First Grow in 20 years! - Sprouts Intro - Afghan

matman4444 said:

Are you sure about it being able to run the 150w bulb?
I checked HD.com and this is what I found

Lithonia Lighting 50 Watt Bronze High Pressure Sodium Floodlight - TFS 50S 120 LPI M6 at The Home Depot

On the specs it says 50w max. =(
I want to pick up one of these tonight if it can do it.

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I took my 50watt apart and found the ballast only handles 50watt hps. So don't use a 150watt bulb in this lamp. You can get a 150 hps on ebay for $48. Best deal I found on full hps system.

I'm down to one now and starting to flower her and I have a few questions posted on my grow journal. Check out my pics and any advice would be greatly appreciated.https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/47294-sprouts-afghan-grow.html#post533182

My man! Welcome back to the club! 20 years is a long time! Saw you were looking for lights. Here's a 400w I found on E-bay. Not too much $$$. DIGITAL OPEN REFLECTOR GROW LIGHT 400 WATT HPS+MH 400W - eBay (item 120217824221 end time Feb-11-08 16:43:07 PST)

And here's the place I bought mine from. Service was good!
Econowing 400W HPS SS-10 Remote Grow Light - Plantlighting Hydroponics

Good Luck!!!!!!!!!!!!

sprouts: welcome and enjoy growing. a tip on lights:

its almost always better to upgrade to a higher wattage, instead of adding another lamp. this is because adding another lamp and ballast increases the heat but not lumens. (a second 50w lamp will only increase the amount of light coverage on the plants. lumenosity, the total amount of lumens available to the plant don't actually go up by adding another lamp.)

also, try to keep a 50w within a foot of the main cola. HPS gets 105 lumens/watt, so 50w = 5,250 lumens (appx) but that is counted one foot away from lamp. at two feet lumens drop to 1,300, less if it has to penetrate foliage. 7,000 lumens over the whole plant seems to be the desired range for vigorous growth. thats a 150w or higher for a good 2' zone of high lumenosity. you cant do it by adding another 50w.

by the way, i use mirical grow regularly and have no problem with nutrient lockout or anything. use should not have a need to flush with every watering. mirical grow with the feeding granules is the one you want to avoid because we want to feed the plant everything it needs.

hope this helps. good luck.

closet.cult said:

sprouts: welcome and enjoy growing. a tip on lights:

its almost always better to upgrade to a higher wattage, instead of adding another lamp. this is because adding another lamp and ballast increases the heat but not lumens. (a second 50w lamp will only increase the amount of light coverage on the plants. lumenosity, the total amount of lumens available to the plant don't actually go up by adding another lamp.)

also, try to keep a 50w within a foot of the main cola. HPS gets 105 lumens/watt, so 50w = 5,250 lumens (appx) but that is counted one foot away from lamp. at two feet lumens drop to 1,300, less if it has to penetrate foliage. 7,000 lumens over the whole plant seems to be the desired range for vigorous growth. thats a 150w or higher for a good 2' zone of high lumenosity. you cant do it by adding another 50w.

by the way, i use mirical grow regularly and have no problem with nutrient lockout or anything. use should not have a need to flush with every watering. mirical grow with the feeding granules is the one you want to avoid because we want to feed the plant everything it needs.

hope this helps. good luck.

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WOW! This post was most helpful ClosetCult. You are right, the intensity will stay the same over a covered area while temp will rise enough where a cooling system would need to be implement. I started mine out on the 50w set within 6" of the lamp and a rich canopy formed with the secondary branching stretching and competing for that prime real estate on top. Now that I'm flowering, most of the growth tips have a spot on top.

I bought a new 150w hps system for flowering off of e-bay for $48 and have Winter on the 12/12 under it with all of her foliage getting some of the light. She is just within that 2' zone(at 16" tall,she has a 2' wingspan) so should be getting the 15750 lumens, which you say is the desired range per sqaure foot(7000). I read different from one other source, but after growing under the 50w, I belive your numbers are closer.

The main thing is to keep the temp in the mid to low 70's while having it so close to the light. In the 80's, you get a tall, skinny plant. I have my new growth on an adjustable shelf under the 50w while Winter flowers in the open and just that small amount of enclosure causes the temp to stay between 81 to 84f. This seems to be causing stretching in the total length Winter was keep at between 70 to 74 under the same light and has tight internodes. I think I'll put a small fan on the light to see if I can get that temp down.

Now about those nutrients, do you have a problem with your leaves turning dark at the tips? I read this is a phosphate deficiency. I'm using bloom booster, so I can't see why I'm having this problem. Maybe I should feed more often. How often do you feed during flowering?

Thank you for all your advice and I'll smoke the first one in honor of ya


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Aren't these made of paper? won't they eventually dissolve? line 'em with a plastic garbage bag or something if they are.

faralos said:

Aren't these made of paper? won't they eventually dissolve? line 'em with a plastic garbage bag or something if they are.

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No, it's not paper. But interesting that you brought that up because the metal may be reacting to something causing the dark tips. Next grow is plastic for shore. Not a garbage bag though

I posted an update on my grow here: https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/47294-sprouts-afghan-grow.html

Added a couple of pictures and can use some advice on my phosphate deficiency: https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journal...ghan-grow.html