time rather than the usual flouros and the plants grew 5x faster under that mh than flouros but i just couldn't justify the extra energy expense as i did not need the plants to grow that fast. i grew an 8-9 week strain so there was plenty of time to veg clones while i had a crop flowering. i personally wouldn't veg with hps or flower with mh but that's just me, imo the best lighting set up would be a mh for veg and dual spectrum flowering, meaning using both mh and hps together. in the space i have available(2ftx4ft for veg 4ft7inch x 4ft7inch for flower) i would ideally like to use a 400mh for veg and a 1kw hps + 400mh for flower. and thats my $.02
Dual Spectrum rocks! Ever since changing a few years ago, I would not even consider going back, the plants love both lights/spectrums together. I have recently started to veg under CFL and tubes, seems to be working ok, albiet slow. I would like to up the size to a 600HPS for more penetration eventually, but my dual 400/400 bloomroom works great for now. Remote out the ballasts to cut down on heat. Cooltube and a good fan is a must though in my small space. Putting my hand underneath them, it feels like the HPS is hotter - but its also a larger diameter and closer to the glass then the MH. By rule of thumb, MH should be hotter at = wattage
HIPROGLOW...not sure but I think that was perhaps abit of attitude their about my responce. My maybe you misunderstood me, so I'll spell it out in simpler terms....
MH
veg. cycle= good/great
bloom cycle= ?...heard rumors
HPS
veg.cycle=fair/great
bloom cycle=good/great
Now if I remeber right the man asked for the reason why you like your choice of bulb. Maybe I throw you off when I included my 2 pennys worth of info on CFL's. However maybe I didn't get to discriptive enough for ya and left ya to few words to put it all together. Not sure?
Thats my bad brotha...
I keep forgetin ya have to be damn near pollictically(sp?) correct now a days.
I thought since this forum is closet/cab. that maybe my responce would have been helpfull. But since you want to try and pick me apart well...I'd have to step aside for a moment a say big %&ck you to your math!
I seen/done/read cultivators flowering lets say....400w..9 plants in a 3x3 area...thats pretty fair right...over kill IMO?
You can figure that 8 weeks from now you'll be seating the next batch, which means you'll have plenty of time to clone, and get some establishment.
So with this in mind....where and why the fuck would you want to have a veg area suited for a MH? Again...we are in the closet/cab. forum right?:o
A switchable might be his best bet for his space....i dunno.
Maybe this conversation will shed some light for GROWDATPURP.
Perhaps Growing-by-numbers will suit him/her just fine.....I'm just an old guy....what the fuck do i know? It's hard enough tryin to keep up. Peace:stoned: