how well does MH work for flowering???????

K1Ng5p4d3

K1Ng5p4d3

Junior Creatologist
Wuddup. Im asking because i have my grow tent set up with seedlings,

but i also want to throw my flowering plants from my other grow room in there, to maybe help them along withtheir budding.

I have a 600w MH system in a Cooltube. I also have a 600w HPS, but im not moving my seedlings for nothin, they stay in the tent, lol.

So how well would a MH bulb work for flowering my big girls, as opposed to 3 25w(100w equivalent) CFLs??? In my upper growbox where i originally had my girls, i have 3 redder CFLs (like i said 25 w or somethin but its 100w equivalent), and 3 or 4 white-blue cfls, 1 of them is 100 w, the other 3 are 45 watt equivalent.

what do you guys think?? stay in its original box for the red spectrum, or will they do better in my tent???
 
Little Tommy

Little Tommy

Well-Known Member
Go for the correct spectrum. I have heard of good success using the HPS for veg but have not heard good things about using Matal Halide for flowering.
 
K1Ng5p4d3

K1Ng5p4d3

Junior Creatologist
appreciate the feedback. Times like this i wish i had two tents, two ballasts, n it sucks. But hey, what can ya do, right??

worst comes to worst, ill leave them in the tent for a few days, see what happens, n if it sucks ill move them back up to the CFLs. No problemo.
 
thelastpirate

thelastpirate

Well-Known Member
As near as I can figure out all of the conflicting data I have read on a SHITLOAD of websites, I find that there are at least 3 schools of thought on lighting with HID lights.
One says that MH should be used exclusively for vegging, HPS for bud production.
Another says that while MH for veg and HPS for bud is good, a combination of both is best.
Yet another says that you can use either for both vegging and producing bud. This school believes that MH will give you lush veg growth, yet while it will produce bud, they will be light, fluffy, and not as dense as you'd get with HPS. Conversely, while HPS will produce better buds, it can be used for veg as well. The downside to vegging with HPS would be that the plants tend to be "stretchy"

Which is right? I believe that they are all correct. Christ, if one can get good bud using CFLs, do you not think that either HPS or MH alone would out perform CFLs? Everyone is concerned with bud density, and claim that density is a function of lumens. I have yet to see a lighting system that OUTPERFORMS either MH or HPS. Of course, I have not seen LED systems yet. I ain't knocking CFLs, it's a tried and true method. Think about it. Do CFLs come in the two different spectrums? NO. Is there a CFL eqiuvalent to HPS? Not to my knowledge.They are mostly blue/white light, designed for use in areas where people are working or living, same as MH. HPS is NOT desirable, nor is it used, in areas where people will be subjected to that yellow/red quality of light, yet they have been proven to produce the best/biggest/most dense bud.

Life is a trade off.
 
K1Ng5p4d3

K1Ng5p4d3

Junior Creatologist
Mane - Yeah bro my lighting setup came yesterday. got a 600watt digiballast, cooltube, n both 600 MH n HPS bulbs. its NOICE!! lol.

N twisty -- BAsically my dilemma is this. I have two growrooms - one is a smaller box on the top shelf in my closet. Its full of CFLs that ive been using for the last 3 months, both red spectrum and blue in there. Then i have a full sized growtent. The tent has 6 seedlings in it, which is why im running my MH bulb in there right now. I would switch the bulb out, but i really dont wanna fuck up my seedlings as i dont want them to stretch and look all fucked up - i need them to be bushy, and small to start out with, as im gonna throw a screen in there right before i flower so i get a massive ScrOG of nice nuggety goodness. Now the problem is, i wanna put my old plants which only have about 3-4 weeks(probably 4 i would say) left of flowering, into the tent to finish up because theres more space in there, and i just like usin the HID setup, lol. But i needed to know if the MH bulb is gonna work for flowering, at least comparible to what the CFLs were doin, because my tent is better ventilated, and there is more wattage in the tent then in the growbox at the top of my closet.

I wish that there was an ABSOLUTE answer, and i think the last pirate hooked me up with one (thanks by the way dog), so i think im gonna be keepin the girls that need to finish up, in with my dank seedlings, n see what happens. If i get some fluffybud out of the flowering girls, so be it - its only bagseed, and it was my 1st grow, so it was more to see if i could grow without killing the plants more or less, lol. So its a success so far, now lets see what an HID MH can do. by the time they finish flowering, ill be done with the veg on my current seedlings (twilight, white berry, blue cheese, northern soul), and ill be able to throw in my HPS and do it up right 2nd time around. Ijust wish i had another ballast so i could just use the HPS now, inside my upper box...
 
K1Ng5p4d3

K1Ng5p4d3

Junior Creatologist
zen, i fuckin love you. If we were canadian, id ask you to marry me :P :hump::hump::hump::hump::hump::hump: --jussssssssssst kiddin, lol.


But yeah man, thank you. this DOES answer my question on a definitive level, and you ARE the fuckin man.
 
thelastpirate

thelastpirate

Well-Known Member
Zen, That is fuckin' SWEET!!!!!I coudn't see why one could flower with CFLs and not with MH. You just made one huge statement!!!

King, Glad to help. I'm kinda new to this myself, but alot of this is logic. Read enough on enough sites and you'll get a feel for the "Common Denominators".
 
Torturedzen

Torturedzen

Well-Known Member
It just really irritates me when someone says "You need to do it THIS way" or "That's no good, it will never work" etc...

While I certainly agree that HPS spectrums are ideal for flowering, one should not be too close-minded about alternate methods. :peace:
 
K1Ng5p4d3

K1Ng5p4d3

Junior Creatologist
well, what if i wereto use my 600 HPS bulb for the tent, and vegthe seedlings with that, so thatmy already flowering plants can get fulladvantage of theHPSbulb?? would the seedlings not vegetate right with a HPS bulb?? theyd be all stretchy huh?
 
Boneman

Boneman

Well-Known Member
Why wouldnt you move your seedlings into the smaller chamber with the CFL's and use your HPS to produce nice bud? :confused:
 
K1Ng5p4d3

K1Ng5p4d3

Junior Creatologist
cuz i put them shits in 5 gallon growbags today, before i decided to bring my original plants down into the tent, lol. Its all good though, ive seen what a MH bulb can do with flowering plants, and chances are its gonna be better results than what i woulda had with my cFLs. I was just asking about the HPS bulb because i switched the bulbs out to see how bright my HPS got inside the tent, n when i switched them back, the MH didnt ignite the first time i flipped it on, n then when i switched it on again, it turned on, but it dont seem "as bright" as it did before i switched out the bulbs. Do u think i blew an ignitor coil in the bulb?? if so ima be pissed cuz them fuckin thnigs aint cheap...

well, the ones i got are cheap, from POWERKING SHOP, the 600w MH bulbs are 18 bucks and the HPS are 15. All day long - MH is 75000 lumens and the HPS is 95000 lumens. theyre straight up gangster and cheap as fuck, you just have to make sure you dont abuse them. ill start a thread with the phone number so you guys can order some cheap backup bulbs if you ever have problems. theyre not cheap lights or nothin, theyre ILLUMILIGHTS. the MH bulb is as big as a fuckin football, lol.
 
E

E S

New Member
^ That's what I've been wondering. King Spade is just being difficult. ;-)

Zen said it all right there.... but if you got the HPS... use it. No way would 300w of CFL even come close to 600w MH anyway.
 
E

E S

New Member
HPS definitely gives fatter buds and more weight(same wattage), but yeah... gotta consider the usable light on the whole.
 
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