MH conversion bulb,,any good?

jc83

jc83

Well-Known Member
Im thinking of buying a MH conversion bulb for my HPS ballast. Anyone else running one of these? Are they any good or is it worth buying a MH ballast?
:peace:
 
G

GROWUROWN

Well-Known Member
I was thinking about getting a HPS conversion bulb for my MH ballast! LOL. Can't wait to hear what people say. :)
 
Doalude

Doalude

Well-Known Member
I just got one and love it, the plants love it too!!!!! I would recommend one if you only have 1 light running at a time.
 
email468

email468

Well-Known Member
I use both MH and HPS throughout my grow (I have a dual-spectrum) and have always said that if you can use MH during vegging - even if it is a conversion bulb and HPS during flowering (again even if a conversion bulb) then so much the better.

And then I read this from: “The Best of Ask Ed – Your Marijuana Questions Answered”
First Question:
I purchased a 400-watt metal halide (MH) lamp. The salesman told me that the lamp could be used for both vegetative and flowering. However, a fellow grower told me that the MH would be a waste of time and a high pressure sodium (HPS) lamp should be used instead. What do you think?

Second Question:
In a single-light garden is it better to use an enhanced spectrum HPS lamp such as a Son Agro 430-watt bulb as opposed to a regular HPS to emit more light in the blue spectrum?

Ed’s Response: (emphasis mine):
MH lamps contain more blue light and less red light than HPS. HPS lamps produce more total light than MH lamps and more light in the red spectrum, which is used more efficiently than blue light, powering a faster rate of photosynthesis. In addition, read light helps in flowering development.

The only reason to use an MH lamp rather than an HPS is to avoid suspicion that a weird-colored light may arouse. Using metal halide lamps in any stage of growing is a waste of time and money. More total light that is useable by the plant is produced by HPS than MH lamps, so plants grow faster using HPS lamps alone.

The plants don’t need the extra blue light offered by the Son Agro. Enhanced blue light doesn’t increase production. Although plants use blue light for photosynthesis, they use more red light. In rooms with mixed lights (MH and HPS), the plants between the two lights, which were receiving a mixture didn’t perform quite as well as the plants directly under the HPS lamps, but yielded slightly more than those under the MH. You could see the “wave effect”.

The solution to the ballast problem is to replace the MH bulb with an MH-to-HPS conversion lamp. This bulb will fit into your system and is powered by the same ballast as an MH but it emits an HPS spectrum.
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I'm not saying i agree or disagree but i can confidently say i'm more confused about lighting now and am uncertain as to what to recommend.
 
STANDOX

STANDOX

Well-Known Member
if you dont have a mh and only have hps ballast a conversion bulb will be needed at some point to complete proper light spectrum for the stage of your grow i use a 250 wt conversion set up as a back up to use in vegging and then in flowering although i have a fulltime 400 wt hps and a 400 wt mh as the main suppliers of light its always good to have a light that can be used for both stages...
conversion bulbs are expensive but so are the regular ones i spend aprrox 85 bucks on the 250 conversion bulb bottom line is if your grow is in need of a particular light and you dont have the cash to buy a package deal the conversion light is a good idea because you can use one ballast and still be able to utilize the two types of light that you plant is gonna need in both stages of growth....

for optimal closet growing in a larger closet of say 6x10x10 i use 2 400 wts lamps at the top of the plants and my smaller conversion light to promote sidegrowth throughout...
 
upinchronic1

upinchronic1

Well-Known Member
Yeah, confused indeed. I hear good comendable things about this ed so im assuming he knows his shit. Thats a pretty crazy statment. Hes saying there really is no place for mh? That its all bull shit, all they need is an hps for optimal growth? Shit i thought blue cfls might be doing my plants better good thatn my 150w hps for vegg, but i think now im going to switch it around.
Plus rep on that info+++
 
email468

email468

Well-Known Member
upinchronic1 said:
Yeah, confused indeed. I hear good comendable things about this ed so im assuming he knows his shit. Thats a pretty crazy statment. Hes saying there really is no place for mh? That its all bull shit, all they need is an hps for optimal growth? Shit i thought blue cfls might be doing my plants better good thatn my 150w hps for vegg, but i think now im going to switch it around.
Plus rep on that info+++
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seemorebuds (Garden_Knowm) did ask Ed about this for clarification but hasn't yet received a reply.

