3 stage light suggestions

my buddy is considering a 3 stage grow. Reason being, veg take 4-6 weeks, and flowering takes 8-12 depending on strain. If you had a 4 T5HO 6500k for veg, an 1000 HPS for flower, what would you use in between?

I'm considering 8 t5HO 6-2700k 2-6500k just because of low heat and large coverage. The alternative would be to get a 400 watt HPS, but don't like the heat issues, and the limited plant coverage.

So the idea is veg 4-6wks under 4 t5's, flower 4-6wks under 8 t5's, and finish under 1000 HPS. This way only a couple plants are in one stage at anytime and get a steady flow of nugz.

ideas, suggestions, objections, all are welcome!

no suggestions?

Are you cloning from mother plants?

Why flower under the T5 when you are then going to move them to 1000w? i dont understand. Just put the dam T5 in with the 1000w and use one T5 for vegging. What is this 3rd stage you are trying to create? why bother I dont get it, i mean it willl definitly work just dont see advantages. Better to just keep vegging then under the 8 T5

i would just flower with the 1000w. you will get better growth switching strait to HID when you begin flowering.

Sounds like your lookin to go perpetual on a budget

Not wise to cut corners, same as cuttin yields

ow.douglas said:

Are you cloning from mother plants?

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just cloning the tops of the topped plant, and 1 other clipping from each.

super2200 said:

Why flower under the T5 when you are then going to move them to 1000w? i dont understand. Just put the dam T5 in with the 1000w and use one T5 for vegging. What is this 3rd stage you are trying to create? why bother I dont get it, i mean it willl definitly work just dont see advantages. Better to just keep vegging then under the 8 T5

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since flowering takes 8-11 weeks, and I always veg for 4-6, I figured I can get a third group through instead of just 2 in a 4 month period. Otherwise I'm sitting on my hands for a month waiting to start vegging my next plants.

I guess my logic is flawed....

pastafarian81 said:

i would just flower with the 1000w. you will get better growth switching strait to HID when you begin flowering.

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well I just get a 400 watt HPS then for the 2nd stage, I really believe I'll get 25% or so more by adding a third group over a 4 month span.

sounds like a decent idea to me. Basically a seedling/rooting stage, veg stage and flower stage? the idea of saving the 2 weeks of boring seed stage is smart, but
one suggestion would be instead of splitting up the 2 veg areas just have one larger veg area with all your t8's. when you start your seeds/clones simply put them on a table or something to bring them to the same height as your currently veging plants.
this is the system my friend uses and I will likely adopt it for my grow. Nice to have 2-3 week old seedling when your veging batch is rdy for flower room.

K.I.S.S is the best way to go about things .when people try to over complacate things is when everything starts to go wrong. veg with a 600W mh swich to hps when you flower .if you want to add a step just get one more 600W hps and mix the mh/hps for the rest of the grow .

ltz40055 said:

K.I.S.S is the best way to go about things .when people try to over complacate things is when everything starts to go wrong. veg with a 600W mh swich to hps when you flower .if you want to add a step just get one more 600W hps and mix the mh/hps for the rest of the grow .

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not sure what K.I.S.S is, but I think your idea is spot on. I think I will just get another 600 watt MH/HPS switchable setup. Seedlings under t5 for 3 weeks, veg under 600MH 3 more weeks, switch bulb to HPS, flower under 600HPS for 3 weeks, then finish under 1000HPS for 3-5 weeks.

I'm sure I will have to dick with my setup quite a bit, but it seems like it could be productive. Doubt it's going to hurt production.

Thanks a bunch for the replies and great ideas guys!

Keep It Simple Stupid