Glad to see this site is back up and the bills are paid LOL
Actually I wanted to max out at 6-6 1/2 feet in height. We have the space and the time. I suppose the only cost difference in using MH to veg would be the bulbs. The only problem is when I move the plants from the veg room to the flower room the lights and fixtures would have to move, too unless I stepped up and used 4 bulbs and fixtures and twice the ventilation. I have the money, but not sure I want to do that...too much buyers remorse if I did....maybe down the road when the initial investment gets paid back.
So a T5HO 8 or 12 is what we'll do to start for veg. How tall do you think I should go in veg using that set up? Also, what do you think of buying 2 Quantum 4 bulb (unless I can find a cheap 2 bulb FL set up which would be a lot less expensive) connected back to back and suspend them between the plants in the flowering room to give the plants additional veg light? Just a thought. At 6 feet you think I need 10 gallon pots? Maybe I am over-reaching here.
Thanks!
if you want your plants to be 6' tall then veg them to 2-3' max. they will double to triple in size depending on the strain. If you are gonna keep them at 6' in flower then i think 7 gallon pots would be fine. I thought you were going like 8-9' cause you said you were vegging them to 4'. Anything over 18" in veg and you should have MH lighting on them. considering they are gonna be in 7 gallon pots by the end of veg i would say you are probably gonna need both those 600w bulbs to illuminate the vegging plants.
go with the T5 8 lamp. that will be plenty for 6 plants in say 3 gallon pots. then when you transfer to the bigger pots at say 12-16" tall you can put them under the MH lights. If you want to keep the plants under the T5's then don't go any taller than 18" in veg. they will get to about 4' in flower that way. any taller under those T5's and you might run into some issues.
you could get 4 lights and fixtures or you could just get 2 ballasts and 4 fixtures and that way you only have to change the ballasts over. plus, the first 2 weeks of flower you should keep them on MH lighting anyway. that's what i do. they are still in a vegetative state and benefit more from MH lighting those first 2 weeks than they will from HPS.
i think getting T5's for flower is a waste of your money. if you really wanna spend the money for supplemental lighting on 6 plants then go for it but you don't need it. if anything get yourself some 400w ballasts and hang some 400w CMH bulbs or the Hortilux Eye Blue MH bulbs. those are full spectrum bulbs that give off little heat. or hang CFL'. putting some T5's around the outside isn't gonna do anthing.
This is in a small way "commercial" so I expect some work is involved (Hell, I'm retired and going to be 64 LOL) so I can reinvest in more equipment. I don't see growing more than 8 plants in any cycle. How do people get away with 1 transplant?