250w HPS Club And Help Guide

Doobieus said:
She is on the very very VERY start of swelling, you are right around the corner of harvest. I went ahead and compared your 8 week pictures with these, and you can see a minimal swell with the calyxes and you'll notice that the hairs are starting to recede/get shorter as the calyxes swell more. Looks great GPC, keep up the fine work.
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How much longer do you think I should let them go for? :peace:
 
Doobieus said:
Neither of those are considered "Full spectrum", one is blue/daylight and the other is red/bloom. You get full spectrum by using both the blue and red spectrums, you could even throw in some uv for the purple. If you are asking which bulb would do best in a full grow, from start to finish a HPS would do you better justice, just my 2 cents.

Also welcome to the club.
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hey thanks for welcome and reply :) after a few grows i have notice im getting abetter result with the full spec bulb also looking at the chart it has more red then the hps bulb im using now but what im worried about is 21,000 lumens but the colour output is much better and the bulb is similair to the philips master color cmh. however my hps pumps out 33,000 lumen of wasted orange yellow light but still some red init but not as much as my full spec or daylight bulb which has full colour in all spectrum even uv.
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GrapePhilly&Chronic said:
Puuuurpleee:weed:
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its actually pink with purple tints i try get a better pics camera not very good sorry :D but damn its stinks of radioctive waste with hint of sweet berry lol
 
GrapePhilly&Chronic said:
How much longer do you think I should let them go for? :peace:
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I say 12 personally, good possibility it might be done at 11 though.

ForbidenHaze said:
hey thanks for welcome and reply :) after a few grows i have notice im getting abetter result with the full spec bulb also looking at the chart it has more red then the hps bulb im using now but what im worried about is 21,000 lumens but the colour output is much better and the bulb is similair to the philips master color cmh. however my hps pumps out 33,000 lumen of wasted orange yellow light but still some red init but not as much as my full spec or daylight bulb which has full colour in all spectrum even uv.
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Ah okay that makes sense now, I was under the impression you were using just a MH not a CMH =P. Might have missed it in your post, but now it's been clarified....

You would be better off using the 250 HPS and using supplement lighting either from CFL's or T5's more lumens and still close to full spectrum in my opinion. If you don't want to go through the whole supplement lighting bit, then just use the full spectrum at least this way you still get the full spectrum. However your lumens will take a hit, and that chart shows the highest output color as blue and close to green which is neutral. Out of your 2 options the HPS with some supplement lighting would be the better and more balanced way to go. I think aside from the whole being in the better/right spectrum for better performance through certain stages of growth, lumens are more important than color.

Nice lavender toned buds by the by.
 
I was curious on how I know when its time for a new bulb? I bought my 250 used and the guy said it was down like 15%, and I have used it at 12/12 for about 4 months
 
7cotton7 said:
I was curious on how I know when its time for a new bulb? I bought my 250 used and the guy said it was down like 15%, and I have used it at 12/12 for about 4 months
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1-2 grows is what a light will usually put out good performance with, after that it diminishes a heck of a lot faster.
 
Doobieus said:
1-2 grows is what a light will usually put out good performance with, after that it diminishes a heck of a lot faster.
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Dang.. learn something new every day. This would have been my 4th with the same bulb. Good thing I have 2 fresh spares on hand..

Grazz
 
Grazzmon said:
Dang.. learn something new every day. This would have been my 4th with the same bulb. Good thing I have 2 fresh spares on hand..

Grazz
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Yeah that's a good thing that you got spares lol. I mean you can still use them for more than 1-2 grows, but the performance of the bulb/lumens definitely takes a hit.
 
Grazzmon said:
Doob,
Do you use a light meter to check the output?

Grazz
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Nope I don't, I feel most light meters don't work that great in all honesty, same with water meters. You don't need a light meter to notice it in your plants, and you don't need a light meter to realize the light is easier on your eyes because it's just not as bright as it was.

When you get a brand new light you'll notice that when you go in to check on the plants, that when you come out you will usually have a glare. Kind of like when you stare at white too long, you can get that pink glare that gives everything a pinkish hue to it, it's sort of like that. You'll notice that after a couple of grows you don't get that glare anymore and if you do it's not as intense, that's what I mean by easier on the eyes. However with that said, a friend of mine has used a light meter and noticed performance diminishing as well.

Tools are awesome when growing, but I try to keep myself away from as much as possible. I feel that if you depend on your tools too much, that you will never really learn to read a plant or it's surroundings. I don't want to be stuck in another position where a tool goes to crap and I'm stuck up shit's creek with no paddle. Noticed I said "another" lol, yeah learning experiences are greeeeeeeeeat :lol:.
 
Good to know, I think im going to have to be looking for a new bulb, hewing there isn't a hydro shop within an hour of town, ebay here I come
 
Also when you say 1-2 grows is that with vegging under it because I do perpetual weigh veg. In a diff box for about 2-3 weeks before they hit the hps
 
7cotton7 said:
Good to know, I think im going to have to be looking for a new bulb, hewing there isn't a hydro shop within an hour of town, ebay here I come
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HTG has an Ebay account as well, or they used to a couple years back. Either way you should see if they do, sometimes you can find stuff cheaper on their Ebay store than their website store.

7cotton7 said:
Also when you say 1-2 grows is that with vegging under it because I do perpetual weigh veg. In a diff box for about 2-3 weeks before they hit the hps
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This goes for any of your lights really. It's a good idea to switch any HID lights out every 1-2 grows (3 if you're pushing it), CFL's every grow single grow supplement or not, T5's 1-2 grows.

You don't absolutely have to do it, it's just a good idea and good practice. I'm sure you could get away with a bunch of grows with the same light, it's just after the first couple or so you won't get as great of a final outcome is all.
 
Doobieus said:
I say 12 personally, good possibility it might be done at 11 though.


Ah okay that makes sense now, I was under the impression you were using just a MH not a CMH =P. Might have missed it in your post, but now it's been clarified....

You would be better off using the 250 HPS and using supplement lighting either from CFL's or T5's more lumens and still close to full spectrum in my opinion. If you don't want to go through the whole supplement lighting bit, then just use the full spectrum at least this way you still get the full spectrum. However your lumens will take a hit, and that chart shows the highest output color as blue and close to green which is neutral. Out of your 2 options the HPS with some supplement lighting would be the better and more balanced way to go. I think aside from the whole being in the better/right spectrum for better performance through certain stages of growth, lumens are more important than color.

Nice lavender toned buds by the by.
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Thanks for that doobs :) what i will do is switch on my full spec bulb at the same time as my 250 hps for about 5 hours a day or should i keep it on through out i dont think i have room for t5s i wouldnt mind less heat and cost less to run lol./
 
Will the plants diminish in overall characteristics or does it just stay shorter or something like get airy buds?
 
Doobieus said:
1-2 grows is what a light will usually put out good performance with, after that it diminishes a heck of a lot faster.
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The HPS/MH bulbs at work still blind me and they've been hanging unchanged the elleven years I've been workin here. I know they diminish output over time but 1 or 2 grows.
 
7cotton7 said:
Will the plants diminish in overall characteristics or does it just stay shorter or something like get airy buds?
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airy buds are normaly due with lack of light but some strains tend to be airy mainly sativas but not to much of airy, but if it is very airy try get the light closer
 
i have used my same hps for 3 grows and i added a new one to see if it made a difference honestly i havnt yet , im still getting decent results but depends on the hps bulb make
 
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