Lighting For Indoor / details / help needed.

I would like to use a high pressure sodium " hps " light for indoors, i know that obviously you can not use it in anything, i am looking at a 400 Watt one. I need to know what fixture and ballast to get with it, links and details would be appreciated, Also i believe you are supposed to keep it about 15 inches away? but i don't know if the high wattage needs to be farther. Also this is just a side not, but i am transplanting in two weeks and i hear many things such as, don't transplant much, and or, transplant every two weeks to a month, i would like to just go from my starters that my ten baby plants are in into ten ten inch " 3 gal i believe. " Pots, and only transplant once, in my personal experience it is best to only transplant once, all info is appreciated, thanks. :joint:
 

Spanishfly

Well-Known Member
You will get as many people tell you to get a magnetic ballast as do a digital ballast. When I use a MH, I use a magnetic ballast - that is what I have and I will not spend out on any replacement until it stops working. There is loads of stuff written on this, do a search.
 

HomeGrown&Smoked

Active Member
I would like to use a high pressure sodium " hps " light for indoors, i know that obviously you can not use it in anything, i am looking at a 400 Watt one. I need to know what fixture and ballast to get with it, links and details would be appreciated, Also i believe you are supposed to keep it about 15 inches away? but i don't know if the high wattage needs to be farther. Also this is just a side not, but i am transplanting in two weeks and i hear many things such as, don't transplant much, and or, transplant every two weeks to a month, i would like to just go from my starters that my ten baby plants are in into ten ten inch " 3 gal i believe. " Pots, and only transplant once, in my personal experience it is best to only transplant once, all info is appreciated, thanks. :joint:
Like Spanish mentioned some of your questions will require you to do a little research. As far as lighting goes, try not to go under 25 watts per square foot, and feel free to go up from there, but keep cooling on your mind- you don't wanna fry them. You can get the lights a little closer if you use a cool tube and fan to reduce heat build-up. I'm nt a soil expert, but this I do know- try to keep the transplanting at a minimum. Some will transplant from seedling/clone to veg and then from veg to flower, and that is the MOST you should transplant. Transplanting will stress the plant, and anytime the plant is stressed, you run the risk of the plant going hermie or reducing the overall yields. Good questions, though, and keep reading- you can never know too much about this stuff. Good luck.
 
This is a question more about Transplanting, For some reason when i went to home depot today they only had 5 gallon bucks which are great, but a tad big to use for my babies, who are 5 -6 inches tall But have indeed out grown the tiny 3 inch starter pot that i had them in, they are starting to stretch, and i know that is mainly because of lighting / out growing but i have the lighting covered, ordered a 400W Hps light with ballast and all that. But my question is do i need to fill them up the whole way? Could i just do half or maybe a little less because they are huge compared to the plant and plus i don't have enough soil to fill all, i could grab some but it would be easier to just fill them half way, and this will also be there budding pots, i won't be going bigger than a 5 gal. All info is appreciated, thanks.
 
The only problem is that my plants are really in need to a replanting and at this time of night all the stores close down around here, so i would like to transplant them but i have enough soil to only fill about three of the buckets to the top. But i could part with six i just don't know if cutting the root growth in half would be a big deal or not simply because it has major room either way.
 
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