Best all around lamp

I am hearing alot about hps not being the best for flowering , so what are the state of the art lamps out there now?Thanks Showgirl

Hps is definitely the best for flowering, unless you have dual spectrum..I guess that would technically be best.

What did "they" say was better? I'm curious.

I think you may have that a little backwards. HPS is good for flowering, MH is supposed to be not so good. It's only because most HPS have a higher concentration of red light (flowering) while MH is more blue (veg). My personal candidate for best all around bulb is Ron Paul, i mean, EYE Hortilux SUPER BLUE - the hortilux super blue

Inneedofbuds said:

I think you may have that a little backwards. HPS is good for flowering, MH is supposed to be not so good. It's only because most HPS have a higher concentration of red light (flowering) while MH is more blue (veg). My personal candidate for best all around bulb is Ron Paul, i mean, EYE Hortilux SUPER BLUE - the hortilux super blue

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LED's are they best. but depends on the color scheme you use.. if you get the right mix of red and blue, it could easily be better for flowering.

I have always heard mixing mh and hps light makes the best buds

I've read around that HPS can be used for the entire process. What difference would come of using MH during the veg stage, rather than just using HPS the entire way through?

Raphael said:

I've read around that HPS can be used for the entire process. What difference would come of using MH during the veg stage, rather than just using HPS the entire way through?

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during veg the plants like more blue spectrum. more red during flowering. the MH bulbs put out light in the blue spectrum, HPS bulbs are more red. they make an enhanced HPS that has "added" blue so you can veg and flower with the same bulb and ballast.

fdd2blk said:

during veg the plants like more blue spectrum. more red during flowering. the MH bulbs put out light in the blue spectrum, HPS bulbs are more red. they make an enhanced HPS that has "added" blue so you can veg and flower with the same bulb and ballast.

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LED lights are blue...and red.. and better.

How many led lights do you need to equal 119,000 lumens given of by mh or hps.probably alot and real expensive? Showgirl

Hps For Flowering!!!

Chronic Connoisseur said:

LED's are they best. but depends on the color scheme you use.. if you get the right mix of red and blue, it could easily be better for flowering.

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I disagree. While LEDs are promising, I believe they still have years of trial and error research and development to perfect them for our hobby. Running an MH and HPS together, in tandem through both veg and flower, is still the best option of all.

Would i loose out any if I veg for a month under t8 flouresence then to mh for a month then hps for flower or mh and hps all the way?Showgirl

No, but why not just start with MH to begin with? I assume you have the T8s already and will be ordering the MH?

LED's are great but still to new to this industry to say that they work great. I used metal halide lights for my reef tank and then tried LED's I liked the metal halides better, the coral growth was much stronger and faster. Just like any new technology it will get better once they do some long term R&D. For now stick with what people know works MH/HPS/PC/FL. Just my 2 cents also check out this months issue of high times they have an article on this subject

led s are good but they dont have the light penetration the MH or hps lights have so led s need to be real close to the plants like the cfl s do. they dont run hot they would be great for side lighting or hanging inside the bed for more side lighting. i think the best bet would be the dual spectrum bulb for sure. Peace

I am using Sunmaster Super Deluxe 1000W HPS for flowering. They have the spectral output of each type on the box so you can tailor your lighting to your needs, if you understand how the colour affects the flowering. You can never do too much research! Good Luck and keep on growing.

check out the "ufo" in the Dec/ January edition of High Times Mag. there has been a lot of talk of the perfect bal of photo blues and reds able to adjust at any time for perfect or at least near perfect lighting.

LEDs may work in the future but the cost for anything bigger then a small stealth they just dont work.There are tons of LED grows an youtube and they all look rough...T8s are great to use to start clones and young seedlingas a big mh is too much to start with and the ufo is advertised as equal to 600 watt hid light in the magazine but they had to revise that on the web site as they were found to not quite be equal to a 400 watt light