Hps vs Mh Lighting

I have been a long time lurker , and im finally taking the next step . I have gained a great deal of info from this site but still have not found out exactly what ineed .I am about to purchase a light and i cannot decide what type Hid to go with. My room will have one 1000 watt light moving on a 6 foot track system , but i keep getting different answers on what type to use.Hps or Mh. There is no other light source in the room so this one light will be the only one i use once in flowering.Please help. In veg state i got some really good flourescents, and origanally was gonna go with the mh for flowering, but recently i have seen and heard alot of people going with just hps for flowering, i know you could use either and in a perfect world u would use a combination of both, but looking for which is truly better if only able to use one.Thanx in advance, sorry post is so long.

HPSFTW!! Since you said you do have a designated veg. room all you need is hps for flowering. It would be pretty stupid to buy a 1000w mh for flowering because you would have buds that are horrible compared to if you used a hps. Green thoughts...

MH for veg, HPS for flowering. Get a good quality bulb with a broader spectrum - a good quality HPS will have more blue spectrum then a cheap one, which is closer to real sunlight.

yeah if i go with the hps i was going to get the hortilux 1000w, also i was going to use the flourescents for veg because of budget, i know mh would probably be better to use for veg but i really can only get one hid for now so , should i get a hps or mh, once again this will be used during flowering. most people i talk to say they use flourescents for veg and then move to hps for flowering, but have also heard of people using flourescents for veg and then using mh for flowering, but where i get confused is when i read that hps are usually best when used in greenhouses where plants are getting sun light also. so if you dont have sunlight available the mh might be better to use.advice please.

If I could only get one, I would get HPS since that is what you want to flower with, and that is really why you are doing all this in the first place. You can try using it for the veg to, but they might stretch a lot, even compared to the CF. Using MH for veg, and going back to CF for flower makes no sense to me..... other might disagree with me on this...

I would get a HPS system then get a MH conversion bulb so you have both. and only a little more for the extra bulb. BTW thats what im gunna do

Why dont you just get the digital switchable ballast? Use les power is cooler silent running and runs either bulb you just screw either bulb in and go? That way you can use whatever bulb you want to when you want.Then get a the new hortilux high blue enchnaced spectrum hps bulb it puts out both spectrums for optimol yield.

FilthyFletch said:

Why dont you just get the digital switchable ballast? Use les power is cooler silent running and runs either bulb you just screw either bulb in and go? That way you can use whatever bulb you want to when you want.Then get a the new hortilux high blue enchnaced spectrum hps bulb it puts out both spectrums for optimol yield.

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I think it was cause he was only using this for flowering - I agree with you though , I use a switchable ballast as well - makes thing a lot easier.

You can also get a 1000 WT dual-spectrum ballast/reflector and run it for both veg and flower (600 WT HPS/400 WT MH) - you don't "need" a dual-spectrum but it is the closest thing to real sunlight that I've heard about. The downside is -- they ain't cheap and if you're already happy with the way your plants veg then HPS is the way to go for flowering.

or go with a 1000 watt son agro for veg and flower.

pincher said:

MH for veg, HPS for flowering. Get a good quality bulb with a broader spectrum - a good quality HPS will have more blue spectrum then a cheap one, which is closer to real sunlight.

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ok but why use mh for veg and hps for flowering??... why not just run hps the whole grow??... cuz that was my plan unless theres some problem with that Im unaware of....

Tok3v3lli said:

ok but why use mh for veg and hps for flowering??... why not just run hps the whole grow??... cuz that was my plan unless theres some problem with that Im unaware of....

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first off bro...this thread is from 2007. lol

MH is a better spectrum for vegging plants. will promote lusher growth and tighter node spacing. ideally you want MH for veg and the first 2 weeks of flower. then HPS for the rest of flower. the first couple weeks of flower your plant is essentially still in the vegetative stage and benefits more from the MH light. get both bulbs if you can afford it. if you have an older ballast then they make MH conversion bulbs that will run on HPS ballasts. most of the newer electronic ballasts will run both MH and HPS just fine. if you can only afford 1 bulb then HPS is the way to go. it's fine for veg; just not as good as MH.