Newb Light Questions - MH For Flowering?

I keep reading that MH is actually pretty good for flowering, particularly in potency - but there seems to be no consensus on that. I'm hoping it is because here is my situation:

I have a 2x4 grow tent with 4 plants and a 1000w mh with hortilux bulb. Very well ventilated, usually running at around 78-81 degrees with 45-50 humidity. I also have some side lighting in the form of four 23w 2700k cfls and 1 65 watt 2700k cfl. The plants are very healthy and growing like champions. I snapped them into flowering about 8 days ago, and they started showing sex on day 5. Only one remains shy - a bit worried about that, but might be a maturity or stress problem as I started that plant under different lighting (2x 23w 6500k).

My dilemma is that I don't own a switchable ballast, so going to HPS would require an expensive conversion bulb. (Average $185). My entirely uninformed instincts are saying that if MH works fine for most, and I have an abundance of light with 110k lumens in a 2x4 area with some supporting side lighting, that I should do fairly well without an HPS. Are my instincts deceiving me?

My most cost effective option would be a 400w hps on craigslist for $120. I really can't afford that either. I'd be giving up almost half of my lumens just for the HPS spectrum. Again, my uninformed instincts tell me this would be a bad move. The frequencies can't possibly be worth the light I'd be giving up.

Opinions? What if I bought the $185 bulb, would the difference in yield be so substantial that I'd have absolutely no regrets? I'm not a commercial grower, so if I scored an oz of decent smoke from this grow I'd be a happy camper.

Mate u need to get your interchangable bulb asap. I know you are on a budget but realistically you should have had a Phillips SON-T Agro bulb ready to go for flowering. Yes your plants will be going strong in Metal Halide but its the ( blues i think ) other spectrums of light that are in a HighPressureSodium that really give flowering plants the ability to FLOWER.

You want BUDS dont you?? Well then you need to make sure that the plant is getting all the spectrum it can handle for flowering. Yes you will get buds still using a MH the whole time. NO u will not get as much yeild in terms of dried weight of buds. What you are doing is denying the plant the light it desires to really pump out growth in flowering and you are giving it all it needs for vegetative growth. Meaning at the end of this harvest you are going to have some really nice looking large plants with not alot of buds developed at the end of harvest.

Unless you like smoking leaf i suggest you get ur HPS bulb immediately. Either that or commit this grow to making hash and cookies and enjoying the small amount of nuggets you will get and save for a proper ballast setup where u dont need old school interchangable bulbs... Hope i helped. Peace

If anything it can work the opposite way. If u had said u had a HPS only you would have been fine because you can get away with just that spectrum as that is obviously the most important one.... Ask anyone doing a SOG

ive been doing abit of reading on this and people seem to be saying mh produces smaller more frosty buds due to uvb in the spectrum wheras hps produces larger buds so ideally you'd want to run a hps and a small mh simultaneously however if you can't afford that right now mh will be able to do the job as ive seen many people do it on here

edit: just seen you say you want an oz? tbh id be shooting for that with just the cfls you have and im sure u can get over that with the mh on its own so with both you'l do just fine if i were you id not buy a shitty ballast now worrying about not getting an oz i think u can get over that with ur current setup. wait till uve got more money to get some quality equipment instead of rushing out to buy cheap stuff

Yeah I'm going to be getting a switchable in about 8 weeks (big payday). I could spring for the bulb, but I'd be letting my bridgework go - and I need teeth!

Originalien said:

Mate u need to get your interchangable bulb asap. I know you are on a budget but realistically you should have had a Phillips SON-T Agro bulb ready to go for flowering. Yes your plants will be going strong in Metal Halide but its the ( blues i think ) other spectrums of light that are in a HighPressureSodium that really give flowering plants the ability to FLOWER.

You want BUDS dont you?? Well then you need to make sure that the plant is getting all the spectrum it can handle for flowering. Yes you will get buds still using a MH the whole time. NO u will not get as much yeild in terms of dried weight of buds. What you are doing is denying the plant the light it desires to really pump out growth in flowering and you are giving it all it needs for vegetative growth. Meaning at the end of this harvest you are going to have some really nice looking large plants with not alot of buds developed at the end of harvest.

Unless you like smoking leaf i suggest you get ur HPS bulb immediately. Either that or commit this grow to making hash and cookies and enjoying the small amount of nuggets you will get and save for a proper ballast setup where u dont need old school interchangable bulbs... Hope i helped. Peace

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Ah, you're making me a believer. I have no doubt it's awesome; I had a 400w system with both about a year back and I recall everything going ape shit once I put that HPS bulb in - unfortunately, that grow never finished due to massive pest issues and really clumsy attempts to stop them.

The thing is, HPS conversion bulbs for MH ballasts are CRAZY expensive. MH conversion bulbs for HPS ballasts aren't so bad. Sigh. More pondering ahead - will let you know what I choose to do.

Bumping with another question: can I supplement my MH with 2700k cfl to make up for the lack of sodium light freqs?

try a CMH (CERAMIC METAL HALIDE) I AM A TRUE BELIVER YOU MAY GET 5% LOSS ON WEIGHT BUT YOUR NUGS WILL BE DENSER AND MORE THC. DONT TAKE MY WORD FOR IT, THERE ARE A COUPLE OF THREADS ON HERE TO CHECK . GOOD LUCK STAY SAFE