Need help with a hps question

goodro wilson

goodro wilson

Well-Known Member
Hey guys I have two 400 hps the cheap ones from htg supply
Well after a few grows my yields are just not satisfying me I'm wondering if there are better bulbs I can get What do u all reccomend
I don't know if that's my problem but I am switching to smart pots and may try scrOg anything to get some better yields. What do u guys think what kind of uPgrades can I make
I've been topping and getting a lot of bud sites but maybe y'all can tell me a flowering nute that adds weight!
 
missnu

missnu

Well-Known Member
Yeah, I use 1 400w MH for veg and one 400w CMH for flowering, and I get great results...bad results with good lights are usually caused by something else...I know I saw one of your posts where you were having a little issue with overfeeding...that will hurt your yield as much as and even worse than poor lighting...
 
chrishydro

chrishydro

Well-Known Member
Could be genetics but bottom line I dont put the hps up till the plants are close to 20 inches, I use a t5 until then. They grow slow but the root system has time to expand. Also try some vodo juice, I use it on everything I grow it works on veggies etc the roots go crazy. My cucmber roots were 6 feet long before they ever began to flower. Expensive but im here to tell you it works
 
AlwaysFUBAR

AlwaysFUBAR

Well-Known Member
I guess i could answer that question with several more.

How many plants are you growing?
Do you have good reflective material around them to bounce light back?
How far away are you keeping the light fron the tops?
Are they strechig badly?

I ask these because i have the same lights. I recently upgraded to a 1000watt hps with a lens and vent fan and it is the difference between night and day. The main problem that i was having is that i would always have to keep my light a lot higher than i wanted to just to keep the bulb heat from burning the tops so my plants would stretch. Also my plants were a little to close together trying to keep them covered by the light so i wasnt getting the penetration that i really wanted and needed for a good yeild.
 
goodro wilson

goodro wilson

Well-Known Member
missnu said:
Yeah, I use 1 400w MH for veg and one 400w CMH for flowering, and I get great results...bad results with good lights are usually caused by something else...I know I saw one of your posts where you were having a little issue with overfeeding...that will hurt your yield as much as and even worse than poor lighting...[/

I've never overfed my plants I use mostly straight h20
Click to expand...
 
cockbag123

cockbag123

Active Member
goodro wilson said:
missnu said:
Yeah, I use 1 400w MH for veg and one 400w CMH for flowering, and I get great results...bad results with good lights are usually caused by something else...I know I saw one of your posts where you were having a little issue with overfeeding...that will hurt your yield as much as and even worse than poor lighting...[/

I've never overfed my plants I use mostly straight h20
Click to expand...
possibly underfed then? :P
Click to expand...
 
goodro wilson

goodro wilson

Well-Known Member
AlwaysFUBAR said:
I guess i could answer that question with several more.

How many plants are you growing?
Do you have good reflective material around them to bounce light back?
How far away are you keeping the light fron the tops?
Are they strechig badly?

I ask these because i have the same lights. I recently upgraded to a 1000watt hps with a lens and vent fan and it is the difference between night and day. The main problem that i was having is that i would always have to keep my light a lot higher than i wanted to just to keep the bulb heat from burning the tops so my plants would stretch. Also my plants were a little to close together trying to keep them covered by the light so i wasnt getting the penetration that i really wanted and needed for a good yeild.
Click to expand...
Ur helping me see where I am messing up just by asking ?s
Mi e aren't stretching but I think my problem is my hood it's just a homemade cooltube and I think thats blocking some rays that and there's no hood at all
Also I have had too many plants definitely last grow I flowered 8 under the 400 which would be ok maybe Except 5 of those were 7 gal grow age and they took up too much floorspace
 
goodro wilson

goodro wilson

Well-Known Member
Well I was using supersoil but I've switched to happy frog/ocean forest/perlite
And I've started using happy frog fruit and flower and Gh floramicro florabloom
Not too much of either tho
I have also switched to t5/cfl for veg but mostly due to heat issues
That's another upgrade I wanna make is a portable ac

So basically I wanna get two new hoods
Switch to smart pots
Cut plant numbers in half and give them space between plants
Also have heard great things about bud candy and that voodoo juice
Other than that I think I'm doin everything right oh Besides harvesting too early that'll really kill yields ime
Any other tricks I'm missing ? Why I'm so discouraged is I vegged a plant 2 months and yielded what I usually do when I veg two weeks.... I'm kickin myself in the ass right now...
 
AlwaysFUBAR

AlwaysFUBAR

Well-Known Member
goodro wilson said:
Well I was using supersoil but I've switched to happy frog/ocean forest/perlite
And I've started using happy frog fruit and flower and Gh floramicro florabloom
Not too much of either tho
I have also switched to t5/cfl for veg but mostly due to heat issues
That's another upgrade I wanna make is a portable accept

So basically I wanna get two new hoods
Switch to smart pots
Cut plant numbers in half and give them space between plants
Also have heard great things about bud candy and that voodoo juice
Other than that I think I'm doin everything right oh Besides harvesting too early that'll really kill yields ime
Any other tricks I'm missing ? Why I'm so discouraged is I vegged a plant 2 months and yielded what I usually do when I veg two weeks.... I'm kickin myself in the ass right now...
Click to expand...
Nope that sounds good to me. Yea 8 plants is a lot for that 400 watt. I usually keep to about 1 plant for ever 75 to 100 for a hid buld. If you have a lot of reflective matterial you might be able to add 1 more to the grow. I circled my whole grow in mylar and have a fan in the middle on the floor pushing heat up so it dosent get traped. GL and happy growing.
 
J

Jonny K

Active Member
If you have used the same bulbs for several grows they are probably getting dimmer on you. They wear out before they die and you lose a lot of lumens.
 
melungeonman

melungeonman

Active Member
Good rules of thumb. Good lights produce good results. I start with t5s for small clones, when they are 12 inches high I transplant into a plain 3-5 gal nursury pot I then grow these plants under mh 400 with hood when they reach about 3ft tall, I should be seing tercerrary branching. Thats branches that forms on those secendary branches. I keep these vegging plants side by side pots touching the whole time. Now,if I'm seeing some pre-flowers, I'm ready to bloom.With seed this takes about 3 months start to finish for the veg process. I try to keep my nutes very simple. I add nothing while they are under t5s.When I transplant,I ad guano blood meal and worm casting, I always re-use my soil over and over again, hell,I've got veg plants right now in 4 year old soil. All organic basic nutes allow for this as well as min flushing at the end of bloom. For bulbs try Eyehortilux hps find them at Igrow hydrow on web. peace hope I helped check album pic to see some of my results.
 
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