250w HPS Grow Light?

Hey guys, just wondering if anyone has any experience with a Dual Spectrum 250w HPS light.

I already have a spare reflector, and I'm looking at getting a low wattage bulb such as the 250w for starting a new batch of 5 plants under whilst I am waiting for my current grow to finish up.

I'm planning on using it to germinate and veg under for around 4 weeks, so just wondering if anyone has any input on whether this size would have enough lumen output (32,000) to sustain them for that time frame? Or perhaps a Metal Halide would be better?

Thanks!

What is your budget? Are you using soil?

If soil, germination in my opinion is pointless. Plant the seed, put under CFL.

Get yourself an 8 Bulb T5 fixture and use that for veg, NOTHING better in my opinion. 5400k HO Bulbs for it.

Veg for 4 weeks might be a little long for just a 250w flowering stage...

Flower under a 600w hps.

DocktaGreenThumb said:

If soil, germination in my opinion is pointless. Plant the seed, put under CFL.

Get yourself an 8 Bulb T5 fixture and use that for veg, NOTHING better in my opinion. 5400k HO Bulbs for it.

Veg for 4 weeks might be a little long for just a 250w flowering stage...

Flower under a 600w hps.

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Yeah I currently have a Blue Dream grow in soil, under 600w HPS and 48 days into flower. I have the seeds for my next grow and I was thinking instead of waiting for the Blue Dream to finish, to germinate the second grow and get them started under a 250w. Once the Blue Dream is finished I then be moving them under the 600w to veg a little longer then flip them.

I run a 250w hps for my plants in veg (the mh bulb broke and haven't bought a new one yet). I've also used it for vegging in previous grows and it does perfectly fine. Just don't use it for seedlings give them a week or two before you use it. As soon as they are 3-4 inches tall you can whip out the 250w with no problems just have it higher than normal (25-35 inches maybe?) and keep your temps down if you can.

only problem is the canopy size. A 250 w canopy size is smaller than a 600 canopy size by a fair margin.

You would be better off vegging under a 400 and then flowering under a 600.

Lucky Luke said:

only problem is the canopy size. A 250 w canopy size is smaller than a 600 canopy size by a fair margin.

You would be better off vegging under a 400 and then flowering under a 600.

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I have a switchable 250-400 ballast it works good I put seedlings under 250 & as they grow advance to 400

Borgarden said:

I run a 250w hps for my plants in veg (the mh bulb broke and haven't bought a new one yet). I've also used it for vegging in previous grows and it does perfectly fine. Just don't use it for seedlings give them a week or two before you use it. As soon as they are 3-4 inches tall you can whip out the 250w with no problems just have it higher than normal (25-35 inches maybe?) and keep your temps down if you can.

Click to expand...

Thanks for replying! Glad to hear it is sufficient enough for veg! I've actually used my 600w for seedling before, literally from the day they popped out the soil. I just made sure the lighting was a good distance away. Thanks for your help!

Lucky Luke said:

only problem is the canopy size. A 250 w canopy size is smaller than a 600 canopy size by a fair margin.

You would be better off vegging under a 400 and then flowering under a 600.

Click to expand...

I was thinking that, however seeing as I'm using a SCROG, this is literally just a method I'm going to employ in order to give them a head start. I'm planning on popping them into the tent under the 600w to veg for a week or two as soon as my current grow finishes up, so they can grow bigger and into the SCROG net.

Aegean said:

Yeah I currently have a Blue Dream grow in soil, under 600w HPS and 48 days into flower. I have the seeds for my next grow and I was thinking instead of waiting for the Blue Dream to finish, to germinate the second grow and get them started under a 250w. Once the Blue Dream is finished I then be moving them under the 600w to veg a little longer then flip them.

Click to expand...

Invest in a High Output 8-Bulb T5 Fixture for your clones and veg. You can find one on eBay with bulbs included for around $140-$180.

The results in internode length are uncomparable to anything else when it comes to short and bushy (obviously the goal for everyone). Once they are outside the optimal light range of the T5's, flower under HPS.

I've seen 1000w MHs do great work, but in reality nothing produces that tight node formation like HO-T5. MH also runs up to 3x warmer as well. You can place T5's .5" from the canopy.

if you're scrogging, my advice is minimal as I have never used one. I don't know how well that would work as I'm refering to multiple plants under 3ft.

Thanks for all the input guys! Ive ended up going with a 400w HPS which is now set up, and I have also germinated the seeds as of this morning. So here's onto the next grow!

Borgarden said:

I run a 250w hps for my plants in veg (the mh bulb broke and haven't bought a new one yet). I've also used it for vegging in previous grows and it does perfectly fine. Just don't use it for seedlings give them a week or two before you use it. As soon as they are 3-4 inches tall you can whip out the 250w with no problems just have it higher than normal (25-35 inches maybe?) and keep your temps down if you can.

Click to expand...

If you go buy another 250 watt light bulb can I suggest you look up and try GE version of ceramic metal halide .paid 45 plus shipping used it through two grows start to finish .does well covering 2 x2.5 or two medium plants. 3 to 4 oz on both times.I'm going to upgrade in a few weeks to the 400 watt hps and buy the GE cmh constant color 400 and add far red LEDs in the corners cause I think the spectrum is short on red.