1000 watt eye hortilux hps vs. 400 watt regular mh bulb for vegetative stage

[AmazingBlazing]

well...which one do you think i should use? I have a 4 foot by 4 foot room and temperatures with the 1000 watt reach 88 degrees F. the 400 reaches 84 degrees. the plants are 2 weeks old and mostly sativa. They are in 5 gallon buckets already. i want to branch them out a bit so the veg stage will be pretty long. any advice?

AmazingBlazing Reviewed by AmazingBlazing on 11-01-2008. 1000 watt eye hortilux hps vs. 400 watt regular mh bulb for vegetative stage well...which one do you think i should use? I have a 4 foot by 4 foot room and temperatures with the 1000 watt reach 88 degrees F. the 400 reaches 84 degrees. the plants are 2 weeks old and mostly sativa. They are in 5 gallon buckets already. i want to branch them out a bit so the veg stage will be pretty long. any advice? Rating: 5

[Dutch Pimp]

1000 watt is overkill for vegging plants. IMO. Even the 400 watt light is a lot of light for the first 3 weeks.

also...smaller pots for vegging is better/easier. IMO.

[FreeDaHerb]

That 1000 watt hortilux has at least double the PAR watts of that MH light, i.e. alot more useable light...if you have enough space & plants and want them to grow BIG & FAST..go with the 1k dude..but you are going to have to prune & train those plants for certain as sativa based strains are going to stretch like crazy during flowering so you need to be bending, pruning, & breaking (they love when you just snap the tops over, they grow back really strong from the lower and side branches due to hormonal changes as a result of the breaking of the tops..just let them hang over, they will fix themselves in a few days)...Temps of 88F are fine if you use CO2 enrichment, these would actually be near ideal conditions for a sativa..otherwise it will be a bit warm as plant growth starts to slow and you start having heat stress problems around that range...Maybe look into an exhaust system or A/C lowering, etc and try to get those temps down..either way more light = more growth = more yield. But as you know = more heat, more electricity. You will likely yield twice as much as the 400 MH with that hortilux bulb.

Look at it like this:

400 watts of light : 4 x 4 ft space (16 sq. ft) = 25 watts per sq. ft.

1000 watts of light : 4 x 4 space (16 sq. ft) = 62.5 watts per sq. ft.

For ideal growth rates and flowering results with rock hard buds and heavy trichome production you want to be in that 40-60+ watts per ft2 light range with HID lights...for vegging 20-30 per ft2 would work just fine though if you decided based on temp problems that's what you needed to run.

How big are the plants now? How many? Any pics?

[AmazingBlazing]

thanks for the input guys. I'm still not sure which light to use though. the plants just aren't growing as well as i thought they should under the 1000 watt hps and i'm wondering if the light spectrum is not appropriate. I will probably switch back to the 400 watt mh and see if growth picks up. I have not grown this strain before (delahaze from paradise seeds) but i would be surprised if the lack of growth i am noticing was due to high temperatures. I am using a soil based from black gold organic and it seems like there might be too much fertilizer in the soil already. The leafs are not the dark solid green that I am used to at this stage. Any input is appreciated. thanks team

[LOC NAR on probation]

Dude, Please go back to the 400 MH light. 2 weeks old and 1000. You want the MH for veg. HPS for flower. And don't get the light too close at least 2 feet untill they can take it. The color of the leaf maybe the strain but maybe that 1000 burning them up. it's not ferts unless it's leaf tips burning.

And get the temps down in the mid 70's . You need a good amount of fresh in bad out while lights are on. Not so much in the dark. Small A/C's work wonders.

[AmazingBlazing]

thanks for the quality reply loc nar. i switched to the 400 a few days ago and the ladies are doing much better. where could i find one of these good small ac units?

[FreeDaHerb]

Home depot has a decent small portable a/c unit on wheels for a few hundred bucks last time I was there..

[cherokee]

yes i certainly do have to share my info,im a legal paitent mmj,anyway we just purchased a eye hortilux mh blue hor mnt,400 watt,have you seen the graph for this lamp?if you take 25% more than standard mh spectrum and 25% more than standard hps spectrum and then combo that into one lamp and thats what this is,good for start to finish and ive never seen buds this dense and grow this fast indoors,have northern lights,strait indica,skunk #1, the grow is soil and total time is 2 and a half months and there taller than me and im 5:10 ,so to any that wonder about spectrums as far as im concerned this is one of the best or the best,its even get more spectral energy than the eye hortilux hps for flowering in the reds and yellows,orange ect,,, cherokee