Quote Originally Posted by CAPnnCRUNCH
alright cool thanks, oh and one other thing, i was reading on a the lighting system that I am about to purchase that a 600w hps bulb emits 90,000 lumns and that a 600w MH emits somewhere about 60,000 Lms? I heard that each plant should get about 5,000 Lms for optimal growth. Does this mean that I can flower more plants at one time than I can veg at one time? (assuming i'm using the MH to veg, and the HPS to flower)
The 5000 for optimum growth should be foot-candles, which are lumens per square foot.

Lumens are weighted for sensitivity to the human eye, not for plant photosynthesis, though lumens / foot-candles are a consistent standard to go by, and because flowering plants like the redder portion of the spectrum, the yellow biased lumen measure works well enough there.

For vegetative growth, try not to over analyze lumens and foot-candles, rather use a light meter as a rough guide, let them slowly get up to 3000-5000 foot candles and figure out how much they can take, and what they like the best so you can best grow the strain that you'll learn to care for.

Basically, you flower when your plants get to a certain size, assuming that they'll grow twice that height by the end of flower. Different strains and conditions alter this, so you'll have to learn the best time to switch to flowering on your own.

You should think of a higher amount of vegetative light as speeding up the growth rates, rather then supporting a certain number of plants, so you'll wait less time between those wonderful harvests.

A 600 watt metal halide conversion bulb sounds like a great way to minimize your vegetative time for a 600 watt HPS flowering.

Best of luck on your grow!

Mustelid the Pine Marten.