first time growing herb indoors

Hey guys how many vegetable and herb plants do u guys suppose I can grow under a 250 watt hps?

Why a HPS? You can grow more under using CFLs since most don't rely on a 12/12 cycle to produce. You can run 19x 13w CFLs to almost 10x 26w CFLs for the same amount of power.

Yeah hps is a lot for just regular herbs. Cfl's will cut down the power and heat a lot. Just make sure there daylight bulbs. Sunblaster brand are designed for growing and they also sell cfl's that have more of the red spectrum for flowering for when that time comes. But thats if your picky. There not completely necessary

I use cfls and with good ventelation and a timer they prety much grow themselves but if that hpsbis allbu got and dont wanna spen money id say maybe 3-4 plants

Well guys because I only have an hps from growing cannabis lol will it be good for growing herbs and vegies? Id suppose so since its great for cannabis?

How would cfls be better since hps is way stronger? Just asking

You can use hps if you want. Its not going to hurt.. but its better to use cfl's for lower wattage, lower temps and a lower electricity bill! I doubt you'll be making money for your herbs. Unless I'm wrong

All up to you though. And herbs don't usually need a lot of red spectrum that the hps puts out because there more leaf matter. Which uses more blue spectrum.

cheffachef said:

How would cfls be better since hps is way stronger? Just asking

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Fruit, Veggies and herbs flower on their own no matter if they are under 12/12 for most. Also with MH or HPS you would have to cool tube it or have it father away from the plants. if you use the amount of CFLs with the wattage I listed you can cover more area with those CFLs then the HPS and have the CFLs closer to the plants them self.

The other thing is that with HPS if your bulb or ballast dies then your light won't work. and you have to buy a new lamp and or ballast.

Well I have a replacement bulb and I grew some cannabis with it and it turned out fine. Idk I might go out and buy some cfls as u guys suggest but I wanna see wat my hps will do...ohh and is 16/8 a good light schedule guys?

Mine get 24/0 and they seem to love it compared to having dark time

For 20 dollars you can get a T8 4ft 2 bulb strip from Lowes. It will cover about as much area as a 250 hps, be better for your herbs and will pay for itself after just a month or two. (elec bill, compared to hps.)

I'm sure your hps will work though.

I've done a couple tests and I was able to get away with using a 13w CFL for growing herbs in that 1 square foot area. So if I grew the same herbs for each CFL I could have 19 square foot area of growing space that it would cover. As for the tube light you could run almost 10 2foot long 26w lights.

If the HPS is all you got I would love to see how your herbs do under it. I have never seen it done so it would be interesting to see the results.

I grow basil and peppers (sweet, jalepeno and cayenne) in my 250w cabinet all the time, no problems. Even when growing MJ, it's a great way of using unused space in early-mid veg. They seem to respond well to both MH and HPS. When they get too big, they go into pots of coco on the windowsill.
How many is like how long is a piece of string. It depends on what you're growing and how big. Maybe 1000 tiny basil plants, or 16 big ones.
Or 2 cougettes or 1 large tomato.
For some plants, you may need to hand-pollinate.

i have a 250w and 150w hps. i had 2 cannabis plants and 1 basil and 1 sage. they was pretty big to so yes u can

Once your Herbs are started, you can grow them in house light. I grow all mine outside or under a 400W until ready, then move them inside in the kitchen and they last for months just watering and some fert.

I've got an entire herb/veggie garden under a 1000w HPS running 18/6 with about a 6x6.5 footprint, peppers love it, chamomile and marigolds are happily blooming, butter crunch lettuce, beets, tomatoes, rosemary, celery, cilantro, green beans, strawberries, cucumbers, bok choy, even pineapples! Basil and spinach tend to go to flower, have been difficult and have had issues with garlic but most others seem to be diggin' it! I've also got my MJ plants directly under the lamp. So everything I need under my artificial sun! Gotta say it's pretty awesome!