Lighting Comparison

OK, if cost was not an issue (either for upfront purchase of bulbs/equipment or electrical costs), given the choice between the following, can you please place in order of best possible yield? Assume each light array is same distance from plant canopy and all other variables are equal. (This would be to light 12 plants in a 6 foot square area.)

a) 2 x 250w 2700K CFLs combined with 2 x 250w 6400K CFLs

b) 1 x 600w HPS

c) 1 x 600w MH

c) 1 x 600w "broad spectrum" LED (red, blue, yellow, white and orange bulbs)

Thanks in advance for any thoughts/suggestions!

(b) i think never used before but heard good things wood be curius to try out....

B will be your best choice you can even get a ballast that does both MH and HPS.

Id stay away from yellow and orange band LED they dont really give the plant anything but they do add more wattage for no gain.

i personally grow with CFLs right now but for sure the HPS would produce the best results

Like said, if you can find an HID with a digital ballast, that would be the best.

OK, now to throw a wrench into it: what if the HPS was 400w instead of 600w? Would HPS remain the most effective?

As for the math (which might be wrong), I would calculate the CFLs to produce roughly 65,000 lumens, the 600w HPS 64,000 lumens and the MH 54,000 lumens. Can't really accurately determine LED due to such narrow wavelengths. CFL, on a color meter, produces the broadest spectrum of all of the lights. Science has recently said that plants don't actually prefer a spike of red and blue, but that they are best with a full spectrum between 400nm and 700nm. So, theoretically, if the QUALITY of light is greatest with CFL then the issue is with QUANTITY (at all wavelengths). By running 500w of 2400K CFL and 500w of 6400K CFL together, would that not be best? (By the way, I'm not one of these "CFL is better than HPS even though I've never tried HPS" guys. I just want to use the best lighting system.)

Thanks for your help!

400W HPS would be the choice if you had that instead of the 600W I just bought a 400W for ~ $150 shipped