flourescent for vegatative stage followed by hps for flowering

[bib fortuna]

would there be a big problem running flourescent lights for your vegatation stages and then switching to hps for your 12/12 cycle? im trying to find a way to not kill my electric bill.

i havent really heard of anyone doing this but a friend suggested it would be a good way to get around a big grow. lets say 400 plants in 2 20x20 grow spaces. they would be light-isolated from eachother during the flowering stages. you would be 24 hours on during veggie stage for all 400 under the flourecsents and then when you were ready to flower you could have half on half off in an alternating cycle.. sounds like a good idea but im not too keen on the whole veggie stage being under some weak flouresents. for 400 plants you would be looking at about 20 1000 watt lights..

what say you?

bib fortuna Reviewed by bib fortuna on 07-19-2007. flourescent for vegatative stage followed by hps for flowering would there be a big problem running flourescent lights for your vegatation stages and then switching to hps for your 12/12 cycle? im trying to find a way to not kill my electric bill. i havent really heard of anyone doing this but a friend suggested it would be a good way to get around a big grow. lets say 400 plants in 2 20x20 grow spaces. they would be light-isolated from eachother during the flowering stages. you would be 24 hours on during veggie stage for all 400 under the flourecsents Rating: 5

[faithlessxxx]

Thats a quite common procedure, actually, and perfectly logical and correct.
Plants veg very nicely under fluors, but most people find they flower much better under an HPS.
Though I'm not sure people would bother about swapping lights for a grow the size you're talking of.

[bib fortuna]

if it were a perfect world i would just run hps thru the whole grow but it comes down to the ability of what the building can safely handle. there are going to be 20 hps 1000 watt lights in there.

[ebsters]

you must be a rich man, to have 20 1000watt hps,

sounds to me, you need to do alot of research in what your doing.

[khronik]

Fluorescent lights are actually less efficient for plant growth than MH or HPS. They are nice though, because they're cheap and you can put them right next to your plants without having to worry about burning them.

[bib fortuna]

you must be a rich man, to have 20 1000watt hps,

sounds to me, you need to do alot of research in what your doing.

rich? no. not even close.

sounds to me like you make too many assumptions. pardon me, but i am pretty sure that by asking a question in a cultivation forum, I am doing research. but maybe thats just me. but thanks for your input its been extremely valuable. while we are at it, What are your feelings on the current trade deficit plaguing third world nations like India?:wtf:

I just feel that HPS during veg would yield faster growth and more than likely a better end product.

[bib fortuna]

Fluorescent lights are actually less efficient for plant growth than MH or HPS. They are nice though, because they're cheap and you can put them right next to your plants without having to worry about burning them.

That is the exact aspect I was wondering about. when you refer to efficiency youre talking about lumens per watt right?

[stinkyattic]

First, before you get all snotty with the person asking about your 20 HPS lights, you should be aware that it is BEYOND stupid to talk about a grow of that scale (commercial) on the internet.

Also, be aware that this forum is geared towards people growing on a personal or med use scale.

But if you want to stick your neck out there, here's my input....

HPS in veg isn't as efficient as MH in veg for the simple reason that the plants use the light spectrum in the BLUE range during vegetatinve growth.

Flouros (tube shop lights or agricultural T5 fixtures) are very nice in veg under a couple conditions: 1) Lights must be very close to plant tops 2) Plant canopy must be VERY even and not too thick because there is little penetration. It sounds like you are planning on cashcropping- the method you will find most effective will be to take a shitload of clones, stick them under your veg lights as soon as they are rooted but not keeping them there very long, like less than 2 weeks, and throw them into flower as soon as it is apparent that they are indeed giving a bit of vertical growth.

Have you ever grown before? Do you have ANY idea of the risks associated with what you are planning? Do you have a space to safely absorb 20,000 watts of HID, a few thousand of flouros, and THOUSANDS of watts of climate control?

[ebsters]

flours/ by type

these are not exact numbers but is what i can remember off the top of my head, after looking at soooo many types of cfl's, hps's, and flours.

t12-60-70 lumens a watt
t8- 65-75 lumens per watt
t5-70-80 lumens per watt
t5 ho- 92-100 lumens per watt.

while mh bulbs are 120-140lumens per watt
and hps bulbs are 140-150lumens per watt.

and what i was refering to is that 20 1000 watt hps, is enough to have a garden that is enough lights to cover a 150'x150' ROOM. You will have to watch out for Light burn, as if you setup your lights wrong, some will get to much light. Adding co2 to your setup would help alot with this problem but will not solve it. Not to mention that to add co2 to a space this big would costs some serious $$$$

[bib fortuna]

i a moving to humboldt next month.

doin it with the clinics in mind. with papers, all legal. just had a question about that single aspect..

peace.