There is no doubt Ed knows his shit - but i'm sure he'd be the first to admit that he isn't fallible and could be mistaken. I found what he said intriguing and wish our beloved plant was legal so we could run some real experiments instead of all this anecdote and guesswork :(
 
Compost

Compost

Active Member
I Completely disagree with Ed's statement. It is considered common knowledge that MH spectrum is superior for veg growth while the more efficient HPS is more effective for flowering.

It is true that MH produce more heat and less lums but that doesn't mean the spectrum is not preferred by the plants. In veg growth you generally have plants taking a smaller footprint anyway so the transition form your say 400 MH to 400 HPS simply means you move the light further away. I assume ED made a mistake or forgot to mention something. Genetic laboratories focusing on botany always suppliment MH spectrum for vegetative growth and HPS for flowering.

Read everything else on the internet and you'll see it's common knowledge a transition from MH to HPS for flowering is superior and has been well documented. I'm a new member here but I've been in this for a long time I I can say with certainty,

MH=Veg, HPS=Flower
 
S

Snake

Active Member
jc83 said:
Im thinking of buying a MH conversion bulb for my HPS ballast. Anyone else running one of these? Are they any good or is it worth buying a MH ballast?
:peace:
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Notwithstanding the comments on whether MH works best for veg or not (the general consensus I've seen... books/internet... seems to be that it does), I just finished veg growth for my white widows using an MH conversion bulb (400W) in an HPS ballast and the lighting system worked just fine. I switched in the HPS bulb 3 days ago to start 12/12. Don't know how the growth compared to if I'd used HPS only, but my plants were 15" tall after 29 days from sprouting and very bushy. In any case, for your initial question, I had no problems using an MH conversion bulb in the system.

Unfortunately, out of 5 seeds (soil growing) I ended up with only one female. One seed didn't germinate, one sprout stopped growing at the cotyledons, and two plants were males based on very clear preflowers. So the lone female is by herself in a 4' x 4' grow room with a 400W HPS light on top and two banks of 4-lamp T5 (3000K blubs), on opposite sides. I plan to rotate the plant 90 degrees each morning to best utilize the side panels and try for good lower branch buds.
 
simple grower

simple grower

Well-Known Member
i agree with compost(not to be a ass or anything)i rkn MH for veg is shitloads better,heaps more leaf growth and over all size...not to mention they look nice under the blue light:)
 
email468

email468

Well-Known Member
Compost said:
I Completely disagree with Ed's statement. It is considered common knowledge that MH spectrum is superior for veg growth while the more efficient HPS is more effective for flowering.

It is true that MH produce more heat and less lums but that doesn't mean the spectrum is not preferred by the plants. In veg growth you generally have plants taking a smaller footprint anyway so the transition form your say 400 MH to 400 HPS simply means you move the light further away. I assume ED made a mistake or forgot to mention something. Genetic laboratories focusing on botany always suppliment MH spectrum for vegetative growth and HPS for flowering.

Read everything else on the internet and you'll see it's common knowledge a transition from MH to HPS for flowering is superior and has been well documented. I'm a new member here but I've been in this for a long time I I can say with certainty,

MH=Veg, HPS=Flower
Click to expand...
Ed was pretty clear which is why i thought it worth a look. He has more experience growing than most of us put together so i don't dismiss his opinions so easily.

I'm not saying Ed is correct but common knowledge isn't necessarily correct either.
 
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