LIGHTING QUESTIONS

[rodekyll]

I've got this 1kw MH ballast that I've been running for a few years now with a single, 400w MH bulb. I use the 400w because 1000w of MH turns my 28x28" growing area into an easy-cook oven, and because I believe that I end up with close to the same effective lumens as the 1000w by bringing the bulb closer to the plants. The 400w is the standard "blue spectrum" kind that's discussed here a lot. I think I'd like to add some red spectrum for flowering. I've been reading this forum about mercury vapor, HPS, and other technologies. What I'd like to do is use the same ballast for the red light, since the "day" period would be the same for the red/blue combination, and because I already have the ballast, and it's less than half-used at the present 400w.

What I need to know is: Can these other kinds of lights (HPS, MV, etc) be run off the same MH ballast, or is that just a silly thought?

What about these "red" MH bulbs such as are up on ebay (SUNMASTER RED BURNING 400w METAL HALIDE Grow Light Bulb CONVERSION LAMP THAT RUN ON A METAL HALIDE BALLAST Item number: 7746017555) (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...IN_Stores_IT)?

Do I still want to use the blue spectrum of the existing bulb and "add" red, or do I want to replace the blue bulb with the red one?

wooohooo! I love experimenting! Mebbe I needs a life. . .

. .. anyway, all input appreciated!

rodekyll Reviewed by rodekyll on 03-10-2006. LIGHTING QUESTIONS I've got this 1kw MH ballast that I've been running for a few years now with a single, 400w MH bulb. I use the 400w because 1000w of MH turns my 28x28" growing area into an easy-cook oven, and because I believe that I end up with close to the same effective lumens as the 1000w by bringing the bulb closer to the plants. The 400w is the standard "blue spectrum" kind that's discussed here a lot. I think I'd like to add some red spectrum for flowering. I've been reading this forum about mercury Rating: 5

[Kush Over]

Maybe the Mercury Vapor, but not the High Pressure Sodium. The HPS requires a special ballast with an ignitor, the Metal Halide ballast doesn't have this.

[Kush Over]

Sorry, didn't get this in the first post [ dumbass me, eh? ]. Well, that low kelvin [ red spectrum, in other words ] Metal Halide bulb you posted a link for should do it if you wanted to substitute for the lack of HPS light.

[karmaxul]

The best plant spectrum is 5150 degrees Kelvin. Here is a crazy bulb that would work for you. Its 5500 degrees K.
http://www.esuweb.com/products/243Co...500_KELVIN.htm

One love
c

PS the 3200 K one you see will help force flower but its not good for mothers over years. Better then a 2100 hps but not great. Thats just me

[rodekyll]

By "forcing" flowers, do you mean flower production at a time that would otherwise be considered premature, or do you mean that the normal flower production in the normal fruiting cycle is enhanced?

I wouldn't be using the red during the veg phase, just during the fruiting phase.

I've been budding plants fine for years with the standard MH. I can kick them into fruiting pretty predictably with the proper increase in the dark cycle. So if red is only bringing on the bud I'm perhaps looking at the wrong solution. Or maybe I don't understand . . .

My problem is lack of "finishing" for some of the strains I've tried, and one current clone in particular. Some simply won't get frosty at all. THC production way below what I'd consider average. Everything else about the plants are encouraging -- good root systems, nodal distances, growth rate during veg phase, etc. They are also tasty smoke, and lots of it. They're just mediocre with the THC.

What I'm looking for is resins that go milky or brown -- these never do -- more glands, and perhaps a bit less leafy and more flowery overall yield, too. "Closure", if you will. I can usually tell when a bud is "done". These I can't. Even at 18 hours dark they won't finish . . . will red help that?

The mother plant was given to me by someone who gets his stuff from catalogs. This is "spirit" something or other. So I have reason to believe it could be good stuff if I grow it right.

[rodekyll]

The best plant spectrum is 5150 degrees Kelvin. Here is a crazy bulb that would work for you. Its 5500 degrees K.
http://www.esuweb.com/products/243Co...500_KELVIN.htm

One love
c

PS the 3200 K one you see will help force flower but its not good for mothers over years. Better then a 2100 hps but not great. Thats just me

So for budding you would be more in favor of supplimenting a normal blue MH with 3200k than with replacing the normal bulb with the redder one? Or are you saying that you'd stay with the 5500k for the entire cycle and not use red at all?

[karmaxul]

Break down of cloroplasts send the plants into flower faster. Yellow light breaks down cloroplasts. I have read experiments about flowering with low pressure sodium lamps that produce a pure yellow light from the inner bulb and a 15% red spectrum according to a contact at Phillips Neitherlands division where the specialty bulbs are manufactured, due to a IR coating which insulates the bulb tips, which as you know is where most of the heat is lost. Older models of the low pressure sodium bulbs used tin plates to insulate the tip which produces a blue spectrum. Regardless the LPS bulbs force flowering quickly but the plants reach and strech as it is a unbalanced spectrum. Plants use only a small portion of red light which is seen in the morning light during autumn due to the tilt of the earth and angle the light from the sun is passed through the gases of the atmosphere. The degree kelvin of the sun around noon in most parts of the globe is around 5500 degrees K. Since the plants did not evolve under 2100 K seen in a HPS or 3200 K as mentioned above the most balanced spectrum is a 5150 K. As far as length of the budding cycle it may be a bit longer as MH is a fraction longer then HPS, but in terms of produces the most natural spectrum the bulb above seems to take the cake.

The 2100 K is almost a pure orange.
3,000,000/2100=1428
1428-750=678 Nanometers
orange is 669.6 nanometers

The 3200 K is the middle of the ultraviolet spectrum where green would be in the visable light spectrum so it looks blue
3000000/3200=937.5
937.5-750=187.5 then convert that into the visible spectrum
750-187.5=562.5 nanometers (could just do 937.5-375 but did not want to ad to the confusion)

5150 K which is about 5.3% red(723NM), 36.3% blue(508NM), and 58.3% yellow(616NM) if you average the nanometers (distance measurement of the wave lengths)
3000000/5150=582 being slightly more yellow light then blue. More visible light spectrum then infrared or ultra violet versions.

I hope that helps
One love
c