Seedlings under 150hps ok??

Have seedlings that just cracked through grow plug in hydro, how fast can I put them under a 150 watt hps ??? And also how far away should I keep 150 watt hps from top of seedlings ??

keep the temps 70-78 get the 150 as close as one foot until they grow a little then as close as 3-4 inches. Seedlings like it warm. I throw seedlings under my 1000 watt hps 2 feet away sometimes. But its a huge waste of power. 150 is great.

over kill the lighting . why not use a reg light bulb ?

kinddiesel said:

over kill the lighting . why not use a reg light bulb ?

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Want to get them rooted quicker and also the light I have is causing the seedlings to grow crocked because its just a single 35watt cfl (135 equivilant) hanging down.

blackrecluse said:

keep the temps 70-78 get the 150 as close as one foot until they grow a little then as close as 3-4 inches. Seedlings like it warm. I throw seedlings under my 1000 watt hps 2 feet away sometimes. But its a huge waste of power. 150 is great.

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Don't have cool tube on my 150 watt hps so I'm thinking more like 1 foot away.

FWIW, I used a 250 MH on mine and it worked fine. Your biggest battle will probably be that the light spectrum in an HPS isn't what the plants need for vegetative growth, but it should work ok.

Also, having read all over the net that you should hold the back of your hand the distance from the lights that you want to put the plants, and wait thirty seconds, to see what radiant heat there is (fans will only help with convective heat). If it's warm, fine, if it's unpleasant and hot, it's too close. HOWEVER, this method burnt one of my plants, and I've found that using my *face* is a much better indicator of radiant heat than my hand. and my plants are now doing great under their light.

Good luck with your grow!

I plan to start seeds under a 400wat MH..hopefully all does well

A lot of people told me that it was too early for the big light, but I have not found this to be true. Just start with it quite far from the plants in the early days, it'll be fine.

had the same question but I was more concerned with the plants stretching a lot because of the hps color, but as long as a fan is on them it shouldn't be too big of an issue correct?