Lighting questions....

Ello folks,

I am planning my next endeavor. I am looking at a 400 W set-up, but I have some questions. I am looking at a kit which comes with a digital ballast for HPS/MH and it comes shipped with a 400W HPS bulb which states it's good for flowering. Question is which is best for what stages? HPS for flowering, MH for vegging etc etc? What is the rule of thumb, if not one, then what is your preference and why? Also, I've read where there are different spectrum's to look for while growing, what colors are best for what stages?

Thanks alot!

georgiagreenthumb said:

Ello folks,

I am planning my next endeavor. I am looking at a 400 W set-up, but I have some questions. I am looking at a kit which comes with a digital ballast for HPS/MH and it comes shipped with a 400W HPS bulb which states it's good for flowering. Question is which is best for what stages? HPS for flowering, MH for vegging etc etc? What is the rule of thumb, if not one, then what is your preference and why? Also, I've read where there are different spectrum's to look for while growing, what colors are best for what stages?

Thanks alot!

Click to expand...

hey georgia i have a metal halide light myself never used it you can go and get a t5 light for 150 to 250 and veg and do ur clone work under it saves on elec and has very little heat if that is out of the budget then go to lowes and buy a shop lite and get ima thinkin its 46 wattbulbs with 3000 lumens ywith hps and metal halide you have a huge heat issue go to ebay and type in t5 lightand youll find em hope this herlps ya out

you'll want the mh for vegetive growth. and the hps for flowering.. although there are different spectrums in both mh and hps, they usually don't tell that kind of info that ive noticed in the past.. so long as you get either an hps or a mh, it shouldn't matter all that much what spectrum that they are in as by them being just a mh or an hps will determine its spectrum, if that makes any sense to you..
usually when your dealing with cfl bulbs you have to pay more attention to the spectrum.. with cfl's you'll want to use the 6500k bulbs for veg and the 2700 k ones for flowering..
hope that helps you out some..

racerboy71 said:

you'll want the mh for vegetive growth. and the hps for flowering.. although there are different spectrums in both mh and hps, they usually don't tell that kind of info that ive noticed in the past.. so long as you get either an hps or a mh, it shouldn't matter all that much what spectrum that they are in as by them being just a mh or an hps will determine its spectrum, if that makes any sense to you..
usually when your dealing with cfl bulbs you have to pay more attention to the spectrum.. with cfl's you'll want to use the 6500k bulbs for veg and the 2700 k ones for flowering..
hope that helps you out some..

Click to expand...

hey racerboy you use metal halide for veging i thought the flouros were just well maybe not just as good almost as but cheaper to run

Thanks guys. I remember reading something somewhere about a "Cool blue" MH for vegging and a HPS for flowering. I just wanted to double check myself before I go spending money and not going anywhere. So thanks for the input.

georgiagreenthumb said:

Thanks guys. I remember reading something somewhere about a "Cool blue" MH for vegging and a HPS for flowering. I just wanted to double check myself before I go spending money and not going anywhere. So thanks for the input.

Click to expand...

Cool Blue, or any MH with alot of Blue in the spectrum will make your veging plants happy. I like the Hortilux Daylight Blue metal Halide. It's about the most expensive metal halide out there, but well worth it. For flowering get an HPS with some blue in it. The low end HPS bulbs are just all red. The Hortilux Eye is the standard for an HPS with some blue in the spectrum. We also use Digilux HPS bulbs, which are designed for digital ballasts and have some blue.

If you want to increase your productivity by about 30%, pick up a T-5, as some folks mentioned. Use that for clones (keep light very high until rooted), and veging plants. Have a seperate area for the HPS on 12 hrs. This way you always have plants ready to go into the flower cycle when the previous crop is done. Good luck and keep it simple till you get your legs under you.

https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/407048-20-000-watt-medical-grow.html

[FONT=&quot]Flowering plants need a significant amount more light than vegetative plants, so it is highly advised to use an HPS system over your typical fluorescents or Metal Halide lighting systems. [/FONT]